Rural Minnesota town will be 'guinea pig' for long-duration solar batteries. It's a big change for this community.

Upon completion, Sherco will be the biggest solar farm
in the Upper Midwest. (Photo by APPA, Unsplash)

Becker, Minnesota, is covered with viny potato fields and endless rows of corn that go as far as the eye can see. But in this small community of 5,000 residents, solar panels by the thousands are about to be added, replacing three of the town's coal mines in a test of long-duration batteries, reports Ivan Penn of The New York Times. "Becker is also one of two sites where Xcel Energy is installing demonstration battery systems from Form Energy, a Massachusetts company. The systems — using readily available materials like water, air and iron — can store solar and wind-generated energy as a backup, with a capacity to power 2,000 homes for up to five days."

The Sherburne County Generating Station, known as Sherco, is a massive example of what Minnesotans are doing to meet the state's goal of "100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2040," Penn writes. "And it tests how the energy transition could unfold on a nationwide scale for jobs at decades-old fossil fuel facilities, local tax revenues and agricultural businesses. . . . Sherco will stand as the largest solar farm in the Upper Midwest — replacing three coal units in Becker with three solar sites on the town’s outskirts along the Mississippi River."

Becker is in Sherburne County, Minn.
(Wikipedia map)

The closing of the coal plants has been met with distrust and some past-employee grumblings. "Among skeptics of the energy transition, suspicion about solar runs as deep as the town’s cornfields are long. . . . Xcel [has] promises no layoffs," Penn reports. "'We are the guinea pig for the whole group,' said Tracy Bertram, the mayor of Becker, acknowledging the anxiety some have felt about the loss of an economic anchor. 'People don’t like change. It’s the unknown.'"

Despite the positives that Xcel's development offers, some Becker residents are sad to see coal go. Rob Miller, a journeyman who has worked at the Sherco [coal] plant for 20 years, told Penn, “There’s a lot of pride, blood, sweat that has gone in here. It’s sad to see it coming to an end.”

Vermont lawmakers found a way to support child care throughout the state. Its example could help other states.

Vermont's child care system is partially supported by
a new payroll tax. (Shutterstock photo)

Vermont lawmakers made dramatic changes to support child care businesses and family needs throughout the state. System advocates say the state's success could be a national model. "In a February 2023 survey of child care providers in the state, nearly 1 out of 5 said they feared they’d go out of business within the year," report Katherine Barrett and Richard Greene of Route Fifty. "That dramatic response fueled officials and state partners to find a solution."

The state's "new law increases the number of families that can receive financial assistance for child care by increasing eligibility from 350% of the federal poverty level to 575%." Barrett and Greene write. "The law also provides for higher reimbursement rates for child care businesses, with the expectation that increased funding will improve pay for hard-to-find staff. . . Most importantly, the law ensures that state funding continues in future years based on a dedicated new payroll tax that began July 1 and is projected to bring in $80 million in its first year."

The new eligibility and child care pay structure has already had positive results. "Six months after the law’s passage, the state’s 2024 survey of child care providers showed a dramatic reversal in their attitudes about the future," Route Fifty reports. "Just 5% said they’d expect to go out of business over the next two years, down from 20%. In the first three months after the law’s passage, more child care centers and home-based businesses opened than closed. That was the first time that had happened since the state started tracking this data in 2012."

Bipartisan support and advocacy for better funding and business options for child care within Vermont are a big reason why the legislation was successful. "This multiyear buildup has also meant that a healthy supply of both local and national evidence was brought to play in creating the law," Barrett and Greene add. "The motivation to find a solution was bolstered by extensive research on child development, which strongly demonstrates the link between high-quality experiences in the first years of life and future health, happiness and success."

Canadian rail strike leaves U.S. commodities unable to move; agricultural interests push for a resolution

Rail-traffic has stopped at U.S.-Canadian
border. (Denley Photography, Unsplash)

As U.S. farmers prepare for expected bumper crops of corn and soybeans, the shutdown of Canada's two largest railways threatens a chunk of their incomes. The fallout from Canada's unresolved rail closures stretches beyond agriculture. It could have "dire consequences for North America’s economy, threatening deliveries of cars, timber and petroleum products," reports Lauren Kaori Gurley of The Washington Post. "The U.S. railway Union Pacific has said a shutdown would sideline more than 2,500 railcars that normally cross the U.S.-Canada border each day."

