New USDA nutritional guidance changes 30-year-old food triangle and calls for far fewer ultra-processed foods

The inverted nutritional triangle recommends Americans 
eat more dairy than whole grains. (USDA graphic)

The Trump administration rolled out new U.S. dietary guidance this week that "inverts" the 30-year-old food triangle and advises Americans to "limit highly processed foods, such as those high in added sugars and sodium," reports Rachel Roubein of The Washington Post. "The administration [used] a revised pyramid with images of steak, a block of cheese and a carton of whole milk at the top," and whole grains at the bottom.

The guidelines focus on strictly limiting ultra-processed foods, which currently make up more than 50% of the American diet. The overhaul reflects Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s opinion that processed foods are major contributors to chronic illnesses, particularly those in children, such as obesity and diabetes.

The recommendations emphasize "eating whole foods — such as fruits and vegetables in their original forms — and foods rich in protein and whole grains." Kennedy told reporters he wants Americans to “Eat real food.”

"Nutrition experts generally praised some of the main changes, such as the move away from processed foods, while a few raised concerns about promoting some fatty foods," Roubein writes. "The American Medical Association praised the dietary guidelines as offering 'clear direction.'"

U.S. nutritional guidance is developed by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Agriculture every five years. Its goal is to promote health, and the document is "considered a cornerstone of federal nutrition policy," Roubein explains. "The guidelines influence federal nutrition programs and the foods served in school lunches and to members of the military."

Data center developments force farmers to make tough choices

Data centers can devastate nearby farmlands by depleting a
regions aquifer. (Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

Despite the financial windfall some farmers could get from selling their land to data center developers, many are rejecting those offers because they don't want the energy-sapping, water-draining structures on their land.

Lands across Indiana's farm belt have "become an especial target for hyperscale facilities," reports Lela Nargi for Offrange. The battle within the state, both for and against land sales for data centers, is "illustrative of the challenges that farmers in particular are up against."

The per-acre land payments, often in the thousands, that data center developers are paying to some farmland owners are part of the problem for active farmers. When developers pay more than market value for properties, overall property taxes rise, leaving farmers struggling to pay them.

Currently, there are roughly 40 data center proposals for land throughout Indiana. Kiley Blalock, a third-generation Indiana farmer, is "fighting a proposed 585-acre data center that abuts some of her farmland in Henry County," Nargi writes. "The facility would be built on land sold by the property’s non-farming heirs — no one knows for how much."

Even if a data center is built on uncontested property, the resources it will inevitably require can devastate surrounding farms. Data centers gobble vast amounts of electricity and water. "A hyperscale data center can use upwards of 8 million gallons of water per year, mostly for cooling its servers," Nargi explains.

Taking millions of gallons from a regional aquifer without any process to replace it could leave crops and cattle thirsty and cause local wells to run dry. Farmers fear a data center could render the surrounding farmland useless.

According to data center critics, data center developers haven't done much to address local fears beyond making promises that are "rarely backed up in clear, detailed, contractual writing," Nargi reports.

Opinion: Skip the big deals; American farmers need a better way to trade

American farmers could benefit from small trade deals
with more countries. (Adobe Stock photo)

Throughout 2025, farm journals and mainstream news outlets published commentaries and new stories outlining how many American farmers don't want bailout or rescue payments. Instead, they want more markets from more countries and a seat at the trade-making table.

"We've been getting trade backward for farmers for 30 years," writes Brian Reisinger in his opinion for The Daily Yonder. "The issue is that since the 1990s, most American trade is a product of big deals with big countries (and often multiple at once, as with the North American Free Trade Agreement)." 

These big trade deals can encompass a vast array of decisions that often go beyond farming into "manufacturing, mining, technology," Reisinger explains. The broad spectrum of deals snuffs out the voice of U.S. farmers.

While NAFTA helped some American farmers by opening foreign markets to them, its changes hurt others. Reisinger adds, "Economists debate the effectiveness of those policies, but the skewed competition [can be] devastating."

This year's bumper soybean crop did little to help many American row-crop farmers, as China avoided U.S. purchases amid U.S.-China trade conflicts. The loss of their biggest customer highlighted "American dependence on China buying soybeans, rather than selling evenly across many markets," Reisinger writes.

