AgClips
Recent AgClips
Agribusinesses Concerned About Farm Labor Shortage
Aldrich Advisors | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Agriculture NewsIn our 2017 Agribusiness Wage + Land Rent Survey, farmers expressed their top concern about the future of their businesses: the uncertainty surrounding their labor supply. This year’s survey data showed that 41% of respondents had 25 or more employees during peak employment, down from 57% in the prior year. Forty-nine percent of respondents employed seasonal workers for 12 or more weeks, down from 52% the prior year. It was a tough year for business and a tough year for finding workers.This trend is nothing new. U.S.
Dollar General Hits a Gold Mine in Rural America
Bloomberg | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Rural NewsIn the poorest towns, where even Wal-Mart failed, the little-box player is turning a profit.The Decatur store is one of 1,000 Dollar Generals opening this year as part of the $22 billion chain’s plan to expand rapidly in poor, rural communities where it has come to represent not decline but economic resurgence, or at least survival. The company’s aggressively plain yellow-and-black logo is becoming the small-town corollary to Starbucks Corp.’s two-tailed green mermaid.
Salvation through Fermentation
Wisconsin Academy | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Agriculture, Energy NewsProducing economically viable biofuels from biomass other than corn, however, is more complicated. Many biofuels researchers, including those at the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center (GLBRC) based at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, are now focused on making biofuels from low-input crops such as switchgrass and poplar.
September Rural Mainstreet Index Reaches 2017 Low: More than Half of Bankers Restructured Farm Loans
Creighton University Economic Outlook | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Agriculture NewsSurvey Results at a Glance: The overall index sank to itslowestlevelsinceDecember 2016,and remained below growth neutral. For the 46th straight month, average farmland prices declined across the 10 state region. For the 49th straight month, the agriculture equipment sales index fell below growth neutral. As a result of falling farm income, more than 51 percent of bank CEOs, reported restructuring farm loans, and approximately 18.6 percent indicated increasing collateral requirements. Bank CEOs reported only a 2.1 percent increase in farm loan defaults over the past year
September Rural Mainstreet Index Reaches 2017 Low: More than Half of Bankers Restructured Farm Loans
Creighton University Economic Outlook | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Agriculture NewsSurvey Results at a Glance: The overall index sank to itslowestlevelsinceDecember 2016,and remained below growth neutral. For the 46th straight month, average farmland prices declined across the 10 state region. For the 49th straight month, the agriculture equipment sales index fell below growth neutral. As a result of falling farm income, more than 51 percent of bank CEOs, reported restructuring farm loans, and approximately 18.6 percent indicated increasing collateral requirements. Bank CEOs reported only a 2.1 percent increase in farm loan defaults over the past year
Wyoming wild horse roundup continues amid counting dispute
Minneapolis Star Tribune | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Rural NewsA roundup of wild horses continued Monday in the desert of southwestern Wyoming after a judge declined to stop it during a lawsuit over how the animals are counted.As of Sunday, U.S. Bureau of Land Management contract workers had rounded up 1,367 adult horses and 350 foals.The agency could reach its goal of capturing 1,560 adults plus the foals of captured mares this week, bureau spokeswoman Kristen Lenhardt said.The roundup is going on amid a dispute between horse advocates and federal officials over whether the foals should be included in the total count.U.S.
Nafta Talks Left Reeling After Aggressive U.S. Proposals Land
Bloomberg | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Agriculture, Federal NewsU.S. negotiators in recent days put forth a string of bold proposals -- on auto rules of origin, a sunset clause, government procurement, and gutting dispute panels seen by the other nations as core to the pact. The moves were long-signaled, as was Canadian and Mexican opposition to them. The proposals have spurred public warnings from prominent U.S.
California becomes 1st state to require pet stores to sell rescue animals
ABC News | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsGov. Jerry Brown signed into law bill A.B. 485, making it illegal for pet stores to sell dogs, cats, and rabbits from any source other than a shelter or rescue group. The law will go into effect in 2019. Thirty-six cities in California, including Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco, already had bans on mass breeding operations.
Drug epidemic drives increase in foster care numbers, West Virginia commissioner says
Charleston Gazette Mail | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Rural, SARL Members and Alumni NewsMore and more West Virginia children are being placed in foster care because of drug-related issues, and the state is struggling to retain enough child welfare workers to keep up with demand, the head of the Bureau for Children and Families told lawmakers Tuesday. As of Oct. 1, more than 6,100 West Virginia children are in foster care, acting BCF Commissioner Linda Watts told members of the Joint Committee on Children and Families. Watts said the number of children in foster care has risen even since she last spoke to the committee in August — mainly because of opioids.
Farms, vineyards assessing damage from wine country fires
Capital Press | Posted onOctober 19, 2017 in Agriculture, Rural NewsFarms in California’s iconic wine country are either picking up the pieces or counting their blessings as crews gain an upper hand on wildfires that devastated the area.Among those operations is Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen, Calif., whose 700 acres of produce and flowers nestled against the western slope of the Mayacamas Mountains sustained damage. Wiig has been trying to get the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department to allow farmer David Cooper and others access to the ranch to water the crops that weren’t burned, he said.