AgClips
Recent AgClips
The Power of Proximity: Ethanol Refineries Drive Increased Corn Planting in Their Vicinity
USDA - Amber Waves | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Energy NewsBetween 2005 and 2010, increasing demand for biofuels contributed to growth in U.S. corn area by more than 6 million acres and channeled a third of U.S. corn output into ethanol feedstock. An understanding of the multiple effects of this rapid growth on rural economies can help inform policies geared toward greater economic and environmental sustainability. Focusing on just one of these effects, ERS researchers estimated the extent to which biofuel expansion helped reshape the spatial pattern of acreage and planting decisions across a wide swathe of the U.S. Corn Belt.
Five Years of Population Loss in Rural and Small-Town America May Be Ending
USDA - Amber Waves | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Rural NewsThe population in U.S. nonmetropolitan (nonmetro) counties stood at 46.2 million in July 2015—14 percent of U.S. residents spread across 72 percent of the Nation's land area. Nonmetro population declined by just 4,000 from July 2014 to July 2015 after 4 years of population losses averaging 33,000 yearly, according to the latest county population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2014-15 improvement in nonmetro population change coincides with rural economic recovery and suggests that this first-ever period of overall population decline (from 2010 to 2015) may be ending.
Rural Mainstreet Economy Remains Weak for May
Creighton University Economic Outlook | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Rural NewsJob Losses for First Time in Five Years. Survey Results at a Glance: • For a ninth straight month, the Rural Mainstreet Index fell below growth neutral. • Almost one-third of bank CEOs see slow or negative rural growth as the biggest economic threat to their bank over the next five years. • Approximately nine of ten bankers see low agriculture commodity prices as the greatest challenge to the rural economy for 2016. Farmland prices remained below growth neutral for the 30th straight month.
Senator looks to get to the military before Meatless Monday does
meatingplace.com | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Food NewsWhile Meatless Monday supporters are busy trying spread the concept through schools, restaurants and other institutional food systems, Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) is busy trying to keep out of military cafeterias. Ernst is offering an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act in an effort to head off future attempts to expand Meatless Mondays within the military. The amendment would eliminate the current Meatless Monday program at the Coast Guard Academy and ensure that all military personnel have access to animal protein on a daily basis.
NRCS Provides over $268 Million to Help PA Farmers, Landowners Improve Chesapeake Bay
NRCS | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Agriculture NewsSince over half of Pennsylvania lies within the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, farmers and forest landowners play a major role in helping to clean up the Bay by installing water quality conservation practices that assist the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania meet its Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) goals in the watershed.
Drought looming
Purdue.edu | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Agriculture NewsIndiana could be headed for another drought this summer, according to the Indiana State Climate Office. Some northern Indiana counties already are abnormally dry. It depends on the strength of a developing La Niña weather pattern. Stronger La Niña conditions in summer typically result in hotter and/or drier Midwest summers, such as what happened during the historic drought in the summer of 2012.
Anhydrous Ammonia, Corn, and Natural Gas Prices Over Time
Farm Doc Daily | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Agriculture NewsNitrogen fertilizer is a major input in corn production and anhydrous ammonia is a widely used nitrogen fertilizer. In recent years, questions exist whether ammonia prices have decreased enough to reflect the decreases in corn and natural gas prices. Over time, anhydrous ammonia prices and corn prices are positively correlated. A major input in ammonia production is natural gas. As a result, natural gas prices also are positively correlated with anhydrous ammonia prices.
Down to the bone
Daily Yonder | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Agriculture NewsMonsanto, the patented seed and pesticide agriculture behemoth, was under scrutiny due to their failed offer to buy Syngenta, the Swiss agricultural chemicals and seed company. Now Monsanto itself is the target of a buyout. German drug corporation Bayer has offered Monsanto stock holders a $122 per share. Big business history reads a little like the spiritual hymn “Them Dry Bones.” From the toe bone all the way up to the head bone, everything is connected. Take Monsanto for instance.
Ohio PUC chairman seeks balance in tackling carbon emissions
E & E Publishing | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Energy NewsAs Ohio pursues parallel -- and contrary -- paths in response to U.S. EPA's Clean Power Plan, one central person who will help determine the state's energy future is Asim Haque, chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. But the quirky energy politics of this purple state are not going to make it easy. Haque on May 9 was elevated to chairman of the commission by Gov. John Kasich (R) following the resignation of Andre Porter. Haque had been appointed to the commission in 2013 and was reappointed earlier this year to serve until 2021.
Rainfall following drought linked to historic nitrate levels in Midwest streams in 2013
EurekAlert | Posted onJune 16, 2016 in Agriculture NewsHighest concentrations found in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois. Drought periods followed by rainfall caused nitrate levels to increase to the highest ever measured in some Midwest streams during a 2013 study. The USGS and the Environmental Protection Agency collaborated in 2013 to sample 100 small streams across parts of 11 states in the Midwest. Scientists tested for a broad range of water-quality and habitat characteristics and assessed organisms living in the stream, including algae, invertebrates and fish. The study did not look at treated drinking water.