The two Canadian railways, the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railroad and the Canadian National Railway have been unable to strike a deal with Teamsters Canada "despite days of heated negotiations," Gurley writes. "The Teamsters say the railways are requesting that the union make concessions 'on crew scheduling, rail safety, and fatigue management' — echoing union concerns at the heart of a threatened 2022 rail strike in the United States." The two railroads insist they have offered "significant pay increases and addressed concerns about scheduling."

U.S. agricultural interests are pushing hard for a resolution. Gurley reports, "In a letter addressed to President Joe Biden as well as other U.S. and Canadian officials, dozens of trade associations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Cotton Council, said a rail shutdown would trigger 'harmful consequences for Canadian and American agricultural producers, the agricultural industry, and both domestic and global food security.'”

Earlier this week, U.S. companies worked to slow the flow of goods to the U.S. Canadian border, which means "that massive flow of goods has screeched to a complete halt," Gurley explains. But the problems go both ways. "Murad Al-Katib, chief executive of AGT Foods, one of the world’s largest suppliers of staple foods such as beans and wheat, said food supply chains would be 'immediately disrupted,' noting that many commodities — such as peas, lentils, chickpeas and durum wheat used for pasta — travel across the Canadian border to U.S. processing and packaging facilities."

Meanwhile, Teamsters Canada said that it won't agree to the rail companies' "grueling schedules," and in turn, both railway companies said "they’ve made generous offers to the union," Gurley writes. "The Canadian government has rejected calls to intervene, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau urged parties to 'get to a resolution.'"

Medicare will save billions from its first-ever drug price negotiations with pharmaceutical companies

The negotiated prices will apply in 2026.
(Adobe Stock photo)

The first-ever talks between Medicare and pharmaceutical companies have yielded some positive change for Medicare expenditures, but how much older Americans will save remains uncertain. "The federal government released the new prices it will pay for 10 prescription drugs," reports Jared S. Hopkins of The Wall Street Journal. "The drugs, for serious conditions including cancer, diabetes and blood clots cost the government more than $50 billion a year altogether. . . . [But] they might not translate into much savings for many seniors."

The talks were Medicare's first foray using its massive consumer base to tamp down drug prices. "Lowering drug prices through negotiations is a milestone in years of efforts to give Medicare, the country’s biggest purchaser of prescription medicines, a power that private health plans have long deployed to keep a lid on rising drug costs," Hopkins explains. "It follows other new government measures tackling high drug prices, such as a $35 cap on how much Medicare members pay out of pocket for insulin."

Here are a few of the newly negotiated drug prices for a month’s supply compared to Medicare's 2023 list price for a 30-day supply. To read the full list, click here.

Eliquis, a blood thinner from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer: $231, down from $521;
Enbrel, an arthritis drug from Amgen: $2,355, down from $7,106;
Jardiance, a diabetes drug from Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim: $197, down from $573;
Stelara, a psoriasis drug from J&J: $4,695, down from $13,836;
Xarelto, a blood thinner from J&J: $197, down from $517.

Medicare's new prices will start in 2026. Anna Anderson-Cook and Richard G. Frank of Brookings report, "Using publicly-available data, estimate savings consistent with CMS reporting, find that 51.4% of the estimated savings ($3.28 billion) is accounted for by 3 drugs. Penn reports, "The negotiations will save nearly $100 billion by 2031, the Congressional Budget Office estimated."

Flora & Fauna: World's oldest whale; all about potatoes; farming extracted land; everlasting lice; why play?

The humpback whale Old Timer in Frederick Sound in southeast Alaska.
(Photo by Adam Pack, NOAA Research Permit 26953 via NYT)

Sometimes seeing an old friend can warm the heart and encourage the spirit. "When Adam A. Pack, a marine mammal researcher, was photographing whales in Alaska’s Frederick Sound this July, he instantly recognized the flukes of an old friend," writes Emily Anthes of The New York Times. "The tail — mostly black, with a wash of white speckles near the edge — belongs to a whale named Old Timer. First spotted in 1972, Old Timer is now a male of at least 53 years, making him “the oldest known humpback whale in the world. . . The last time he had seen the whale, in 2015, was in the middle of a record-breaking, yearslong heat wave. . ."

