Quick hits: Dairy farming with a robot; CSA debate; Farmers' Almanac ends; rural hospital success; goodbye penny

A robotic milker takes the place of a hired hand as dairy
farmers face labor shortages. (Farm Progress photo)

Marlane Williams always dreamed of owning her own farm and milking her own dairy cows. Now she has both, along with a robot that helps out while she's at a day job that provides income stability. "Williams has held several jobs while trying to be a dairy farmer," reports Chris Six of Farm Progress. "She's owned a dairy farm in southwest Missouri since 2002 and says balancing both is tricky, but she feels blessed to have achieved her dream." Instead of trying to hire part-time labor, Williams purchased a Lely Astronaut milking robot to make sure her growing herd is milked twice a day.  

The debate over whether the Community Supported Agriculture model is dead or alive continues, with a fresh perspective from Ruth Katcher, who runs a thriving CSA for city folk in Brooklyn, New York. "I’ve been mulling over Lauren David’s thought-provoking article on whether we’ve outgrown the CSA model," Katcher writes for Offrange. "I have to admit she made some excellent points, especially about the appeal of models that offer more choice to consumers than traditional CSAs. . . . But the traditional CSA model has features I would hate to give up . . ." Read Lauren's essay here, and Katcher's full counter here.

Pecan trees don't have to be planted every year. 
(Photo by Elizabeth Hewitt, Reasons To Be Cheerful)

In a drastic turn from traditional row-crop agriculture, some Midwestern farmers are planting nut trees that are reviving soil depleted by corn and soybean plantings. "In 2017, Josh Payne planted 20 acres of chestnut saplings, growing commodity crops in wide rows between the trees," reports Elizabeth Hewitt for Reasons To Be Cheerful. "Payne is among a growing number of farmers looking to supplement or even replace common crops planted annually — like corn and soy — with various types of nut trees. . . which can provide a type of multi-generational resilience because they can generate income for decades."

U.S. Mint photos

The U.S. Treasury Department laid the U.S. penny to rest on Nov. 12 in Philadelphia after producing it for 232 years. Victor Mather of The New York Times reports, "Top Treasury officials were on hand for its final journey. No last words were recorded. The cost to mint the penny had risen to more than 3 cents, a financial absurdity that doomed the coin. The American penny was preceded in death by its smaller sibling, the half cent (1793-1857), and its cousin, the Canadian penny (1858-2012)."

Internal medicine residents at Billings Clinic 
in Montana. (Photo by Colton Adams via the Yonder) 

A community hospital in Billings, Montana, is bucking trends with its successful medical residency programs, which train new doctors who often decide to stay in the state and practice. "As rural areas across the country face worsening provider shortages and reductions in health care services, Billings Clinic is celebrating the success of two new residency programs training," reports Madeline de Figueiredo for The Daily Yonder. "Since launching its internal medicine residency program in 2014, Billings Clinic has graduated 75 physicians, with half now practicing in rural communities. The program’s outcomes stand out amid national trends, where only 11% of physicians work in rural areas."

After more than two centuries of publication, the Farmers' Almanac from Maine announced that 2026 is its last print run. "The 208-year-old, Maine-based publication that farmers, gardeners and others have relied on for planting guidance and weather predictions will publish for the final time," report Patrick Whittle and Kathy McCormack of The Associated Press. "The Farmers’ Almanac, not to be confused with its older, longtime competitor, The Old Farmer’s Almanac in neighboring New Hampshire. . . . The almanac cited the growing financial challenges of producing and distributing the book in today’s 'chaotic media environment.'" The first Farmers' Almanac was published in 1818.

Texas A&M study, supported by Texas Pecan Board, says pecans help prevent obesity and many other health issues

Pecans have thin shells and lots of meat. (Texas A&M)

"Daily consumption of pecans has been shown to prevent obesity and a host of related health issues like fatty liver disease and diabetes, according to a collaborative study by Texas A&M AgriLife scientists," the university reports, citing a study also funded by the Texas Pecan Board and the Texas Department of Agriculture. 

“Obesity and diabetes numbers are increasing in modern society worldwide, and the trend in high fat diet consumption is one of the main reasons, besides lifestyle and genetic predisposition,” said Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, a professor of horticulture and food science. “People are searching for healthier options, and we have now shown pecans are a healthy tool consumers have in their hands.”

