Quick hits: The nuttiest ride on the road; be present for your neighbors; Roy the renegade farmer; heirloom seeds

The Nutty Cruiser is sharing joy and almonds as it tours the U.S. (Blue Diamond photo via Atlas Obscura)

You're driving down a lonesome stretch of American highway and there you see one of the wackiest rides ever made. It's Blue Diamond's “Nutty Cruiser” taking a road trip that celebrates everything about almonds. "This spring, a new giant food-shaped vehicle has rolled out of the shop," reports Anne Ewbank for Atlas Obscura. "The Nutty Cruiser, by the way, is a 20-foot-long almond on wheels." The Nutty Cruiser will be rolling down streets on this schedule. While you're at it, here's the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile travel schedule and the The Big Idaho Potato Truck travel plans.

The price of beef keeps climbing and meatpackers are doubling down to make sure nothing gets wasted. "U.S. meat companies are embracing 'white bone' programs, aiming to pick every carcass clean as they move down processing lines," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. "America’s cattle supply is at its lowest level since 1951. . . . That has helped push cattle markets in Chicago to a record high in January, almost 20% higher than they were two years ago."

The late Imelda Gorman knew how to show up for
her neighbors. (Photo via Hoptown Chronicle)

One of the best things we can do for each other is to be present during good times and bad. In her Hoptown Chronicle essay, Jennifer P. Brown shares an inspirational glimpse of the late Imelda Gorman, a woman who excelled at the simple act of being there for others. "Imelda’s willingness to show up was the quality that I most admired in her. Over and over, she was present for her friends and for her community in small everyday moments and in big milestone events. . . . . Imelda made many of us feel like we were part of her family. She left us with an important lesson. It’s simple. Show up."

Roy Pfaltzgraff tossed conventional agriculture practices out his tractor window years ago. His non-conformist row crop operation "is set to push even further to the blade’s edge," reports Chris Bennett of Farm Journal. "In 2025, Pfaltzgraff intends to begin installation of a full-time, on-farm education center. Annually, he has six to eight research projects across his operation." Pfaltzgraff told Bennett, "We’re going to build an online community, Seeding Circles, that teaches farmers where and how to find markets and brings buyers to growers. I want to show people a way to recruit food companies and know what’s being asked for.”

Heirloom seeds can bring new joy and richness into any gardener's plot. "Heirloom seeds are fun to grow, but more importantly, these old cultivars play a role in global food security," reports Lisa Prater Foust of Successful Farming. "Seed Savers Exchange, based in Decorah, Iowa, is home to the largest non-government seed bank in the United States. Members and nonmembers of Seed Savers Exchange can participate in a seed swap program, and many varieties are available for purchase online at seedsavers.org."

As winter fades and spring emerges, all of nature begins to change. And while many people welcome the fleeting time when spring blooms all around, all changes come with some degree of tension. In her story for Hoard's Dairyman, Emily Barge reminds us to intentionally look for ways to reduce stress and increase enjoyment in daily life with these five steps:

• Take a breather outdoors and make time for mindful moments.
• Spend a few minutes just talking.
• Find ways to prioritize family time.
• Take a moment to be proud of your hard work.
• Celebrate the small victories.

Many U.S. farmers use Syngenta pesticide, which is owned by China. Its CEO is working to keep farmers' trust.

Jeff Rowe is working to overcome U.S.-Chinese tensions
by being trustworthy partner. (Syngenta photo)

Farm country isn't exempt from U.S.-Chinese tensions, but Syngenta's new chief executive, Jeff Rowe, is working to smooth ruffled feathers and keep American farmers' trust.

"For years, Syngenta Group has been considered a critical partner to thousands of American farmers. Rowe is trying to ward off a different perception: that it poses a threat to U.S. national security," reports Patrick Thomas of The Wall Street Journal. While Syngenta's headquarters are in Switzerland, it is a subsidiary of China National Chemical, a "state-owned enterprise known as ChemChina. . . . The company has faced mounting roadblocks to its business in the U.S. . . ."

Concern over foreign ownership of U.S. farmland and companies has increased over the past decade. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has warned that "'Chinese ownership of companies needs careful review because you can have access to information concerning seeds, technology, and so forth,'" Thomas reports. "Last fall, Arkansas became the first U.S. state to order a Chinese-owned company, Syngenta, to sell its farmland."

Rowe is an Illinois farmer and past executive for DuPont Pioneer. "Despite living in Switzerland, he travels back to his hometown of Princeton, Ill., a city of about 8,000 people, a few times a year to help plant and harvest a couple of thousand acres of corn and soybeans," Thomas writes. 

Rowe understands that some policymakers are skeptical of Syngenta's intentions. He told Thomas, "Despite the publicity, we’re out in the local communities — farmers know us and respect us. If I see someone on the street in Princeton, they think, ‘That’s Jeff Rowe. I know who that is — he’s not a Chinese spy.’"

Rowe's mission is to create a bridge "between the two countries. Syngenta said that it isn’t a political organization and that legislators’ actions are potentially harmful to U.S. farmers and the agricultural market," Thomas adds. "Greg Rebman, an Illinois farmer, says he uses Syngenta pesticides for their effectiveness. If a conflict were to break out between the U.S. and China, he said he would be more hesitant to buy Syngenta’s products—but, for now, it’s a secondary issue."