A way to evolve and protect U.S. farmers is to de-emphasize big deals. Stephanie Mercier, an economist with the Farm Journal Foundation, said "negotiating on individual products with individual countries — many small deals rather than a few large ones across countless economic sectors — can reduce trade-offs," Reisinger writes.

Trading with multiple smaller countries would help ensure farmers have a voice in the trade process. Reisinger explains, "This could also increase American leverage for farmers, by negotiating with a wide range of countries that need America more, rather than a few big ones like China, or blocks like the European Union."

Rural Vermont schools face district mergers and closures as student populations dip and per-pupil costs climb

Third and fourth grade students at Peacham Elementary School, in Peacham, Vt. The school has 60 students and is tucked in a rural northeastern part of the state. (Photo by Oliver Parini, The Hechinger Report) 

Over the past 20 years, smaller schools in Vermont have grappled with shrinking student enrollment, rising per-pupil costs, and property tax hikes. As the country's most rural state, Vermont's educational challenges are being "closely watched by rural education advocates nationwide," reports Chris Berdik of The Hechinger Report. Vermont's educational struggles mirror that of many American rural school districts. 

Across Vermont, public schools have lost 20% of their student population. That kind of steep decline has an outsized impact on rural school budgets, which must juggle increasing per-pupil costs, rising health care costs for teacher benefits and spending limited by a smaller property tax base.

Vermont lawmakers have passed a series of district consolidations to cut costs and offer students more services. "In 2015, Act 46 triggered several years of mergers — first voluntary, then required — that eliminated dozens of districts and led many small schools to close," Berdik explains.

In July, the Vermont legislature passed Act 73, which mandates "a minimum of 4,000 students per district, a threshold now met by only 1 of the state’s 119 districts," Berdick writes. The extreme educational changes Act 73 would require "ignited intense pushback from people fearing the loss of local control over education, even from a majority of the task force created to map options for bigger districts."

Supporters for consolidation "maintain that the crises of declining enrollment, falling test scores and tight education budgets demand a bold response," Berdik reports. Opponents want "any mergers and closings to be voluntary and done with a clear-eyed accounting of what’s to be gained and lost."

Vermont lawmakers will decide this month whether to proceed with Act 73 or dial back the proces to leave time and space to retool their plans.

Quick hits: Mail is one of life's constants; China buys more beans; auctioneer school, federal firefighter payments

In the U.S., mail carriers are still beloved by many
Americans. (Adobe Stock photo)

Despite the U.S. Postal Service's ongoing financial and organizational struggles, U.S. Postal carriers remain beloved by many Americans. "With the Postal Service seemingly in jeopardy, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on the nation’s more than 500,000 postal employees," reports Steven Kurutz of The Washington Post. Stephen Starring Grant, a former postal worker, told the Post, "I was the face of the United States government for a lot of the people on my route. . . No matter what else is going wrong, you’re still getting your mail.”

As China's promised purchases of U.S. soybeans continue to be tracked, the country purchased "10 U.S. soybean cargoes this week," report Naveen Thukral and Ella Cao of Reuters. The update comes "as the world's top buyer continues purchasing from the United States following a late October trade truce. The cargoes, totalling around 600,000 metric tons, are for shipment between March and May, the traders said, which is the peak shipping season for rival supplier Brazil."

Auctioneer students come from far and wide to learn
at the Bozeman, Mont. school. (Adobe Stock photo)

It's all about pitch, tenor, cadence, body language and the ability to say "SOLD!" like you mean it. "Welcome to the Western College of Auctioneering in Bozeman, Mont., a major training ground for a profession that is critical to the sale of cars and cattle in America," reports Liza Weisstuch of The Wall Street Journal. "Since it was founded in 1948, the school has matriculated over 5,000 students, who also auction everything from real estate to farm equipment to fine art."