Where would this country be without potatoes? It's a loaded question. Fluffed, whipped, baked, fried, scalloped, mashed, au gratin. . . Americans do love their taters. But U.S. scientists said, "It's not enough. . . Potatoes deserve more!" Jacob Bunge and Victor Stefanescu of The Wall Street Journal report, "Agriculture companies are applying cutting-edge genetic technology to the dusty brown tubers, aiming to grow bigger piles of spuds that could make for healthier potato chips and french fries. . .while grappling with storage and shelf life."

Ashford Farm has been cultivating lavender for five
years. (Photo by K. Thacker, Ambrook Research)

Not long ago, a coal mine sat on a blown-off mountaintop in West Virginia. The mine extracted that land's wealth and left it barren, but that is not the story's end. "The prospect of putting a farm on a former coal site is highly ambitious and pretty rare — at least in the mountainous Central Appalachian Coal Basin," report Even Andrew and Kristian Thacker of Ambrook Research. "Lavender, however, is a good match for mined terrain because it’s a relatively low-maintenance crop that thrives in dry, rocky soils. . . . But growing something, especially on reclaimed mine land, is a significant challenge."

What's grosser than gross? Lice. "We are in peak lice season, and the lice seem to arrive, always, at the moment when we are least equipped to deal with them. If you’ve endured them even once, odds are you still have at least a touch of lingering paranoia and phantom itching," reports Caitlin Gibson of The Washington Post. "They were there when Hannibal and his army crossed the Alps. They were there when both World Wars were fought. Now it is 2024, and we have Mars rovers and artificial intelligence and, still, lice. We can’t change the reality of them. Should we try to change the way we think about them?"

Like everything Mother Nature imbues, play has purpose.
(Adobe Stock photo)

It's the Puppy Bowl! The Kitten Bowl! The Turtle Bowl. OK. May there's no turtle bowl -- yet. But humans do love to watch animals play. Why? As David Toomey writes for The Conversation, "Play has a role in Darwin’s theory of natural selection. As I explain in my new book, Kingdom of Play: What Ball-bouncing Octopuses, Belly-flopping Monkeys, and Mud-sliding Elephants Reveal about Life Itself, there are many similarities – so many that if you could distill the processes of natural selection into a single behavior, that behavior would be play, Animals forage and hunt in specific ways that don’t typically change. But an animal at play is far more likely to innovate – and some of its innovations may in time be adapted into new ways to forage and hunt."

While the Florida Everglades are home to an abundance of animal diversity, including 360 different species of birds and countless insect species, Burmese pythons are not a welcome addition. The state has battled to control the invasive, nonnative snake's spread with multiple approaches, including capture and kill contests. The state just wrapped up its annual Florida Python Challenge "during which time participants caught and killed the nonvenomous constrictors, which feed on the state's native fauna," reports Joe Hernandez of NPR. Florida offers more opportunities to remove pythons year-round.

Some of rural Virginia is getting younger; three years of Census data supports a steady trend

This map shows where age 25-45 population has increased from
2020 to 2023. (Map by H. Lombard, from Census Bureau data)

As more younger people move into Virginia, communities that were once watching young people leave or avoid their regions are seeing population growth. "The net in-migration of younger adults has been significant enough that the median age has now fallen in 35 Virginia localities," reports Dwayne Yancey of Cardinal News. "Most of them are rural, and most of them are in Southwest and Southside."

A longitudinal review of U.S. Census data reveals who is moving in, and in this case, it's not retirees. "In much of rural Virginia, we’re seeing an increase in the number of young adults, part of what appears nationally to be a post-pandemic trend to move out of bigger cities," Yancey explains. Three years of data support this shift. "In 1980, there wasn’t much difference in the median ages among localities in Virginia. . . . By 2019, every locality had gotten older but. . .new data that shows since the 2020 census, some localities have gotten younger."

While the shift in numbers isn't huge, it's significant because the overall net shows a trend of younger people making rural Virginia home. Yancey reports, "Virtually every locality is seeing its 65 and older population grow. . . as the huge baby boom generation ages. . . [And] most places have seen their population of ages 25 to 45 grow. . . . working-age adults in the main years for getting married and having families. Overall, though, the state is gaining people in the 25-45 cohort; it’s just not gaining them in the biggest metros. Instead, they’re going to rural areas."