Flora & Fauna: A threatened tree and its bird; bear hunting; the expensive loss of seed breeders; broadband for turkeys

Clark's nutcracker
(Photo by Emilie Chen, Flickr)

"The unlikely love story of an endangered tree and the little bird who eats its seeds," is an interesting article by Matt Simmons, a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter for The Narwhal. "Alana Clason studies mountain ecosystems and leads an extensive, complex restoration project in northwest British Columbia focused on protecting whitebark pine, an endangered tree species. . . . Whitebark has been in decline for over a century. . . . Studying the bird — a member of the corvid family called Clark's nutcracker — is one part of figuring out how to keep the tree around for generations to come." Clason told Simmons, "The nutcracker is the only dispersal agent for whitebark."

Floridians have had enough and are putting the squeeze on their problematic python population. "Though Florida is a hot spot for invasive species, pythons are particularly tricky — a January study by the U.S. Geological Survey called them 'one of the most intractable invasive-species management issues across the globe," writes Rachel Fobar of National Geographic. "Over the last few decades, these gigantic reptiles have wrought havoc on the state's ecosystems. . . . Certain data shows that killing the pythons one by one is the best option compared with trapping, using dogs, luring snakes using pheromones, and other methods."

A different three bears.
(Photo by Parth Panchal via Lancaster Farming)

Some people go on bear hunts to harvest a bear, but Stephanie Speicher of Lancaster Farming went on her hunt to see one in the wild and bask in the Apex predator's majesty. "When our friend came walking into our cabin saying someone got a bear, I thought he was pulling my leg," Speicher writes. "Later that night, we took a walk down the road to see the bear (a dead bear still doesn't count in my quest, by the way). . . . He was about 200 pounds and was a beautiful animal. . . . I might never get so close to a bear again, so I took the opportunity to give him a little pet on the head. Bears have very soft ears for anyone wondering."

The U.S. is losing its public seed breeders while corporations work on consolidation. "Public plant breeders — often academics at land grant universities — are typically focused on creating plant and seed types that remain in the public domain, meaning the final product is available to any interested researcher or farmer. But public breeders are becoming all the more rare," reports Shea Swenson of Ambrook Research. "The companies control major seed-breeding programs, which then patent and restrict other breeders from access to the crops' genetics — resulting in fewer and more expensive options for row crop farmers."

Photo by Jake Hilton, Hakai

This hurdle-climbing baby green sea turtle can be a poignant reminder, "Even with good intentions, humans can still cause harm," writes Jake Hilton for Hakai magazine. "Hatchlings must make a perilous journey from nest to ocean. . . . this little hatchling was struggling to navigate through sandy footprints that onlookers had left in its path. . . . The spectators were innocently observing the newborns and inadvertently created an extremely difficult terrain for the turtles—slowing them down, making them more vulnerable to birds, and tiring them out more than nature intended. This would put them at greater risk of being preyed on by marine species once they entered the ocean."

Turkey farmers in Minnesota think better broadband could help farmers raise healthier chicks and fight bird flu, reports Christopher Vondracek of the Star Tribune. Poor internet connection can cause farmers "a range of problems," but seeing birds in person or on a camera is the best way to detect possible illness. "The addition of cameras could help give producers the ability to remotely monitor their animals for concerning signs — from a school event or even at the house during supper."

Smokey Bear's message has been the same for
80 years. (Photo by Jeenah Moon, AP)

After 80 years of fire prevention teaching, Smokey Bear needs "to get with the times," writes Sammy Roth of the Los Angeles Times. "Can't Smokey do more than advise us on campfire safety and backyard debris burning? . . . I'm hardly the first person to wonder if Smokey's message could expand. . . . Former Forest Service smokejumper Sarah Berns made a similar argument, writing that Smokey 'needs to become an unfiltered, microphone-wielding, unmuzzled spokesbear' capable of deeper public education. . . . Maybe Smokey could warn people against living in the wildland-urban interface?"

Environmental groups sue EPA over seeds coated with neonicotinoids, which are highly toxic to many insects

A pollen-loving honey bee (Shutterstock photo)

To curb neonicotinoids' harmful impact on pollinators, soil and water, "Environmental groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency over pesticide-coated seeds they say have 'devastating environmental impacts' and are spread largely without regulatory oversight," reports Tom Perkins for The Guardian. "The suit alleges the neonicotinoid seeds are now spread on about 150 million acres of U.S. farmland and up to 95% of the pesticide on the seed sheds, polluting nearby soil, water and air. The first "neonic," imidacloprid, was found to make seeds so dangerous to wildlife that just one could kill a bird.

"Neonicotinoids are a controversial class of chemicals used in insecticides widely spread on cropland to treat for pests, but which a growing body of science has found harms pollinators and other insects not targeted by the chemical," Smith explains. "Neonicotinoids work by destroying an insect's nerve synapse, causing uncontrollable shaking, paralysis and death." Amy von Saun, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit," told Smith, "They [neonicotinoids ] are highly toxic to pollinators, insects, birds, aquatic organisms that build the base of our food chain. Because the seeds represent so much neonicotinoid use, this is where all the devastation is coming from."