After years of avoiding and denying the harm toxic wildfire smoke can do to firefighters, some recompense has been made. Firefighters "will be eligible for a payment of nearly $450,000 and college tuition for their family if they die or become debilitated from a smoke-related cancer," reports Hannah Dreier of The New York Times. "The legislation, which passed as part of a larger military spending bill, requires that some 20 smoke-related cancers be automatically treated as line-of-duty injuries or deaths for all firefighters who work for public agencies."

As 2025 moves into the rearview mirror, it still warms the heart to hear all the good things that happened before 2026 came marching in. Across the globe, some wondrous stuff happened. The U.S. neared completion of the "world’s most ambitious oyster reef restoration in the Chesapeake Bay, with more than 1,700 acres of reefs now revitalized," reports Reasons to Be Cheerful. "Over 120,000 'hedgehog highways' now connect about 240,000 gardens across the U.K. . . .Yemen now has an estimated 1.3 million beehives, some 100,000 more than three years ago." Read 97 good things here.

Federal grant cuts over DEI leave rural students and teachers with few options to replace funding and its benefits

Canceled federal grant money is more difficult for rural
schools to replace. (Adobe Stock photo)

Efforts to root out inclusion and equity programming prompted the Trump administration to slash educational grants, leaving rural schools in a lurch. 

The lost grant money, which funded additions such as counselors to teach mental health education, additional academic tutoring options for students and learning initiatives for teachers, is difficult for rural communities to replace.

"Federal dollars make up roughly 10% of education spending nationally, but the percentage is significantly higher in rural districts," reports Annie Ma of The Associated Press. "When the funding is reduced, many districts have no way to make up the lost money."

Since President Donald Trump returned for a second term, his administration has cut millions of dollars earmarked for "programs supporting mental health, academic enrichment and teacher development," Ma writes. Republican lawmakers defended the cuts, saying the canceled grants focused on diversity and inclusion agendas -- not academics.

In Kentucky, the loss of grant funding means student counselors and supportive programming in rural counties will most likely come to a premature end, along with the student and staffing advantages they provided. 

In Shelby County, Ky., where federal spending "makes up about 18% of schools’ budgets," Ma reports. "The programs are not political, Superintendent Joshua Matthews said, and the funding loss only hurts students."

Matthews told Ma, "We’re not promoting anything one way or the other.”

The Department of Education recently announced a new round of mental health grants, but these funds require schools to hire psychologists, not counselors. Unfortunately, there is a national shortage of school psychologists and rural schools that attempt to recruit one will compete with larger, more urban schools.

States receive notice of how much money they will receive from the $10 billion Rural Health Transformation Program

Texas was awarded $281 million and New Jersey 
$147 million by CMS. (Adobe Stock photo) 

The wait is finally over for rural health care officials and advocates across the U.S., who have been "hotly debating" how much of the newly formed $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program their state will receive. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced their awards last week.

The five-year program divides half of the $10 billion-per-year distribution equally among the states; however, the division of the remaining $25 billion was "determined by the CMS based on how well the states’ pitches met goals of strengthening rural health prevention, standing up sustainable access, developing a rural workforce and introducing innovative care delivery and technology," reports Dave Muoio of Fierce Healthcare. 

CMS paired its award listing with an abstract of each state's application. "Only a subset of states have so far opted to make their full applications available to the public," Muoio explains. The complete list of state funding awards is here.

All 50 states received awards from the second half of the funds, with Texas and Alaska garnering the largest awards, and New Jersey and Connecticut receiving the smallest funding amounts. Some factors involved in the selective division included each state's rural population and the number of residents living in frontier regions.

While rural hospitals and providers have voiced support for the program, many are cautious about how much the new funding can do to balance "the nearly $1 trillion of nationwide Medicaid cuts expected over the coming decade," Muoio adds.

Last month, CMS announced the formation of a new office to manage the Rural Transformation Program and its funds.

Supreme Court's ruling on mail-in ballot deadlines could have an outsized impact in rural areas

Both Republicans and Democrats have large numbers
of voters who mail their ballots. (Adobe Stock photo)

The U.S. Supreme Court plans to rule on mail-in ballot deadlines this term, which could have an outsized impact on a subset of voters, including thousands of rural voters, should the court decide that ballots arriving after Election Day must be tossed.

