AgClips
Recent AgClips
From corn to Apple: What's behind the US-China standoff
Star Tribune | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Federal NewsTo hear the Americans tell it, the Chinese have gone on a commercial crime spree, pilfering trade secrets from seed corn to electronic brains behind wind turbines. China has stripped the arm off a T-Mobile robot, the U.S. says, and looted trade secrets about robotic cars from Apple.
America's strongest climate governor might be a Republican
E&E News | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Energy NewsDuring his first run for governor, Charlie Baker sat for a meeting with a group of leading environmentalists in Massachusetts. It quickly turned combative. Baker, a Republican who was challenging Gov. Deval Patrick (D), voiced doubts about the veracity of climate science and the high cost of renewable energy. He singled out Cape Wind as an overpriced offshore wind project proposed for Nantucket Sound.
Pay attention to the growing wave of climate change lawsuits
VOX | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Energy NewsIn 1998, 46 states and the District of Columbia signed on to the largest civil litigation settlement in US history, the tobacco Master Settlement Agreement. Stunning in its scope and scale, the agreement forced the four largest tobacco companies to stop advertising to youth, limit lobbying, restrict product placement in media, and fund anti-smoking campaigns. It also required them to pay out more than $206 billion over 25 years. Tobacco companies had in previous decades successfully swatted down hundreds of private lawsuits.
Former Iowa Sen. Danielson to lobby for wind energy group
AP News | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Energy NewsFormer Iowa Sen. Jeff Danielson says he has taken a job as a regional state policy director for the American Wind Energy Association, a national trade group for the wind energy industry. Danielson, who unexpectedly resigned Feb. 14 after 15 years in the Senate, says in a statement he will lobby to help expand wind power in the organization’s 12-state central region.By state law he is prohibited from lobbying Iowa lawmakers for two years and the AWEA says it will “comply with any and all state regulatory requirements.”
Dairy Wastewater Spill Reported In O’okala
Big Island News | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Agriculture NewsThe Hawai‘i Department of Health is advising the public stay out of the waters in Kaohaoha Gulch and the coastal waters fronting the gulch in Oʻokala due to another wastewater spill from the Big Island Dairy. “Water within Kaohaoha Gulch was contaminated with animal waste due to an overflowing retention pond at the dairy facility caused by heavy rainfall,” health officials reported on Sunday.Health officials say signs have been posted. “The public is advised to remain out of these waters until this advisory has been taken down,” the state notice stated.
States reviewing hemp laws in wake of changes at federal level that removed production barriers
CSG-Midwest | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Agriculture NewsFor decades, the lack of a commercial hemp industry has made the United States an outlier among most of the world’s developed countries. That may soon change, and some states in the Midwest have already been pursuing policies to ensure their farmers can make the most of this new market opportunity.Enacted at the end of last year, the new law legalizes industrial hemp (it must have a THC concentration level of below 0.3 percent), allowing for market-scale cultivation and the interstate sale of products.
Ohio putting more dollars into reuse of dredged materials, as ban on open-lake disposal looms
CSG-Midwest | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsBy July of next year, a practice in Ohio’s commercial harbors will no longer be allowed — the dumping of dredged materials into the open waters of Lake Erie. This ban is the result of a bill passed by the legislature in 2015 (SB 1), and is part of the state’s broader efforts to keep excess nutrients from entering the shallowest of the Great Lakes, causing harmful algal blooms and degrading water quality.
Midwest states expand telemedicine, allow dental therapists among steps to open wider access to dental services
CSG-Midwest | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsOften overlooked in the national debates and discussions about health insurance, dental care is having something of a moment in the Midwest as states embrace ways to expand oral health access.
Dodge City manager offers blueprint for dealing with rural Kansas housing shortage
The Hutchinson News | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Rural NewsCity Manager Cherise Tieben’s firm belief housing construction was a market-driven segment of the economy didn’t survive a 2007 meeting with exasperated Dodge City bankers, developers, realtors and employers. She learned from the group the southwest Kansas community’s housing stock was profoundly inadequate and the private sector was incapable of keeping pace. Teachers were residing in colleagues’ basements. Employers placed hires in hotels for up to six months. Families paid a premium for deplorable rentals. Bank financing was scarce.
Wisconsin leads nation in farm bankruptcies again, dairy farm closings hit record high in 2018
The Chippewa Herald | Posted onFebruary 27, 2019 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsWisconsin farmers showed the effects of continued low prices for their products in 2018 as the state led the nation in farm bankruptcies for the third straight year and dairy farms closed at the highest pace this century.The state had 47 Chapter 12 bankruptcies, a chapter designated almost specifically for family farms last year, according to data from the U.S. Bankruptcy courts. That was 16 more than second-place Nebraska.