The plaintiffs seek more rules and oversight to address "the seeds' minimal and unenforceable labeling. The suit asks a judge to compel the agency to require stronger and enforceable labeling" and "challenges the EPA's exemption of the seeds from registration as pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act," Smith writes. "Registration would trigger closer scrutiny of their environmental and health impacts and force the EPA to weigh the seeds' benefits against their costs. The agency would have to show the seeds do not cause unreasonable or adverse effects to the environment, as is the standard under FIFRA."

Smith reports, "The chemicals are water-soluble and easily leach into soils and streams, and clouds of neonicotinoid-laced dust released during seed plantings have caused mass bee die-offs, the groups say. Neonicotinoids from three major producers affect about 75% of all endangered species, the EPA recently found, and the United Nations reported cropland is now about 50 times more toxic than just a quarter of a century ago, contributing to an 'insect apocalypse.' The chemicals are so destructive that the European Union banned their outdoor use while Canada has also imposed restrictions."

Despite its own findings, EPA has "claimed it has already thoroughly studied neonicotinoids and does not need to conduct reviews of the seed," Smith adds. "The CFS in 2017 petitioned the Trump EPA to re-examine its exemption for the seeds and ban them. The EPA ignored the petition until CFS sued in 2021 to force a response, and months later, the Biden EPA denied the petition. The new case challenges that denial as unlawful."

Flora/fauna nips: 4 apps to know them all; bunny rescues; Schmidt Sting Pain Index has marvelous descriptions

Image from Justin Schmidt's 2016 book The Sting of the Wild

Ever considered ranking the pain of insect stings? Entomologist Justin Schmidt did. He poetically described and ranked stinging powers from 'spicy' to 'shockingly electric' on his Schmidt Sting Pain Index, reports Lauren Young of Atlas Obscura. After being stung by a "fierce black polybia wasp," he had this to say. "A ritual gone wrong, satanic. The gas lamp in the old church explodes in your face when you light it." The index is featured in Schmidt's 2016 book The Sting of the Wild.

Arbor Day may have passed, but loving trees is timeless. Here's a delightfully deciduous list of tree reads. "Trees are fascinating: The oldest living organism on Earth is a tree, and forest biomes cover one-third of the Earth's surface. Trees provide fruit, spices, nuts, timber, shade, habitats, and oxygen, as well as absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."--Trees: An Illustrated Celebration by Kelsey Oseid.

Male Eastern Box Turtle (Box Turtle Conservation photo)

Box turtles need our help. "Various factors, most of them human-related such as exports for the pet trade and loss of habitat are causing the population of box turtles to dwindle. . . . If you do take a box turtle as a pet, do plenty of research in advance to know exactly what its needs are. The Box Turtle Conservation website is a great place to start. Another great resource to follow is Reptile.Guide.

Every flower, every plant, every tree: These four apps can help you identify them all, reports Michael J. Coren of The Washington Post. "Thanks to artificial intelligence trained on millions of observations, anyone with a smartphone can snap a picture or record a sound to identify tens of thousands of species, from field bluebells to native bumblebees. . . . I'm now on a first-name basis with most of my wild neighbors. It has reconnected me to a natural world I love, yet never studied deeply enough to know all its characters and settings. . . . The easiest to use is Seek."

Some rabbits have been rescued from tree branches.
(Photo by Eric Hopson, San Luis National Wildlife Refuge )

California's record-setting snowpack melt is great for ducks and fish. "Still for other animals, the rising waters are perilous. Just ask the bunnies," reports Lauren Sommer of NPR. "In the Central Valley, evacuations are underway for endangered riparian brush rabbits. The small brown cottontails, only about a foot long, are finding themselves stranded on small areas of dry land as nearby rivers overtop their banks. . . . A team from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has captured and moved more than 360 rabbits to higher ground to protect a species that's coming back from the brink of extinction."

Radioactive dogs? "What we can learn from Chernobyl's strays . . . They've lived and bred inside the Exclusion Zone for generations—and scientists believe their DNA may transform our knowledge about the effects of radiation," reports Sharon Guynup of National Geographic. Elaine Ostrander, who runs the Dog Genome Project at the National Human Genome Research Institute, told her, "These Chernobyl dogs are valuable to science because they've lived and evolved in isolation for 15 generations since the disaster. They die young, by three or four years old; 10 to 12 is normal for 75-pound dogs. . . . Ultimately, we want to know what happened to the genomic DNA that allowed [the dogs] to live and breed and survive in a radioactive environment."

How old must "a cultivar" be to be considered an heirloom? "Some experts say it is those that existed before 1951, when the first hybrid vegetable cultivars were developed. Others define it as any cultivar dating to 1940 or before. . . . Heirlooms are plant cultivars (cultivated varieties) that have been grown for decades, even centuries, and their seeds saved and passed down through families or communities," reports Therese Ciesinski of Lancaster Farming. "Heirlooms have a lot more going for them than simply adaptation. They are time-tested, with intense flavors that surpass anything at the supermarket. They are often more nutritious. You can save the seeds and grow the variety in the future . . . And growing heirlooms help preserve biodiversity and history."