The case centers on a Mississippi law that allows mailed ballots to be counted even when they arrive after Election Day, but roughly "18 states and territories accept such late-arriving ballots as long as they are postmarked by Election Day," report Nick Corasaniti and Christine Zhang of The New York Times.

Should the court decide that all votes must be received by Election Day, mail-in voters from rural areas will be challenged to mail their votes early enough to be counted.

Voters in the southwestern town of Medford, Oregon, provide a good example. When a Medford voter mails a ballot from the local post office, it doesn't go to the "town clerk’s office only a few miles away," the Times reports. "Instead, it travels about 280 miles north on Interstate 5 to Portland, to get a postmark stamped, before returning to the Medford elections office to be counted."

Rural mail services are also more likely to be delayed by local weather conditions or traffic bottlenecks due to bad weather or natural disasters far from their zip codes.

States with sprawling rural areas and high electoral college numbers, such as California, Texas, Illinois, and New York, currently allow late-arriving ballots to be counted. Should the Supreme Court ax that allowance, both parties could see Election Day impacts.

No matter what the Supreme Court decides, ongoing election education can remind citizens how and when to vote. David Becker, from the Center for Election Innovation and Research, told the Times, "For people who are voting once every four years, or once every two years, they’re not familiar with all these procedures and changes."

Dollar General settles multiple suits for $15 million. Suits claim the chain regularly overcharged customers.

Dollar General headquarters in Goodlettsville, Tenn.
(Wikipedia photo)

Dollar General, a company that promises affordable food and staples in communities with few options, agreed to a $15 million settlement after being accused of consistently charging higher prices at the register than the prices it displayed on shelves. Many rural and urban customers can apply for repayments, reports Barry Yeoman of The Guardian.

The settlement ends lawsuits in several states that claimed Dollar General "overcharged customers at many of its 20,000 U.S. stores," Yeoman writes. "Many of the stores are located in rural towns and low-income urban neighborhoods with limited retail."

The day before the $15 million settlement was announced, Dollar General announced it settled for $1.55 millions with the state of Pennsylvania to "resolve similar allegations," Yeoman adds. "The chain’s 900 Pennsylvania stores failed more than 40% of their pricing accuracy inspections between 2019 and 2023."

Provided the $15 million is approved by a New Jersey court in March, shoppers will be able to file a "claim award starting at $10 and rising to the full amount of the overpayment," Yeoman explains. Filers will need to provide documentation proving the overcharge, such as receipts or photos of receipts and shelving sale signs.

"Consumers who cannot supply documentation can still claim a $3 discount on one $10 purchase, available on certain days," Yeoman reports. "The company has denied wrongdoing in the cases."

Small Nebraska town tries to steady itself after Tyson Foods announces meat processing plant closure

The Tyson Foods beef processing plant in Lexington, Nebraska, wasn't just a slaughterhouse that offered good wages and steady employment; it was the rural town's hub. The company's announcement in November that it would be closing the plant due to financial losses in the meatpacking industry in early 2026 shocked the community," report Scott Calvert and Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. 

Once a town of roughly 6,600 residents, with a small Hispanic population, the 35-year-old Tyson plant helped Lexington's population grow and its demographics change. Calvert explains, "By 2000, its population rose to 10,000, half of them Hispanic, a share that now stands at 65%."

Once the plant closes later this month, an economic and social domino effect is likely to change the town again. "An exodus of residents would slash local school enrollment and the customer base for area businesses," the Journal reports. "Truckers, feedlot operators and cattle ranchers face hits to their bottom line without the Lexington facility." 

Location of Lexington within Nebraska 
and Dawson County (Wikipedia map)

Lexington’s city manager, Joe Pepplitsch, remains optimistic that the town can rebound from Tyson's closure. He told the Journal, "There’s a hell of a lot of positives here."

Government officials want Tyson to retrofit or sell the plant. They don't want the sprawling buildings sitting idle. Calvert writes, "A Tyson spokeswoman said the company is assessing how it can repurpose the facility."

Some plant workers have already quit and relocated to work at the JBS meatpacking plant about 90 miles east in Grand Island, Neb., while others have taken packing positions at Sustainable Beef in North Platte, Neb.