Farmers spent 63% more for diesel this year than last, and recent moves in wars have sent diesel futures up 20%

American farmers who planted corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice this year spent 63 percent more on diesel fuel than they did last year, according to a report from the Democratic members of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

The study "calculated the increase in overall diesel spending by farmers across the U.S. using diesel price data from the American Automobile Association and the Energy Information Administration, estimates of average fuel use by crop and field operation from U.S. Department of Agriculture and Iowa State University Ag Decision Maker research, and USDA data on 2025 and 2026 acreage and planting windows for corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, and cotton," a news release said.

"When diesel prices were at their peak during the spring 2026 planting season, the average farmer spent $1500 more to refill their farm’s on-site fuel tank . . . compared to the same high point during the 2025 planting season. In addition, farmers spent hundreds more to fill up just one tank of diesel for common tractors and grain trucks compared to last planting season."

The report blames the price increase on the Iran war and the tightening of supplies. The recent increase in hostilities, and Russia's new ban on exports of diesel after Ukrainian attacks on its refineries, have driven diesel futures prices up 20 percent, The Wall Street Journal reports.

USDA is sounding the alarm regarding a nationwide shortage of veterinarians that is impacting rural America

    

Rising concerns about a nationwide veterinarian 
shortage is alarming rural communities.

(Photo by Michael on Unsplash)

A nationwide veterinarian shortage involving 243 areas across 46 states has been identified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The record shortage is hitting rural communities particularly hard. According to a report produced by Iowa PBS, “The list of disciplines in need is a long one and includes rural mixed-animal practices, food-animal and livestock medicine, USDA and public health veterinarians, and some positions in animal rescue shelters.”

The report blames the shortage on a pandemic pet-ownership surge, rising educational costs and debt, professional burnout, and the benefits of life in urban versus rural environments. Laurel Bower interviewed several professors and professionals for the Market to Market show on the station. The recruitment issues were the same as those often mentioned when recruiting doctors for humans: the desire for personal time, time with families, low pay, lifestyle, or generally “work life balance.”

Minnesota veterinarian Dr. Jessica Fox reminded viewers that vet school grads are just starting out in life, maybe getting married and starting a family, and usually they are living in a city. “So, even if you had ideas of moving back home, maybe your partner doesn’t want to,” she said.

The report offered the surprising statistic that the U.S. has lost 90% of its large-animal veterinarians since World War II. Dr. Jennifer Quammen, President of the American Veterinary Medical Association told Bower, “Having veterinarians as the primary health care authority is very important to all of us …” not only locally but globally, with a “giant” economic impact. According to the USDA, just 4% of graduates are looking toward a large-animal practice.

Dr. Dan Grooms, dean of the Iowa State University College of Vet Medicine, summed the problem up by saying there is “no magic bullet” and that a variety of stakeholders will have to come together, including colleges, communities and state departments of agriculture. “Each of them probably have a little piece of the solution,” he said.

A rising cancer rate blamed on water quality in rural, red Iowa has become a looming midterm campaign issue

A series of issues affecting rural America is giving hope to Democrats as the midterm elections approach, including data centers that are supported by President Trump but opposed by many communities, concerns about health care access, Medicaid cuts by Republicans that threaten the future of clinics and hospitals, housing shortages and inflation. Now in heavily red rural Iowa, Politico reports that a rising cancer rate blamed on water quality is        overshadowing other issues and is “changing Iowa politics.”

Photo by Shawn Schroeder on Unsplash

From the report by Tom Philpott and Nina B. Elkadi: “Iowa’s lakes and ponds are often murky and fetid from algae blooms fed by fertilizer runoff, a byproduct of the state’s vast agricultural industry’s reliance on farming chemicals … People are angry and worried about the quality of the state’s water, the health risks it poses and its increasingly undeniable tie to the state’s signature industry: agriculture.”

Politicians in Iowa have been hesitant to criticize the industry, Politico reports, but candidates in both parties are taking shots at the big companies and their use of chemicals and fertilizer that they claim has seeped into drinking water and has the state’s cancer rate rising dramatically.

The issue not only has raised the hopes of Democrats seeking statewide office in November, but appears to have delivered victories to Republicans who are bucking the establishment wing of the party.

Perhaps the best example of the strength of the issue is in the positions of the candidates for Iowa secretary of agriculture. The Democrat, Chris Jones, accuses the large farming operations of trying to control nature, “ … and what has controlling nature done for us?,” he asks. “It’s polluted all our water. It’s really destroyed a lot of Iowa.” 

Jones’ Republican opponent is the current secretary of agriculture, Mike Naig, who Politico observes, “can’t run on water.” Naig once worked for Monsanto, the producer of Roundup, a controversial herbicide. Naig thinks farming operations can be convinced to voluntarily pollute less, which is the current approach, and rejects the need for regulation. In a June press release, Naig said, “We have made tremendous progress working with farmers and landowners and hundreds of public and private partners to incorporate responsible farming practices, but there’s no finish line when it comes to conservation.”

Angry voters want results, and the election may come down to who they believe will deliver on water quality. Jones observed that, “Cancer doesn’t care what party you belong to. Republicans don’t like drinking poisonous water any more than Democrats do.”

