Mega merger would create first coast-to-coast rail company in U.S.; farming and manufacturing sectors voice concerns

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern railroads signed an 
agreement to merge. (Photo by Tyler Silvest, DTN CC)

Union Pacific has announced plans to merge with its smaller rival, Norfolk Southern. The $85 billion merger would create the nation's first transcontinental railroad while giving Union Pacific the power "to reshape the movement of goods from grains to autos across the country," report Sabrina Valle, Shivansh Tiwary and David French for Reuters. "If approved, the deal would be the largest ever buyout in the sector."

The mega deal, which would connect 50,000 miles of track across 43 states, "will face lengthy regulatory scrutiny amid union concerns over potential rate increases, service disruptions and job losses," Reuters reports. "The 1996 merger of Union Pacific and Southern Pacific had temporarily led to severe congestion and delays across the Southwest."

Particularly at harvest time, railroad changes, costs, delays and timing can directly impact farming incomes. The National Grain and Feed Association said in a news release "that it will undertake an extensive evaluation of the proposed merger to better understand its implications for our industry," reports Mary Kennedy for Progressive Farmer.

The American Chemistry Council weighed in and cautioned against further rail mergers. ACC leadership told Kennedy, "The impact of a transcontinental merger between two of these railroads threatens to leave American manufacturers, farmers and energy producers with even fewer competitive options to ship by rail. . . . Many rail customers are currently dealing with high rates and unreliable service. Further consolidation within the rail industry is likely to make these problems worse."

The proposed merger "reflects a shift in antitrust enforcement under U.S. President Donald Trump's administration," Reuters reports. "Executive orders aimed at removing barriers to consolidation have opened the door to mergers that were previously considered unlikely. . . .The Union Pacific merger would give the company a 43% market share, dominating most categories of commodities."

After an immigration raid takes more than half of its labor force, a meatpacking company looks at ways to begin again

Immigration agents raided Glenn Valley Foods on June 10.
(ICE photo via Nebraska Examiner)

After Immigration and Customs agents arrested roughly half its labor force, meatpacking company Glenn Valley Foods in Nebraska is looking for ways to start over. 

The company had religiously used the federal system, E-Verify, to cross-check employees' eligibility to work in the U.S., but federal agents still arrested 76 workers "who they said were undocumented immigrants using false identification," reports Eli Saslow of The New York Times.

Before the raid, Glenn Valley Foods was expanding with "new hires, new manufacturing lines, and new sales records [as] one of the fastest-growing meatpacking companies in the Midwest," Saslow writes. "But, in a matter of weeks, production had plummeted by almost 70%. Most of the workforce was gone." 

Now, the company is piecing together a new workforce with a new human resource manager, Alfredo Moreno, who believes "the only way to truly prevent fraud is to scrutinize IDs with black lights and magnifying glasses to make sure they aren't fake, and then interview each potential employee in person," Saslow reports. "The government maintained that Glenn Valley employees had been using IDs that were stolen." 

The raid cost Glenn Valley days of business, but slowly, a barebones crew formed, and some lines restarted. Meanwhile, Moreno and his tiny HR staff are still using E-Verify along with their additional verification measures to try to hire as quickly as possible. Still, almost none of their applicants are U.S. citizens.

Since the raid, the company's owner, Gary Rohwer, has "received phone calls from strangers who accused him of 'stealing American jobs,'" Saslow writes. "But Nebraska [has] a work shortage, with only 66 qualified workers for every 100 positions. . . . 'There are some jobs Americans don’t want to do,' Rohwer tried explaining to one caller. 'We’re caught up in a broken system.'"

Given the new federal budget cuts, more affordable medical care for many Americans seems unlikely

Many Americans will pay more for health care in
the coming months. (Adobe Stock image)

Americans who hoped to see their medical costs decrease during the next four years are likely to be disappointed, as federal-level decisions aimed at cutting or reducing benefits take effect and other expenses are passed off to states and the public.

"Millions of people are expected to lose health insurance in the coming years as a result of the tax cut legislation, leaving them with fewer protections from large bills if they get sick or suffer an accident," reports Noam N. Levey of KFF Health News.

President Donald Trump "promised a rosier future while campaigning last year, pledging to 'make America affordable again' and 'expand access to new Affordable Healthcare,'" Levey writes. "Polls suggest voters were looking for relief."