As seed and food companies invest in Ukrainian farms, Ukrainian refugees trek to help tornado victims in Mississippi

Agriculture was responsible for 40% of Ukraine’s exports
before the war. (Photo by Julia Kochetova, Bloomberg News)

What's it like to farm while your country is at war? Ukrainian farmers can tell you. "Equipment has been destroyed, land has been expropriated and mined and export routes choked off. Financing is hard to come by," report Patrick Thomas and Alistair MacDonald of The Wall Street Journal. "Foreign countries and some of the world's largest agriculture companies are donating or lending hundreds of millions of dollars to Ukrainian farmers. . . . even as the war shows little sign of ending soon."

Farmers need seeds, which Ukrainian farmers struggle to afford. "Seed giants such as Bayer and Corteva have stepped in to help supply farmers with products for this year's harvest. Bayer said it had donated about 40,000 bags of corn and vegetable seed, worth about $2 million," Thomas and MacDonald write. "Bayer has said it was investing some $38 million in a seed plant in the country. Corteva said it intended to increase corn-seed production in the region by 30% over the next five years."

Ukrainian farmers also need export help. "Grain merchants including Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and Bunge have said they intended to keep shipping crops from the country," the Journal reports. Japan and Canada have also delivered aid, and "foreign banks, including Credit Agricole of France and Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International  have taken part in a government plan that has lent more than 5,000 farmers about $2.43 million," Thomas and MacDonald report. "For many Western companies, the help could bolster crucial partners struggling during the war. It also could preserve or strengthen these companies’ reputations with local farmers and their position in the country, which is an important agricultural exporter, analysts said."

Meanwhile, seven Ukrainian refugees who had resettled in Minnesota headed to Mississippi to help "several towns in Mississippi recovering from a devastating tornado that killed at least 25 in late March," reports Daniel Wu of The Washington Post. "They made the 16-hour drive south to donate bottled water and volunteer with aid workers, buoyed by the idea that they could help a community facing a similar struggle to theirs." Rfugee Denys Pavliuk told Wu through an interpreter, “We had to leave our home, and they don’t have a place to go back, either.”

From left: Viktoriia Hasiuk, Taras Zhmurko, Sofiia Rudenko, Iryna Hrebenyk, Dmytro Fedirko, Denys Pavliuk and Nazar Teteruk in front of the van of water bottles they delivered to towns in Mississippi on March 29. (Photo by The American Service via The Washington Post)

Flora/fauna quickies: How snails travel so far, pet-inspired art, what to do when baby bird falls from a nest, and more

Sybil Gorby with an heirloom tomato she grew
in her garden. (Courtesy family photo)

Big-vegetable photos aren't just for rural weeklies. The Washington Post spotlights Sybil Gorby, 92, who has been planting tomato seeds from the same lineage since 1965. "Sometimes, the seeds turn into giant heirloom tomatoes, including one from last year's harvest," reports Sydney Page. Gorby's daughter, Sandy Marody, "shared a photo of her mother holding the large fruit in a Facebook group called 'Appalachian Americans.'. . . . People were quite impressed with the photo of Gorby proudly cupping the supersized tomato in her hands."

The "alpha wolf" myth has a long history as a paragon of power and dominance. But new research shows the myth is false. Researcher David Mech describes the wolf as "one of the wildest and shyest of all the animals in the northern wilderness," reports Rivka Galchen of The New Yorker.

Thom van Dooren wonders this about snails: "How do organisms that are so sedentary end up being so incredibly widely dispersed?" Find out how these notoriously slow animals get around.

Robin fledgling (Photo by Jeanette Tasey, Audubon)

A baby bird is out of its nest. Now what? Do you attempt to help? Walk away feeling bad but not wanting to make things worse for the little guy? This timely article gives some advice. 

As a child, Jessica Gauley, a kayak tour operator, once romped about Honey Island Swamp in Louisiana. Now she's working to reclaim a wetland, reports Anya Slepyan of The Daily Yonder. "Poisonous pollutants from industrial plants had turned nearly 10 acres of the healthy, primeval swamp into a toxic wasteland. . . . She calls the area the 'kill zone' because of the contaminants' toll on the local wildlife. . . . Gauley began cleaning up the kill zone, one kayak-load of trash at a time. . . . . a tour group she lead offered to help her. . . .The zone still has a long way to go, but Gauley has already started workshopping a new name for the area: the resurrection swamp."

Calling all pet artwork! Beth Novey of National Public Radio zipped out a missive asking for submissions, "We were curious to see what other pet-inspired artworks were out there, so we asked you to share some of yours, and dear readers, you did not disappoint. Below is just a small sampling of the hundreds of masterpieces we received." They've got a cat snow sculpture, "The Goatie Boys" Christmas drawing, Meow Lisa, and artwork with real horse hair.

Billy the Goat was a popular sight on Lake Cumberland
in Southern Kentucky. (Photo courtesy of Matthew Blum)

A huge Kentucky lake has lost one of its longtime fauna friends. "Billy the Goat, a wild creature who had made his home along the busy shores of Lake Cumberland, is being mourned and remembered by the legions of lake users who had taken a shine to him, after recently being found dead, apparently by gunshot," reports Christopher Harris of the Somerset Commonwealth Journal. "And like Billy's exploits in life, the news of his death has become something of a local viral sensation."

There's just no explaining some couples. "A rescue dog and goat are best friends. A shelter put them up for adoption as a pair," Cathy Free of The Washington Post reports. Jennifer Federico, director of animal services at the Wake County Animal Center, told Free, "It's a weird duo, but it works for them. Who are we to judge? They obviously love each other."

