AgClips
Recent AgClips
Has This Silicon Valley Startup Finally Nailed The Indoor Farming Model?
Fast Company | Posted onMay 20, 2017 in Agriculture News“I like to call this the cathedral.” So says Matt Barnard, CEO and cofounder of the vertical farming startup Plenty. We’re standing in a room at the company’s headquarters in a former electronics distribution center in South San Francisco, staring up at glowing, 20-foot high towers filled with perfectly formed kale and herbs. The company isn’t the first to build an indoor urban farm in a warehouse. Aerofarms, for example, grows greens in a 70,000-square foot former steel factory in Newark, New Jersey.
The Solution to Climate Change Might Be Right Under Our Feet
NBCnews.com | Posted onMay 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsEvery day, power plants and industries across the globe emit nearly 100 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — an effect that has pushed our climate into a dangerous zone, causing the Arctic to melt at an alarming rate, sea levels to rise, and weather patterns to shift across the world. But change is brewing and our best shot at reducing those emissions might be right under our feet. Projects are now being developed that capture the harmful gas before it's released into the atmosphere and bury it deep in the Earth.
Rural Mainstreet Sinks for the Month
Creighton University Economic Outlook | Posted onMay 20, 2017 in Rural NewsFarm Loans Rise to Record Level.Survey Results at a Glance: The overall index fell below growth neutral for the 20th straight month. Loan volume soars to record level as banks reject fewer loan applications.Almost one-third of bankers indicate no change in lending practices stemming from the downturn in the farm economy. For 2017, bank CEOs expect approximate cash expenses to exceed cash revenues for 17.1 percent of grain farmers, down from 19.5 percent in 2016. Farmland prices declined for the 41st straight month, but the percent of cash farmland sales remained steady from 2015
Butterball to close Gusto pork plant in Illinois, exit pork business
Meatingplace (free registration required) | Posted onMay 20, 2017 in Food NewsButterball plans to close the former Gusto Packing pork processing plant in Montgomery, Ill., it purchased in 2013, eliminating about 600 jobs, and ending production of the Gusto-branded bacon and ham products the plant was making. “With this closure, the company will be exiting the pork business both branded and private label by July 17, 2017.”
Delaware preserves another 3000 acres of farmland
Dover Post | Posted onMay 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsMore than 124,000 acres of Delaware farmland are now permanently preserved for future generations, with 3,039 acres of easements selected into the state’s preservation program in the 21st year of selections made by the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation. The farms in this round would not have been preserved without matching funds from multiple sources, including the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, New Castle County and Kent County Levy Court.
Beekeepers build high-tech storage to improve hive survival
Capital Press | Posted onMay 20, 2017 in Agriculture NewsIdaho beekeepers are building modern storage facilities to protect their bees during the winter to so they can take full advantage of strong demand for their pollination services. French, with Cox’s Honey, explained he wants as many hives as possible to survive the winter so he can take full advantage of increasing demand for pollination services in California’s almond orchards.
Worried About Being Deported? Get a Farm Job
Bloomberg | Posted onMay 18, 2017 in Federal NewsPresident Donald Trump said he would seek to keep his tough immigration enforcement policies from harming the U.S.
Time to tell the whole truth on EPA and pesticide
Agri-Pulse | Posted onMay 18, 2017 in NewsEarlier this week, the New York Times printed their latest agriculture-focused article, “A Strong Case Against a Pesticide Does Not Faze E.P.A. Under Trump.” This is just another in a series of stories that lack balance and fail to represent the perspective of farmers or any other sector of the agriculture community.
Major fossil fuel firms are using renewable energy to cut costs
Independent | Posted onMay 18, 2017 in Energy NewsMajor mining companies, including some of the world's biggest suppliers of fossil fuel, are seeking to use more renewable energy themselves as they strive to drive down costs and curb emissions.
Iowa senator slams energy chief for grid study undermining wind energy
Business Insider | Posted onMay 18, 2017 in Energy NewsIowa's Republican senator on Wednesday raised concerns that U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has commissioned a "hastily developed" study of the reliability of the electric grid that appears "geared to undermine" the wind energy industry.In a letter sent to Perry, Senator Chuck Grassley asked a series of questions about the 60-day study he commissioned.