People who purchase health insurance on state marketplaces can expect to see substantial increases over the next year, which may cause more people to drop coverage or opt for higher-deductible plans. Certain Medicaid enrollees may be required to cover copays up to $35.

For consumers who can’t pay their medical bills, there are fewer guardrails. Levey writes, "(In July), the Trump administration secured permission from a federal court to roll back regulations that would have removed medical debt from consumer credit reports."

Arika Sánchez, who oversees health care policy at the nonprofit New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, sees how negative credit report "dings" can hurt a family struggling to survive. She told Levey, "When families get stuck with medical debt, it hurts their credit scores, makes it harder to get a car, a home, or even a job. Medical debt wrecks people’s lives.”

Overall, medical debt is a national problem and not a partisan issue. "About 6 in 10 adults — Democrats and Republicans — say they are worried about being able to afford health care, according to one recent survey," Levey explains. 

When temperatures sizzle, outdoor laborers often continue to work; a new OSHA rule could help keep them safe

To help outdoor workers stay healthy amid U.S. heat waves, last year the country took steps "towards protecting millions of workers from the impacts of extreme heat on the job," reports Frida Garza of Grist. In July 2024, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration published "its first-ever draft rule to prevent heat illness in the U.S. workforce."

OSHA's proposed rule would "require employers to provide access to water, shade, and paid breaks during heat waves," Garza writes. "In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that 986 workers died from heat exposure on the job from 1992 to 2022, or about 34 per year."

While the Trump administration has sought to undo several workplace regulations, the drafted heat protection rule has moved forward. "The agency is currently in the middle of soliciting input from the general public about the proposed policy."

Some labor experts say the proposal is moving through the process quickly, but labor advocacy groups "focused on workers along the food supply chain, say workers have waited too long for basic life-saving protections," Garza reports. "Even in a best-case scenario, regulations would not be on the books for another 12 to 14 months." In some cases, it takes several more years for a rule to be fully implemented.

Given the lengthy timeline, several advocacy groups are working to educate employers and give outdoor workers a voice in public forums. The group "WeCount" in South Florida "has spearheaded multiple campaigns to draw public attention to how sweltering temperatures impact outdoor workers in the region, including plant nursery workers," Garza explains. "WeCount members are trying to publicize the risks that agricultural workers take on."

Getting consumers to care about their workforce enough to take action is one of the best ways outdoor employees can lobby for heat protections. Garza reports, "The Fair Food Program, first established by tomato pickers in 2011 in Florida, has won stringent heat protections for farm workers in part by building strong support for laborers’ demands among consumers."

Quick hits: NASA needs farmers; 988 to use geolocation; opioid prescriptions required to have warnings; why child care needs national support

NASA's sub-agency, NASA Acres, would like to meet more farmers. (Graphic by Adam Dixon, Offrange)

If you're a farmer, NASA could use your help. The space agency has a growing sub-agency, known as NASA Acres, that is "designed to use satellite data to help U.S. farmers make sustainable decisions and be more profitable," reports Donavyn Coffey for Offrange. NASA Acres is recruiting farmers to participate in its Farmer Innovation Ambassador Team. The group will "weigh in on the problems that need solving, and to spread the word: NASA can help. The space agency is leveraging 50 years of satellite and data science to help any farmers willing to join in."

A change in location guidance aims to help 988 Suicide & Crisis Hotline counselors route help based on where callers or texters are calling from, instead of their cell's area code. "The Federal Communications Commission voted to require text messages to the 988 suicide and mental health crisis hotline to be georouted to local crisis centers based on where they are sent from," reports Chris Teale for Route Fifty. "Over the past three years, the crisis line service has received 11.1 million calls, 2.9 million texts and 2.4 million chats via instant message."

New labels come with direct warnings about long-term
use of opioids. (Graphic via MedPage Today)

The Food and Drug Administration will require opioid makers to update their labels to include details that "highlight the safety risks of long-term use," reports Nicole Lou of MedPage Today. "Now, opioid drug labels should clarify that patients should undergo periodic checks for signs of addiction, abuse, or misuse of these painkillers." The labels will include less common but possible health complications that longer-term opioid use can cause, such as esophageal dysfunction and negative interactions with other medications. Opioid makers have 30 days to submit their new labeling for FDA review.