'Harm' under Endangared Species Act now means direct harm, not indirect, such as habitat loss; many states object

Protection of northern spotted owls in the Pacific Northwest
under the Endangered Species Act led to the end of logging
in their habitat. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service photo by Tom Kogut)

"The Trump administration is removing protections from the key places where endangered species live, saying states can keep the areas safe, but experts say states aren’t equipped for the task," Alex Brown reports for Stateline.

On July 10, the administration finalized regulations redefinng the word "harm" in the Endangered Species Act, to make it cover only cases where endangered animals are directly harmed. That ruled out such actvities as "logging projects that would cut old-growth trees where owls build their nests, and agriculture operations that diverted water from streams where salmon return to spawn," Brown explains.

A 2019 study of animals added to the Endangered Species List from 1975 to 2017 "found that only 17 percent of them faced threats from direct killing, while 81 percent faced habitat loss," Brown reports. The change means “You can destroy the resources a species requires as long as you don’t do it when the species is at home,” Karrigan Börk, a law professor and director of the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California Davis Institute of the Environment, told Brown.

"In public comments after the rule was initially proposed, wildlife agency leaders from both liberal and conservative states said the change would be a blow to their conservation efforts," Brown reports. "Wildlife officials in Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, New Mexico, New Jersey, Vermont and Wyoming also expressed concern about the loss of habitat protections, as did the Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, a nonprofit that represents state wildlife managers. Of the public comments reviewed by Stateline, only Alaska’s wildlife agency leader offered wholehearted support for the change. . . . Even if states were to pass laws and invest in programs to protect wildlife habitat, they would be unable to enforce those measures on federal land."

Federal officials said the change would let states "manage wildlife without burdensome federal regulations," Brown writes.  "But legal experts and wildlife veterans say that almost no states have endangered-species laws on the books that allow state officials to prevent habitat destruction in the name of saving wildlife. . . . Many wildlife experts also noted that state wildlife agencies are already underfunded as it is. Taking on the massive regulatory system that prevents developers and extractive industries from destroying critical habitat would require far more resources than those agencies have available. A coalition of environmental groups and tribal nations have filed lawsuits challenging the federal rollback."

Small communities, rural states are learning about housing development through a program that targets vacant lots

Empty lots like the one above present an opportunity 

to bring affordable housing to areas

 in need. (The Quiet Atlas, Unsplash.com)

Vacant lots across America have been left to grow out of control, collect trash thrown from cars driving by, to be used by neighborhood kids for pickup baseball, or just sit empty with the occasional for sale sign as decoration. But Andrew McKeever reports in The Daily Yonder about an initiative that seeks to use vacant lots toward solving the housing shortage in rural communities.

Housing officials in several states are studying a tool known as “Gentle Infill.” It helps develop partnerships between local non-profits, construction companies and regulators to build small, affordable housing that fits into the character of a neighborhood and avoids the common “Nimby” — not in my backyard — response.

The largely rural state of Vermont, McKeever reports, and other states, are taking a cue from the city of South Bend, IN, which has adopted the approach for several years. Tim Corcoran, director of planning and community resources in South Bend, said the effort has experienced more than just a little success. He said the city worked with small-scale builders and developers, guiding them through zoning and other problems, and even helping create a set of architectural designs.

“If you’re really genuine about helping address the housing crisis in your town,” Corcoran told McKeever,  “then you really need to look at the approval process very closely.” He said bringing together regulators and breaking down silos is key.

Vermont has a goal of building 30,000 homes by 2030. While there are obstacles, The Yonder reports, there is “near-universal agreement that more affordable workforce-missing middle housing is needed.” The statewide approach mirrors the one in South Bend. Teams have been scouring the state for three years looking for available lots, and they have adopted a plan called “Homes for All.” It streamlines approval processes for small-scale builders and developers and intends to offer pre-permitted designs in a variety of forms.

Ticks, including the dreaded lone star, becoming a concern over wider region of the country; season could last into fall

At top, the female lone star tick exhibits a “star” 

on her back (CDC image), and above, the male is 

black and red (Erik Kartis via Unsplash.com).

It’s tick season and public health officials are urging caution over a wider region of the country, particularly with respect to the lone star tick with a bite that can cause a red-meat allergy, or Alpha-Gal Syndrome. While the risk is still believed to be low, Maggie Astor reports in the New York Times that the spread of alpha-gal has increased in recent years due to a “warmer climate, land use changes and growing deer populations.”

Residents of the Northeast should be more concerned about blacklegged ticks and the spread of Lyme disease, Astor reports, but being aware is important still. The lone star is prevalent mainly in the South. Experts quoted in the story note the aggressive nature of lone star ticks, which “seek people out by sensing carbon dioxide … and may travel a few meters in pursuit.” Blacklegged ticks generally wait for contact.

For Stateline.org, Amanda Wartford reports an increase in emergency room visits for tick bites this year, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “This year’s current figures are preliminary and subject to change, but if they hold, this year’s rate may be the highest since 2017.” More states are increasing their monitoring of tick bites, so public health officials can make more accurate predictions.

Due to warmer weather across the country, tick season is expected to last into the fall.