 These communities are getting younger.
(Map by H. Lombard, from Census Bureau data)

Rural Virginia is still aging and remains the oldest in the state; however, "The state's two biggest metro areas, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, are facing unprecedented demographic challenges that should concern all of us," Yancey adds. "Rural areas depend on our state's metro areas to generate the revenue that subsidizes rural schools, for instance. . . . Much of rural Virginia is now seeing a demographic renaissance." Danville and Martinsville, Virginia, were "given up for dead when textiles, tobacco and furniture collapsed," but have had surprising recoveries.

Iowa family of farmers is working to create a midwestern 'blueprint;' they've swapped out pigs for mushrooms

The Faaborg family is working to build a farming blueprint for the Midwest.
(1100 Farm photo)

The Faaborg family made the bulk of their living from running a concentrated animal feeding operation, or CAFO, for hogs on the family's Iowa farm. While the undertaking was profitable, over time it left owners Rand and Tammy wanting to leave industrial farming, but the couple was unsure how they could make their farm's ends meet without pigs," reports Cara Buckley of The New York Times. "But this summer, with help from a nonprofit group and a leap of faith. . . . The Faaborgs have traded hogs for mushrooms in an effort to restore balance to the land, and their lives."

But Rand and Tammy aren't the ones leading the charge to change the family farm's product portfolio -- their second son, Tanner, is too. "He hopes to make his family’s farm a blueprint in the Midwest, to show how people can leave industrial farming, grow environmentally friendly and profitable food, and, in turn, help rebuild hollowed-out communities," Buckley writes. 'I want to make rural America a place where people want to live and grow up in,' Tanner Faaborg said. Absent significant changes, he said, the heartland will end up becoming one big manufacturing plant.'"

The switch to mushrooms was one idea the Transfarmation Project shared with Tanner. "The initiative is run by the farm-animal welfare charity Mercy for Animals that helps people transition out of industrial animal agriculture and into growing specialty crops," Buckley explains. "Tanner Faaborg seized on mushrooms, intrigued by their potential to heal ailments and serve as a superfood."

It took time for Tanner to convince his parents and his older brother, Tyler, to commit to leaving the CAFO behind. The Transfarmation Project helped him make the case. Buckley reports, "Tyler Whitley, the director of the Transfarmation Project, describes himself as a 'farmer social worker.' His group talks to farmers, learn about their equipment and buildings and whether it’s tied to debt, explores what plant-based alternatives might work, and matches them with resources."

To get started, the Faaborgs received a $15,000 grant from the Transfarmation Project for "a pilot project cultivating reishi, lion’s mane and oyster mushrooms," Buckley writes, "It provided another $200,000 toward redesigning one of the Faaborgs’ hog barns. . . The last of their hogs shipped out in the fall of 2022. Mushrooms for medicinal tinctures and a coffee blend are now being grown in an outbuilding, and a hog barn [will] grow specialty mushrooms. Elsewhere on the land, hundreds of native trees have been planted and a pollinator-friendly field has been sown."

The Faaborg homestead now produces mushrooms "under the name 1100 Farm, a nod to the number of hogs each barn once held," Buckley reports. "If all goes well, the profits from mushrooms could exceed what the farm was generating from hogs during the best of times, without the backbreaking work and sounds and smells from the hog barns and waste pit."

Disagreement, diversity and a look that 'reflects the face of America better' give the Midwest political power

Candidates from the Midwest 'often bring a kind of approachable, average-American feel to a national ticket.' (Wikipedia and Election press photo)

What makes the nation's upper Midwest different is what makes it an election-year game-changer. "While many other parts of the country have sorted into neat red and blue columns, the big upper Midwestern states continue to sit on the dividing line between the two parties," reports Gerald F. Seib of The Wall Street Journal. "The upper Midwest reflects the face of America better than any other region of the country. . . . And it is populous enough to be decisive in the Electoral College, making it political ground zero."

Midwestern balance and diversity have made some of its regions political "power brokers," Seib explains. "In the latest Wall Street Journal poll, the Midwest overall was the most evenly balanced region of the country, with the two parties essentially tied there in both the presidential race and preferences for control of Congress. . . .The region is much more complicated, demographically and economically than is often assumed."

Politicians who've found success in Midwestern elections have always had to walk a keen tightrope between urban and rural needs while facing a gamut of diversity among other constituents. "At a time when the political split between urban and rural areas has become one of the starkest in the nation, [Midwestern] leaders have to be able to bridge that difficult divide," Seib reports. Candidates who "have successfully navigated the complexity of a big Midwestern state are well prepared to do the same nationally."