Native plants have oodles of benefits, but there's a shortage of native seeds; getting more begins with planning

Switchgrass is native to the Northeast. (Peganum photo via The Conversation)

When spring arrives, it's "planting time for home gardeners, landscapers and public works agencies across the U.S. And there's rising demand for native plants – species that are genetically adapted to the specific regions," report Julia Kuzovkina and John Campanelli for The Conversation, a platform for journalism by academics. "Native plants have evolved with local climates and soil conditions. . . . . They generally require less maintenance ... after they become established. They are hardier than non-native species. . . . Many agencies rank native plants as a first choice for restoring areas that have been disturbed by natural disasters or human activities like mining and development. Repairing damaged landscapes is critical for slowing climate change and species loss."

Using more native plants sounds easy enough, but it's not. "There aren't enough native seeds. This issue is so serious that it was the subject of a recent National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report. The study found an urgent need to build a native seed supply," Kuzovkina and Campanelli write. "As plant scientists who have worked on ecological restoration projects, we're familiar with this challenge." Kuzovkina and Campanelli are working to restore New England roadsides with native plants. Their problem-and-solution approach can be applied in most areas of the country.

They explain some of the challenges: "Restoration projects require vast quantities of native seeds – but commercial supplies fall far short . . . . Developing a batch of seeds for a specific species takes skill and several years of lead time to either collect native seeds in the wild or grow plants to produce them. Suppliers say one of their biggest obstacles is unpredictable demand from large-scale customers, such as government and tribal agencies, that don't plan far enough ahead for producers to have stocks ready."

Getting enough seeds takes cooperation and planning. "To tackle this problem, our team launched a project in 2022 with funding from the New England Transportation Consortium. Our goals are to increase native plantings and pollinator habitats with seeds from local ecotypes and to make our recommendations for roadside restoration with native grasses more feasible," The Conversation reports. "This led to the launch of the regional Northeast Seed Network, which will be hosted by the Massachusetts-based Native Plant Trust, a nonprofit that works to conserve New England's native plants. We expect this network will promote all aspects of native seed production in the region, from collecting seeds in the wild to cultivating plants for seed production, developing regional seed markets and carrying out related research."

Quick hits: Seed catalogues promise amazing produce; a round barn rises; the Audubon Society's complicated name

Illustration by Nolan Pelletier, The New Yorker

"Leafing through seed catalogues" is all kinds of fun, reports historian Jill Lepore, writing for The New Yorker. "They promise 40-pound beets, rhubarb that tastes like wine, tomatoes that look like stained-glass windows, and world salvation. It doesn't hurt to dream." Or to read Lepore's piece!    

One in six children lack access to clean underwear; a nonprofit is partnering with underwear maker to help.

Pollution exposure is tough on the human body, and skin is no exception. "Here's what we know about what pollution does to your skin, and what you can do about it," reports Courtney Rubin of The New York Times.

A little bit of StoryCorps from rural Tennessee is always good on a Monday: "Father And Son Look Back On A Life Filled With Music" with Jason Von Stein and Jim Von Stein.

The interior of Jay Branson’s round barn in Guthrie, Oklahoma 
(Photo by Hailey Branson-Potts, Los Angeles Times)

Some beautiful things can happen in the midst of loss or perhaps because of it. "Jay often was home alone with his grief. To stay sane, he went out to his backyard and started building the barn. . . . Although not exactly common, round barns have a long history in the U.S.," reports Haily Branson-Potts of the Los Angeles Times.

After a year of discussions, the National Audubon Society board voted to retain the organization's name despite John James Audubon's history as an enslaver and racist, reports Jesus Jiménez for The New York Times. "The decision faced sharp criticism from other birding groups across the country, including its own staff in the Bird Union." The society's website attempts to address the founder's failings: "His contributions to ornithology, art, and culture are enormous, but he was a complex and troubling character who did despicable things even by the standards of his day."

As winter hangs on, cattle raisers should remember that when "squatty, squishy bales make their way out of the ditch and into the cow, it can be costly," the University of Missouri advises. In other words, "Cheap hay isn't cheap."

High school basketball competitions can be fierce, but they can also bring out the best in people. "Martin County High School boys' basketball team was in the final quarter of a nail-biter of a game at a regional tournament in Pikeville, Ky., when live music suddenly started playing for them," reports Sydney Page of The Washington Post. "They knew it wasn't their school's small 23-member band — which could not attend the game because of a bus driver shortage. . . . The music was coming from the nearly 100-member band of a rival school. The score was tied in the tense game when the music started." The band was from Pike County Central High School.

Cropland values hit record highs, but skyrocketing prices for equipment and other inflation boost production costs

Agriculture Department chart; click to enlarge it

The Farm Belt is in a revival, with cropland values hitting record highs this year, but farmers worry about inflation and supply-chain disruptions, Jesse Newman and Bob Tita report for The Wall Street Journal.

"A months-long rally in prices for major agricultural commodities such as corn and soybeans is pushing up incomes for U.S. farmers and unleashing spending and investment that had been subdued for years, according to agricultural economists and executives," the Journal reports. The run-up in land and equipment prices that has followed could leave farmers exposed if big harvests send crop prices lower again, some economists said. Until recently, U.S. farmers were in the grips of an agricultural recession brought on by a world-wide crop glut. Starting last year, however, strong demand from China and poor weather in key growing regions fueled a sharp rise in prices for crops like corn and soybeans, which touched their highest levels in eight years during the spring. U.S. agricultural exports are expected to hit records in fiscal 2021 and 2022, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts."

