By Al Cross
University studies of the House-passed bill to limit climate change generally agree that American agriculture “would gain more than it would lose” in the long run, Charles Abbott of Reuters reports on a review of the studies by Kansas State University.
“All of the studies said that costs of production would rise and in [...]
Posted on December 14th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Agriculture, Climate Change, Environment, Farms & Farmers, Rural Issues, Uncategorized | No Comments »
By Al Cross
New Environmental Protection Agency analysis shows higher and more widespread income potential for agriculture from climate-change legislation. Farmers could receive $1.2 billion of initial income benefits from the Senate bill and potentially $18 billion over time, Ken Anderson of Brownfield reports. The analysis, conducted by researchers from the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy [...]
Posted on October 28th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Climate Change, EPA, Environment, Farms & Farmers, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Rural Urban Partnerships, The Environment, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
By Al Cross
At the next-to-last scheduled forum on the Obama administration’s Rural Tour, no one mentioned the cap-and-trade bill aimed at limiting climate change — until Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who is making all the tour’s stops, brought it up in a briefing with reporters after a community forum at the Scottsbluff National Monument in [...]
Posted on September 29th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Agriculture, Cabinet, Climate Change, Farms & Farmers, Global Warming, Rural Issues, The Environment, USDA, Uncategorized | No Comments »
by Al Cross
The word “unique” is not supposed to take modifiers of degree, but every stop on the Obama administration’s Rural Tour is arguably unique, and the latest one was probably the most unique — or, to be grammatically correct, the one that was most undoubtedly unique. It was in rural Alaska, off the road [...]
Posted on August 17th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Cabinet, On my Radar, Rural Issues, Rural Life, USDA, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
by Debra Kozikowski
Last week, the U.S .Senate passed an agriculture spending bill that cut funding for the controversial National Animal Identification System in half and only allows it to be used for rule making and not to implement the program scheduled to start on October 1. Tom Steever of Brownfield Network reported the House bill [...]
Posted on August 10th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Agriculture, Farms & Farmers, Food, Food Safety, Rural Issues, USDA | No Comments »
By Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Photo: Lionel J-M Delevingne, copyright © 2009
I wish I hadn’t just finished reading Steve Turner’s Amber Waves and Undertow so I could have the joy of reading it for the first time.
Full disclosure: Steve Turner and I have been friends for 20 years. We live on opposite coasts, but we’ve visited each [...]
Posted on August 6th, 2009 by Miryam Ehrlich Williamson
Filed under: Agriculture, Farms & Farmers, Rural Issues, Rural Life | 4 Comments »
by Debra Kozikowski
The Obama administration’s” Rural Tour” is in full swing and rural advocates hope for more listening than lecturing when it comes to addressing the needs of America’s small towns and rural communities.
In a piece titled Searching for Hamlet: To be or not to be for rural education, Marty Strange and Robin Lambert of [...]
Posted on July 27th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Cabinet, Government Agencies, Obama, On my Radar, Rural Issues, Rural Life, USDA, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
by Al Cross
Author-farmer Wendell Berry, right, geneticist Wes Jackson, center, and sustainable-agriculture advocate Fred Kirschenmann, left, lobbied the Obama administration and senators this week “for a new kind of food policy,” The Washington Post reports. The trio wants “a 50-year-farm bill, a proposal for gradual, systemic change in American farming. The plan asks for $50 [...]
Posted on July 23rd, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Agriculture, Farms & Farmers, Food, Food Safety, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Rural Urban Partnerships, USDA | 2 Comments »
by Debra Kozikowski
“Neither urban nor rural alone has the ability to take up a change agenda for all Americans. Rural and urban joined together, however, can take up a new opportunity agenda that stands for everyone.” Source: Our Shared Fate: Bridging the rural-urban divide creates new opportunities for prosperity and equity in America, June 2008
According to [...]
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Health Care, Healthcare Reform, On my Radar, Rural Issues, Rural Life, Rural Urban Partnerships, Uncategorized | No Comments »
By Erik Peterson
Back to school season is just around the corner, and with it the worry of the afterschool hours. In communities nationwide, 14.3 million children head out the school door each afternoon, to spend the afterschool hours alone and unsupervised. The effect? Parents worry, and with good reason - juvenile crime soars from 3 [...]
Posted on July 20th, 2009 by DebbySKoz
Filed under: Education, Rural Issues, Rural Life | 2 Comments »