Cisneros-Zevallos was principal investigator for the study, which provides scientific evidence supporting traditional knowledge in the Americas that pecans are highly nutritious, said Amit Dhingra, head of the Department of Horticultural Sciences at Texas A&M. The study also involved a team at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubiran in Mexico.

“We now know what potential mechanisms underlie that nutritional benefit,” Dhingra said. “Our department is focused on the areas of sustainability, wellness and food security, and this research illustrates the relevance of horticultural crops for human health.”

 
Researchers applied pecans and high-fat diets to mice models and found that pecans increased energy expenditure, reduced inflammation and imbalances of microbes, and helped with digestion, liver function and muscle function.

Cisneros-Zevallos said pecans reduced low-grade inflammation that leads to chronic inflammation and the development of a range of prevalent diseases, as well as maintaining body weight and preventing diabetes even with a high-fat diet.

Climate change will continue to help a pest flourish and hurt California nut tree crops, university study predicts

A navel orangeworm fly on a pistachio.
(University of California photo)

California is the world's leading producer of almonds, walnuts and pistachios, but climate change may render a pest that threatens these crops an even bigger threat, according to a new scientific paper. 

The navel orangeworm costs nut growers millions of dollars in losses every year. The insect produces three or four generations per year, but a recently published study from the University of California predicts that a warming climate will help the pest thrive, Liza Gross reports for Inside Climate News. 

According to the study, "warming temperatures may help the dreaded pest wreak even more havoc in at least two ways, including expanding their range into previously inhospitable areas and accelerating their reproductive rates, boosting their numbers," Gross reports. "A fifth navel orangeworm generation will emerge in almonds and walnuts in three southern counties by 2040 and eight more by 2100, according to the predictions. But in pistachios the fifth generation appeared in seven southern counties by 2040 and 17 counties by 2100. The findings flag the state’s pistachio crop—valued at nearly $2 billion—as the most vulnerable to damage and economic losses. "

$4 billion in EU tariffs on jets, farm products etc. to hit Tue.

Starting Tuesday, the European Union will impose tariffs on $3.99 billion in U.S. good annually, including agricultural goods. The move, sanctioned last month by the World Trade Organization, is part of a long-running dispute over airplane subsidies for Boeing and Airbus jets, Laurence Norman and Daniel Michaels report for The Wall Street Journal.

"On Monday evening, the EU said the U.S. products to be targeted with the 25% duty would include tobacco, nuts and seeds, spirits, sauces, soups and syrups, self-propelled shovel loaders, tractors and proteins," Norman and Michaels report.

Invasive species that ruins grapes, hops, fruits, nuts and hardwoods is spreading from Pennsylvania

A spotted lanternfly. (Penn State photo by Michael Houtz)

The spotted lanternfly, a pest that munches on grapes, hops, fruit, nuts and some hardwoods, is spreading in the eastern U.S. Though the insect is native to China, it was first seen in Pennsylvania in 2014 and has been spreading since then, Bill Lucia reports for Route Fifty.

As of this year, the spotted lanternfly has been found in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey. They don't bite, sting, or carry human diseases, but they do post a serious threat to farmers, especially those with vineyards, Lucia reports. Some Pennsylvania vineyards have reported up to a 90 percent crop loss.

"With this in mind, state and federal agencies have been waging a pricey war against the insect, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture allotting about $50 million—roughly $30 million of it in the past fiscal year—and Pennsylvania budgeting $3 million annually during the past two years for anti-lanternfly efforts," Lucia reports. "California’s agriculture department is also funding lanternfly research, including a project exploring the possibility of deploying small wasps as potential combatants. The spotted lanternfly has yet to establish a population in the major agricultural—and wine producing—state, but has turned up ominously on airplanes landing there."

Heather Leach, a spotted lanternfly expert at Pennsylvania State University's extension office, said the lanternfly will almost certainly keep spreading because of its lack of natural predators in the U.S. Predictive models show that it could most easily spread in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, but that it would also probably thrive in the Midwest and West Coast, Lucia reports.

Researchers are trying to figure out safe ways to kill the pest with natural methods like fungi and wasps, but say there's probably not a silver bullet solution. Some enterprising Philadelphia residents have even tried to gamify killing the bugs with an app called Squishr where Philly residents can compete to see who can log the most kills.