The department's most recent Farm Income Forecast projected that net farm income would increase 20% this year to its highest level since 2013. But "inflation is also hitting the Farm Belt, boosting almost all farmers’ production expenses this year, including fertilizer and fuel," Newman and Tita report. "The USDA expects production expenses to rise by more than 7% in 2021, the agency said. Farmers’ bills for supplies such as seed and fertilizer bought for next year will be the highest ever," an agricultural economist at major farm lender Wells Fargo said.

Biden EPA says Trump administration dicamba decision was political; future for the herbicide is unclear

The Environmental Protection Agency's 2018 decision to reauthorize dicamba formulations was unduly influenced by political interference and ignored critical scientific evidence on the herbicide's risks, Emily Unglesbee reports for DTN/The Progressive Farmer. That's according to internal EPA email obtained by DTN and verified by the agency. Dicamba is notorious for drifting to nearby fields and killing crops and trees that aren't genetically engineered to resist it.

Michal Freedhoff, acting assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, sent an email to all OCSPP employees March 10 saying "political interference sometimes compromised the integrity" of the agency's science. "In 2018, OCSPP senior leadership directed career staff to: (1) rely on a limited data set of plant effects endpoints; (2) discount specific studies (some with more robust data) used in assessing potential risks and benefits; and (3) discount scientific information on negative impacts," she wrote. "This interference contributed to a court's vacating registrations based on these and other deficiencies, which in turn impacted growers' ability to use this product." 

Freedhoff is referring to a court decision in June 2020 that essentially banned sales of dicamba-based herbicides for the next six months after finding that EPA hadn't done its due diligence in 2018 when reauthorizing the chemical through December 2020. The decision caused widespread uncertainty among farmers who needed to make decisions about buying seed for the next year. But soon afterward, EPA told farmers they could use existing stores of dicamba through July. A federal appeals court upheld that call, but it was unclear whether dicamba would be legal in 2021 until October, when EPA reauthorized three dicamba formulations and limited states' ability to further restrict dicamba use.

"It's not immediately clear what EPA's new view of its 2018 dicamba registrations will mean for how the agency will manage its most recent dicamba re-registrations," which were released in October, Unglesbee writes.

$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.

Quick hits: USDA says don't plant random seeds from China; what rural hospitals can teach their urban peers

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.

Commentary: lack of indoor plumbing in marginalized communities is a too-often neglected environmental justice issue. Read more here.

A popular Instagram account raises funds for LGBTQ+ people in Appalachia, but it's not clear where the money actually goes. Read more here.

USDA warns people not to plant any random unsolicited seeds they get from China. Read more here.

What rural hospitals can teach their urban counterparts about patient engagement. Read more here.

Commentary: researchers need to use a combination of measurements to get the clearest picture of broadband's impact on the economy. Read more here.

Pandemic's disruptions of food chain come at vulnerable time, especially for farmers who raise both livestock, crops

Chart from The Counter (formerly New Food Economy), adapted to add one plant

The spread of the coronavirus in rural America threatens not only rural populations, but the nation's agricultural and manufacturing sectors, Michael Warren reports for CNN. Smithfield Foods and other major meatpacking companies (Tyson, Cargill, and JBS USA) have all shut down plants because workers tested positive for the virus that causes covid-19.

Farmers and ranchers have been scrambling to shift supply chains after restaurants shut down, and meatpacking plant closures have left many with animals they can't sell at a profit. "Kenny Burdine, a University of Kentucky agricultural economist who specializes in cattle markets, said that because of the uncertainty and the slowdown in production, prices have dropped 15 to 20 percent from January, depending on the age of the cattle," Janet Patton reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Hog farmers are in a similar bind.

The supply-chain disruption is all the worse because the pandemic is hitting at the time livestock-and-crop farmers usually sell cattle and use the money to buy seeds and fertilizer for spring planting. That could have long-term repercussions for farm income and the food supply, Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner Ryan Quarles told Patton. But while the processing-plant closures are a "legitimate concern," he said he believes it would take more to seriously disrupt the nation's food supply chain.

Some food manufacturers have temporarily shuttered because of sick workers, such as Flowers Foods, which recently closed a baked-goods plant in rural Tucker, Ga., after some of its 225 workers got the virus, Jesse Newman and Annie Gasparro report for The Wall Street Journal.

Hemp companies' bankruptcies illustrate industry's growing pains; stakeholders weigh in on proposed regulations

Two Kentucky hemp processing companies are facing bankruptcy after months of financial problems, highlighting the regulatory problems that plague the fledgling industry.

Three creditors, owed more than $50,000 altogether, recently filed an involuntary-bankruptcy petition to force GenCanna, one of the state's largest hemp processors, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. "GenCanna is also in arbitration with a group of Central Kentucky farmers who sued in October for $5 million over a failed joint venture," Janet Patton reports for the Lexington Herald-Leader. Among other things, the farmers allege that GenCanna didn't provide them with hemp to plant until it was too late in the growing season to make other arrangements, which forced them to accept poor-quality plants and sign "horrific" contracts.

