SARL Members and Alumni

Upon the heels of the latest natural disaster, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is calling on his fellow Texans to donate to the State of Texas Agriculture Relief Fund (STAR Fund) and lend a helping hand to our neighbors impacted by the devastating wildfires in the Panhandle. The STAR Fund was created to collect monetary contributions from private individuals and businesses to assist farmers and ranchers in responding to and recovering from natural disasters like the latest series of wildfires that burned a trail of destruction across the Panhandle this month. [node:read-more:link]

Broadband planners and supporters in Missouri and Tennessee say that legislative battles for publicly owned broadband have reached the tipping point this week.  In Missouri, a bill that would prohibit municipalities from running broadband networks passed out of the State Senate Jobs, Economic Development, and Local Government Committee into the full Senate for debate. State Senator Ed Emery initiated Senate Bill 186 in January. [node:read-more:link]

The Texas Thoroughbred Association and Texas Horsemen’s Partnership are excited to report that five bills have been filed with the Texas Legislature that could benefit the Texas racing industry.  Sen. Lois Kolkhorst (R) filed three bills in the Senate: SB #1971 (Co-authored by Sen. Dawn Buckingham (R)) – Would create a purse matching fund from the state’s general revenue fund that is expected to increase purses by $25 million. Committee substitute language is expected to clarify specifics. [node:read-more:link]

With 69 of Ohio’s 88 counties producing maple syrup, it’s easy to see that “liquid gold” is an important part of the state’s agriculture. The Ohio Maple Madness Driving Tour allows people to see just how maple syrup is made. [node:read-more:link]

The Kansas House on Tuesday passed and sent to the Senate a bill that would offer tax incentives for investment companies that finance business projects that bring jobs to rural areas.  The Ad Astra Rural Jobs Act, as the bill is called, passed the House, 97-22, over the objection of some House members who said it had not been thoroughly studied, and worried that it could lead to giving taxpayer subsidies to factory hog farms or other kinds of confined animal feeding operations.  Rep. John Carmichael, D-Wichita, made that argument during debate on the bill Tuesday. [node:read-more:link]

These preliminary compliance estimates were conducted by soil and water conservation districts based on parcel reviews via aerial/satellite imagery. It is important to note that these estimates do not imply or represent non-compliance. Additional field-level reviews will be the next step in the inventory process. [node:read-more:link]

Across the country, communities have attempted to reduce the incidence of serious and fatal dog bites by restricting the ownership of certain types of dogs, most often pit bulls. But others, including some states, have made these types of breed-specific laws illegal. So are breed-specific laws an effective way to reduce the incidence of dog bites? Or do they unfairly target good dogs whose only crime is matching the description of what some people believe to be dangerous? In this podcast, Dr. [node:read-more:link]

Proponents of legislation requiring new air regulations for Oregon dairies, Senate Bill 197, claim it merely implements recommendations from the 2008 Dairy Air Task Force, which was composed of agricultural and environmental representatives, among others. Critics of the proposal argue the 2008 report didn’t actually require any action and that emissions from dairies still aren’t significant enough to justify new rule-making. [node:read-more:link]

The Iowa Senate passed a bill Tuesday aimed at limiting lawsuit damages in cases filed by unhappy neighbors against livestock producers. Senate File 447 allows for an affirmative defense to be raised when an animal feeding operation is alleged to be a public or private nuisance or otherwise interfere with a person's enjoyment of life or property. The legislation suggests the public interest is served by preserving and encouraging responsible animal agricultural production. [node:read-more:link]

An engineer told Washington lawmakers Tuesday that public funding would spur technology to distill cow manure into dry fertilizer and clean water, making polluted runoff from dairies a problem of the past.  “Wow,” said one legislator. “Yeah, wow,” said another.The Washington State Dairy Federation arranged back-to-back presentations to the House and Senate agriculture committees by Peter Janicki, CEO of Janicki Bioenergy in Sedro-Woolley, Wash.Janicki has worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to convert sewage into drinking water in developing countries. [node:read-more:link]