Haspel's book launches Aug. 11.

While the national conversation about child care is decades long, few changes have been made to address the dearth of providers, poor wages for child care teachers and the overall cost to families who are lucky enough to secure care. "Researcher Elliot Haspel suggests child care is a lost American value," writes Jackie Mader for The Hechinger Report, which reports on education. "Haspel's new book “Raising a Nation" presents 10 arguments — some of them well known and others less intuitive — for why child care needs to be a more supported part of American society."

In what could be a national first, energy company Holtec International looks to reopen the once-retired Palisades Nuclear Plant in Michigan by the end of this year. "The 800-MW Palisades plant received key federal approvals to open three years after shutting down," reports Eric Wesoff of Canary Media. "If Holtec succeeds, it would be the first nuclear plant in the U.S. to restart after being closed down. Remarkably, it would be just the second or third reactor to come back online in the global history of civilian nuclear power." 

Consumer enthusiasm helped inspire the  
combination. (Hershey/Mondelēz graphic)

Reese's peanut butter cups and Oreo cookies are slated for a mash-up, hitting grocery store shelves this fall. "Snack giants Hershey and Mondelēz are combining two of their top-selling products in a sugary marriage they say consumers have been begging for," reports Jesse Newman for The Wall Street Journal. The dynamic snack duo was partially inspired by "consumers’ own posts of their DIY combinations, such as a Reese’s peanut butter cup sandwiched between two Oreo wafers." 

USDA announces plan to move staff out of Washington, D.C.; many in Congress want more details, answers

Brooke L. Rollins

In a bid to lower costs and cut the federal workforce, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced it will "relocate much of its Washington, D.C., workforce to five regional hubs and vacate several buildings in the area, including its flagship research center," reports Leah Douglas of Reuters. "More than 15,000 USDA employees, about 15% of its total workforce, have this year taken one of the agency's two financial incentive offers to leave."

The restructuring plan would keep roughly 2,000 USDA employees employed in Washington, D.C, but the "rest, about 2,600 people, will be relocated to hubs in Raleigh, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Fort Collins, Colorado; and Salt Lake City, Utah," Douglas writes. "The phased plan to relocate workers was made to bring USDA staff closer to its 'core constituents,' Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a video to staff."

Despite the goal of cutting expenses, critics say relocating staff is costly, often inefficient and can mean less oversight guidance. Laura Dodson, an economist with the USDA Economic Research Service, told Douglas, "While this is bad for employees, it will be worse for the American public."

Meanwhile, lawmakers are weighing in on the restructuring plans, with many wanting to hear more about the plan and others opposing it, report Steve Davies and Rebekah Alvey of Successful Farming. 

John Boozman at Agriculture Committee Hearings
(Photo via Successful Farming)

Senate Agriculture Committee Chair John Boozman, R-Ark., and the committee’s top Democrat, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, are "calling for a hearing on the USDA’s reorganization plan, which Klobuchar said was 'completely unacceptable' and would 'decimate research work at the USDA,'" Davies and Alvey write. "Klobuchar said she got only a brief advance notice of the announcement for something that’s going to 'destroy the whole USDA.'"

Many lawmakers were caught off guard by the announcement and want to see the plan in detail. Representatives from states where new "hubs" would be located tended to see the announcement more positively. Some experienced agribusiness professionals cast doubts on how much cost savings or service assistance moving thousands of employees could accomplish.

Gbenga Ajilore, who served as a senior adviser in the office of the undersecretary for rural development, said "the messaging in the plan about making USDA a customer-focused agency conflicts with the fact that more than 15,000 people from across the country have taken buyouts," Successful Farming reports. 

Ajilore told reporters, "They’re moving people out of D.C. and moving them into pretty much big cities ... at the same time that they’re removing staff from these field offices that may end up being closed. I just don’t see how that’s going to work.” 

Northwestern timber industry hopes to revive as Trump administration eyes tariffs, more logging in national forests

Northwestern timber looks for a comeback.
(Photo by Spurwing, Unsplash)

Despite decades of decline, the U.S. northwestern lumber industry is hoping that changes under the Trump administration will revive the industry. "Sawmills have been closing across the Pacific Northwest over the past 30 years," reports Ryan Dezember of The Wall Street Journal. "Owners of the remaining mills have high hopes that President Trump will deliver relief by increasing logging in national forests and raising trade protections against Canadian exports."