On the campaign trail, a Midwestern running mate can make a presidential pairing feel more down-to-earth for voters. Seib writes, "Candidates from the Midwest often bring a kind of approachable, average-American feel to a national ticket. . . . 'They look like and sound like a lot of America,' says Democratic pollster John Anzalone. In this year’s race, that means Vance and Walz nicely offset Trump the New Yorker and Harris of San Francisco."

Do you have a rural story to tell? Here's your chance to yarn for glory, publication and maybe some money.

The Milk House and The Daily Yonder are accepting submissions for their 2024 Best in Rural writing contest and invite authors from across the globe to enter their short stories or essays.

Entries are $5 each and all contestants will receive a code entitling them to $10 off all online writing classes offered by The Milk House. Submission deadline is Sept. 30.

The contest judge will first announce 10 shortlisted entries whose authors may elect to have their submission published by The Milk House in 2025. Afterward, the judge will select the best short story and best essay.

Last year's shortlisted tales included authors from the United States, Canada, Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland. The overall winner of the Best in Rural Writing Contest will receive $500, and the runner-up $200. The winner will be announced later this year.

Some fine print: The work must be original and unpublished. By submitting, the author is agreeing to the possibility of The Milk House or The Daily Yonder publishing or promoting the submission if it is selected in the top two. After publication, all rights revert to the author.

Bit of guidance: Submissions should, in some way, be connected to 'the rural.' The manner and extent to which this is done is open to the author and not necessarily limited to rural characters or rural topics.

Quick hits: Canned bread nostalgia; loneliness primer; python teeth inspire improved shoulder repair; fall skies

B&M introduced canned bread to America in 1928.
(Photo by Kaleigh Brown, The Takeout)

Canned bread might fit nicely on a list of non-perishables that are nostalgic and still worth making or buying. "Canned bread's legacy is tied to the survival instincts of early New Englanders," writes Kaleigh Brown for The Takeout. "When the first settlers arrived in Massachusetts, they hoped to grow wheat, but the local climate made it difficult. Instead, they turned to more affordable and resilient grains like rye and corn. . . .Lacking ovens, they steamed their bread over open fires, often using cans as makeshift molds."

Loneliness is a common experience across the United States, but some Americans are more susceptible to the harm long bouts with the emotion can cause. "Loneliness is more than just isolation: It’s the subjective experience of craving more social interaction than you currently have. It isn’t binary, either, and no one is immune," reports Allie Volpe of Vox. "Chronic loneliness has severe negative physical and mental effects. . . . Rather than point to certain populations as explicitly lonely, understanding what increases someone’s risk for loneliness can help address it on a population level."

Python teeth are uniquely curved and sharp, which helps
them grip their prey without tearing. (A.S. photo)

Picking fruit, baling hay and moving or handling food animals can all end in a farmer or farm worker tearing their rotator cuff, which hurts like heck and normally requires shoulder surgery to repair. The surgery is tricky and often fails, which is why a "python-like surgical implant" could help, reports Eric Niiler of The Wall Street Journal. "Medical researchers at Columbia University designed and built a python-tooth-inspired implant to better mend rotator cuff tear. . . . [The snake's] prey-grabbing method was the inspiration for the device."

Failing to have end-of-life discussions can leave important decisions to a time when there is no time. "Morbidity, mortality, and the many grey zones in between are ever-present in healthcare, writes Nidhi Bhaskar for MedPage Today. "I believe it is crucial to equip future physicians with the skills to navigate these conversations, especially in acute situations where time is limited and patient capacity for decision-making can quickly change. . . . Multiple studies have highlighted the positive impact that early exposure to palliative care and end-of-life goals can have on patient satisfaction at the end of life."

Remember to star gaze this fall; there's going to be a lot to marvel at. Mars and Jupiter will be easily visible on Aug. 27 and "will be accompanied by the crescent moon, creating a dazzling pack in the sky, according to NASA," reports Juliana Kim of NPR. If you missed August's super 'blue' moon, don't despair, "next month’s supermoon will be on Sept. 18. It will be a super harvest moon. It’s called a harvest moon because of its proximity to the autumnal equinox: An equinox is when the Earth’s equator is most directly in line with the sun. This supermoon will also undergo a partial lunar eclipse, reports Mansee Khurana of NPR. "The next two supermoons will occur on Oct. 17 and Nov. 15."