"Separately, GenCanna was sued last year for more than $13 million over debts related to a Graves County processing plant" it's building, Patton reports. Last week, accounting firm Dean Dorton filed suit in Fayette Circuit Court, alleging that GenCanna owes it more than $500,000 in services.

GenCanna isn't the only Kentucky hemp company in bankruptcy court. In January, Sunstrand owner William "Trey" Riddle filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate assets. "According to that filing, Riddle and Sunstrand have between $100,001 and $500,000 in assets but owe more than $10 million," Patton reports. "It is unclear if Sunstrand, which specializes in using hemp fiber in a variety of materials, is still operating."

The companies' bankruptcies may reflect legal uncertainty in the hemp industry. The 2018 Farm Bill authorized its widespread cultivation, but left regulations largely up to states. The lack of federal regulation has led to interstate-commerce problems, and the crop's popularity has outpaced state laws governing its growth and distribution. Hemp farmers have also had a hard time with banking, and a lack of financial protections when processors or distributors don't keep their end of the bargain.

Many stakeholders are frustrated with the Wild West atmosphere, as evidenced by the 2,500-plus public comments the U.S. Department of Agriculture received on its proposed regulations for hemp production. Though some commenters complained that federal rules could hamper the industry, "Most commenters were glad to have some guidance after being stuck in regulatory limbo for much of 2019," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico's Morning Agriculture.

The American Farm Bureau Federation asked that the USDA develop a seed certification program for farmers who buy seeds from foreign countries. Such seeds might produce plants with too much tetrahydrocannabinol (the chemical in cannabis that produces a high), and that could jeopardize the crop's ability to qualify as hemp, McCrimmon reports.

"The National Farmers Union took issue with the rule’s 'negligence' threshold: If a plant exceeds a 0.5 percent level of THC, farmers risk losing their license. NFU said that’s too rigid, especially in the early years as producers try to develop best practices for growing hemp," McCrimmon reports. Bumping up the legal THC threshold is also one of the Farm Bureau's 2020 policy goals.

The U.S. Hemp Roundtable, a lobbying group that represents companies that sell hemp products, said they disagreed with the requirement that only labs certified by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration can be used to test hemp, McCrimmon reports. That could lead to testing bottlenecks, the group said.

USDA publishing rule to ease widespread hemp production, which could help the young industry's growing pains

The Department of Agriculture is publishing a final rule today allowing farmers to legally begin widespread hemp production. It has "requirements for licensing, maintaining records on the land where hemp will be grown, testing the levels of THC — the active ingredient in marijuana that causes a high — and disposing of plants" that could, David Pitt reports for The Associated Press.

The rule comes none too soon. Though the 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp production, the industry has had growing pains as the crop's booming popularity has outpaced laws to govern its growth and distribution. Farmers have also had difficulties with banking and a lack of financial protections when distributors and processors don't live up to their promises. An article by Janet Patton in Kentucky's Lexington Herald-Leader gives examples; other states are seeing similar issues.

A group of Kentucky farmers filed suit against hemp processor GenCanna Oct.11, saying it had exploited their lack of legal and financial protection. They and GenCanna had agreed to buy a building from the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association for $1.2 million and turn it into a hemp-drying facility, but the farmers say the company never provided a promised dryer. They "also allege that GenCanna didn’t provide them with hemp to plant until it was too late in the growing season to make other arrangements, forcing them to accept 'horrific' contracts and plants that have produce a lower yield crop," Patton reports. Some small-time Ohio Valley hemp farmers have formed a cooperative, partly to gain a stronger position in bargaining with processors.

Seed quality is another problem. Lexington hemp company Elemental Processing sued Oregon-based HP farms for $44 million, alleging HP farms sold them the wrong kind of seed. Farmers need the CBD-rich "feminized" seeds, but it's impossible to tell the sex of a hemp seed until it grows. "According to the lawsuit, farmers planted 1,100 acres that had to be plowed under after the plants turned out to be male, costing the company millions," Patton reports.

Hemp processors and distributors are also facing problems, since banks are reluctant to lend to them, Patton reports. Until very recently, even major legal cannabis operations in states like California were obliged to operate as cash-only businesses because banks refused to deal with them. Things should be a little more stable in the hemp industry soon, since the the 2018 Farm Bill stipulates that hemp will be eligible for crop insurance starting next year, Patton reports.

In Vermont, the hemp supply has exceeded demand, so prices have plummeted. One processor told VtDigger that he paid $100 to $150 per pound for it last year, but this year he has paid $20 to $55.

Hemp's most powerful backer in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, said in a floor speech today about the USDA rule, "Our work to support the future of hemp is hardly over. There are ongoing conversations with the FDA on CBD products. Ongoing work to help growers and retailers to access credit and financial products. There will inevitably be ups and downs as this new industry develops, but today’s announcement is another crucial step."

Quick hits: documentary explores rural Indiana; W.V.a House race has become a coal industry proxy war

Here's a roundup of stories with rural resonance; if you do or see similar work that should be shared on The Rural Blog, email us at heather.chapman@uky.edu.
Agricultural Economic Insights offers a deep dive into trends in corn and soybean seed expense. The gist: seed expense per acre and per bushel has increased dramatically since 2000. Read more here.

