AgClips
Recent AgClips
Technology’s Impact on Farming and the Rural Midwest
Chicago Federal Reserve | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Agriculture NewsThe Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago held a conference to explore the opportunities and challenges presented by new technologies to farms and rural areas in the Midwest and other parts of the U.S. Experts from academia, industry, and policy institutions gathered to discuss how technological advances have reshaped the rural economy and how they may affect its future.
WOTUS controversy: What’s that about?
Ag Policy | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Federal NewsOn February 28, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13778, “Presidential Executive Order on Restoring the Rule of Law, Federalism, and Economic Growth by Reviewing the ‘Waters of the United States’ Rule.” While not making any immediate changes to WOTUS, the executive order set in motion a process that included the suspension of the WOTUS changes by EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt in January 2018, and the issuance of a new rule, “Revised Definition of ‘Waters of the United States,’” in December 2018 by Acting EPA head Andrew Wheeler.Due to the ongoing government shutdown, the new rule ha
Aquaculture comes to the rescue in Maine
Aquaculture North America | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Agriculture NewsMaine ticks all the boxes as an ideal incubator of aquaculture enterprises: it has a culture around marine food production, a working waterfront, and a world-renowned reputation for premium quality seafood. Why is it just a bit player in the aquaculture industry is perhaps understandable: its lobster fishery contributes $1 billion to the state’s economy annually and generates 4,000 jobs.
New York:Fewer farms using revised mega-farm manure permits
The Times Union | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Agriculture, SARL Members and Alumni NewsAfter a judge last year ordered the state to tighten up permits aimed at keeping manure at dairy and livestock mega-farms across the state from fouling streams, rivers and lakes, hundreds of farmers switched over to a less-strict state permit instead. Nearly 230 farms that had federal CWA permits prior to the court ruling have since changed over to less-stringent state Environmental Conservation Law (ECL) permits that cover manure systems specifically design to avoid manure discharge into nearby bodies of water.
USDA Wetlands Rule Draws Agriculture Groups' Ire
DTN | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Agriculture, Federal NewsAgriculture and environmental groups alike are not impressed with USDA's interim final rule on wetland conservation and highly erodible land posted in December. A public comment period on the rule closed on Tuesday. USDA made revisions to codify technical portions of the existing agency policy that had not undergone public review and comment.
Rural Depopulation in a Rapidly Urbanizing America
Carsey School of Public Policy | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Rural NewsThis brief examines demographic trends in rural America, a region often overlooked in a nation dominated by urban interests. Yet, 46 million people live in rural areas that encompass 72 percent of the land area of the United States. In all, 746 counties representing 24 percent of all U.S. counties are depopulating, and nearly all of them—91 percent—are rural. Just 9 percent of urban counties are depopulating (Figure 1). Such depopulation is a clear indicator of a lack of demographic vitality in a significant part of rural America.
Surprise! Rural download speeds are worse than reported.
Daily Yonder | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Rural NewsNearly three-quarters of the downloads hitting Microsoft servers from nonmetropolitan counties are so slow they don’t meet the FCC definition of broadband. Microsoft’s county-level data shows a big gap between what the federal government says is available and what people actually use.Overall, according to Microsoft, half of the U.S. population, or about 162 million residents, did not use the internet at a minimum of 25 Mbps download. By comparison, that’s roughly seven times the size of the population that the official FCC data says does not have download speeds of at least 25 Mbps.
Horse's case raises an important question: What would happen if animals could sue us?
ABC News | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Agriculture NewsA horse named Justice sues former owner for more than $100,000 for neglect.
Rural communities should not shy away from contentious topics
Daily Yonder | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Rural NewsSo she’s not the sort of person you expect to lead folks into potentially uncomfortable conversations about contentious topics. But that’s exactly what she does with the Rural Climate Dialogues. The dialogues assemble a representative sample of rural community members to explore climate change and create a community response plan. The dialogues are not a feel-good pep talk for like-minded thinkers. They include people with starkly different opinions.
Rural lender develops inline portal to help business owners
Daily Yonder | Posted onFebruary 7, 2019 in Rural NewsNorthern Initiatives covers a large 78-county service area primarily in rural Michigan, along with a few counties in northeast Wisconsin. While it worked over the years to provide capital and know-how to small business owners in Michigan and Wisconsin, the community development financial institution (CDFI) knew it had an issue: How could its staff best provide entrepreneurs with support services that improve a business’ chances of succeeding with a start up loan?