New documentary Monrovia, Indiana offers an in-depth portrait of a rural Midwestern town. Read more here.

A House race in W.Va. has become a coal industry proxy war, pitting a candidate supported by coal executives against one supported by mine workers. Read more here.

Justice Dept. will allow Bayer to buy Monsanto, WSJ reports

"The Justice Department has decided to allow Bayer AG’s megadeal to acquire Monsanto Co., valued at more than $60 billion, after the companies pledged to sell off additional assets to secure government antitrust approval, according to people familiar with the matter," Brent Kendall and Jacob Bunge of The Wall Street Journal report. "The companies still need some additional approvals, including from regulatory bodies in Canada and Mexico."

"An agreement in principle between the companies and the department, brokered in recent days, marked a breakthrough in the U.S. merger review process, which had remained in limbo because of Justice Department concerns about the deal," the Journal reports. "Bayer Chief Executive Werner Baumann and Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant recently met with Justice officials in Washington to help secure an agreement, people familiar with the matter said."

Bayer, a pharmaceutical-chemical firm based in Germany, is a major manufacturer of pesticides. Monsanto, based in St. Louis, "is a market leader on seeds and crop genes," the Journal notes. "The deal, which was announced in September 2016, would make Bayer the world’s biggest supplier of pesticides and seeds for farmers. The European Union last month conditionally approved the deal after Bayer agreed to sell off more than $7 billion worth of assets to rival BASF SE . The sales include Bayer’s soybean and cottonseed businesses, as well as Bayer’s glufosinate weedkiller, which competes against Monsanto’s Roundup."

Big ag's monopoly of seeds and chemicals bad for farmers, Missouri Farmers Union president writes

A handful of agriculture corporations are monopolizing the seed and chemical business, leading to too little market competition, Missouri Farmers Union President Richard Oswald writes for the Daily Yonder. "For as long as agriculture has relied on chemical pesticides and fertilizers, we’ve been equally dependent on chemical companies to supply those needs. But competition among a number of chemical companies traditionally has been reduced or eliminated over the years as one consolidated company hooks up with another."

"Then, thanks to laws that allowed them to patent genes, Monsanto got into one of the most disjointed, independent agricultural industries: seeds. There were once hundreds of small seed companies across the Midwest that sprang up to serve the needs of farmers for public varieties of everything from corn, wheat, and soybeans, to alfalfa," Oswald writes. "These small companies were easy picking for a patent-wielding pro like Monsanto. Monsanto is now the largest seed-selling corporation in the world."

Bayer is looking to acquire Monsanto, Chem China is acquiring Sygenta and DuPont and Dow are merging, meaning that three companies will own half of all global seed sales.

"Bayer wants to buy Monsanto for all the reasons Monsanto used when it bought out its own competition—because they say the world needs a more productive agriculture to meet the needs of a growing population," Oswald writes. "In truth, the real reason is most likely that corporations see a clear path to higher profits through acquisition."

"Those big companies at the head of the problem won’t reduce prices because they don’t have to," Oswald writes. "They control access and the markets where those inputs are sold. Even though seeds are really just grain, and pesticides and fertilizer are many times just petroleum-related products. Lower grain and oil prices don’t translate into savings for farmers. The only way these companies will reduce their prices is if farmers stop buying from them. And the only way that would happen is if farmers had the choice to purchase from a competitor. Or because the farmers went broke." (Read more)

Quinoa getting so popular that it could become a big thing in California, No.1 agricultural state

Quinoa ("KIN-wah"), a native crop of South America's Andes Mountains, could be on the verge of being the next big California-grown crop that feeds the nation, Geoffrey Mohan reports for the Los Angeles Times. If quinoa, which is now being harvested in Southern California's Imperial Valley, near the Mexican border, "proves profitable here, California could dominate yet another niche crop, as the grain-like seed graduates from health-craze fad to a popular ingredient in energy bars, cereals and even drinks. Acreage dedicated to quinoa may reach into the thousands in the next two years in California, a state that already is a hub for quinoa imported from South America. That's about where kale was in 2007 before it took off." (Times photo by Irfan Khan: Quinoa grown in Southern California)

"Chenopodium quinoa is not a grain, but a pseudo-cereal, an herbaceous annual that's a cousin to beets, chard and spinach and offers a balanced suite of 10 amino acids. Its leaves make a sweet pesto, but it's the seeds that land on consumers' plates," Mohan writes. "There are at least 120 varieties of quinoa, and plant scientists have sifted through most of them trying to figure out which can grow well outside the high and dry altiplano that sprawls across Peru and Bolivia." Quinoa has been grown in the U.S. in Colorado, the Pacific Northwest, Idaho, Northern California, and now in the heart of the Sonoran Desert in Southern California.

"Andean nations now export more than 40,000 tons of quinoa, valued at $111 million—a nearly 40-fold increase since 2002, according to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Program," Mohan writes. "More than half of that goes to the U.S." One concern among U.S. growers new to the product is that quinoa "is nearly identical to lambsquarters (Chenopodium album), an invasive weed that can be toxic to livestock and hosts a virus that can ruin alfalfa, which is planted on more acreage in Imperial Valley than any other crop, and ranks second in sales value only to the cattle that eat it." (Read more)