Historically, northwestern timber harvesting has been a boom or bust industry for more than a century, with the government stepping in at times to prevent overlogging. In 1994, President Bill Clinton helped pass the Northwest Forest Plan, which "reduced logging on federal lands. In practice, there has been even less logging than the plan prescribed," Dezember explains. "Owners of the remaining mills have high hopes that President Trump will deliver relief by increasing logging in national forests."

Along with harvesting restrictions, cheaper Canadian lumber imports added to the region's timber decline, which has the Trump administration considering timber tariffs. Even if those specific tariffs aren't levied, an ongoing trade dispute is expected to increase Canadian lumber duties to "more than double in the coming weeks to about 34% for most producers," Dezember explains. 

Location of Skamania County in 
Washington. (Wikipedia photo)

While the anticipated duties on Canadian timber or even additional tariffs on its imports can help the area's lumber companies over the next few months, changing federal logging restrictions will take time and planning. "Boosting the federal timber harvest could take years and be impeded by litigation and red tape," Dezember reports. "Regional Forest Service supervisors have been directed to map five-year plans to contribute to a 25% increase in the overall volume of timber harvested from national forests to satisfy Trump’s call for greater wood production."

The slow bleed of logging jobs from the region hasn't just meant lost incomes; it has translated into community budget cuts. Skamania County, Washington, serves as an example. The county is "80% federal forestland and a further 10% or so is controlled by the state," Dezember writes. "That means that the county earns tax revenue on most of its territory from timber receipts, which have slowed to a drip. Recent budget cuts forced the local school district to lay off teachers and close two of its four schools."

Opinion: As the Trump administration puts the brakes on clean energy support, many rural farmers will feel the loss

Solar panels can help cut energy costs for farm operations like dairies. 
(Photo by S. Patrick, Portland Herald, Getty via The Conversation CC)

Wind and solar power add grid support and help farmers maintain steady incomes when weather, bugs or market upheavals make farming less profitable. Particularly for rural communities, taxes generated by renewable energy help local budgets pay for schools, roads and health care. "But some of that opportunity is now at risk as the Trump administration cuts federal support for renewable energy," writes Paul Mwebaze in his opinion for The Conversation.

In areas with wind turbines, farmers lease their land in return for payments. "Those historically were around $3,000 to $5,000 per turbine per year, with some modern agreements $5,000 to $10,000 annually, secured through 20- to 30-year contracts," Mwebaze explains. Roughly a third of the $3.5 billion paid out on wind turbine leases goes to rural landowners.

Solar energy adds to a farmer's bottom line by providing cheaper electricity throughout an agricultural operation. "Farmers use rooftop panels on barns and ground-mounted systems to power irrigation pumps, grain dryers and cold storage facilities, cutting their power costs," Mwebaze writes. 

In some rural communities, renewable energy is the "largest new source of economic activity, helping stabilize local economies otherwise reliant on agriculture’s unpredictable income streams," Mwebaze adds. The Iowa turbine blade factory, TPI Composites, serves as an example of how clean energy stimulates rural manufacturing. TPI "just reopened its plant in Newton, Iowa. Tax benefits in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act helped boost [the industry] and the jobs and local tax revenue they bring in."

The Trump administration has "rolled back many clean energy incentives. It phased down tax credits for distributed solar projects, particularly those under 1 megawatt, which include many farm‑scale installations, and sunsets them entirely by 2028," Mwebaze explains. "It also eliminates bonus credits that previously supported rural and low‑income areas."

Renewable energy is one way the federal government could continue to invest in rural America, providing energy for communities and generating a reliable income source for farmers and smaller municipal budgets. "I believe homegrown renewable energy offers a practical path forward," Mwebaze writes. "Wind and solar aren’t just fueling the grid; they’re helping keep farms and rural towns alive."

It's been a year since Buc-ees opened up in this small town; many residents consider the mega gas station a positive

Smiths Grove is Buc-ees' second location in Kentucky.
(Photo by Grace McDowell, BG Daily News)

A year after Buc-ees opened in the small town of Smiths Grove, Kentucky, many residents, including some who were initially wary of the sprawling development, shared positive views on the changes the mega gas station has brought to the area. Jack Dobbs of the Bowling Green Daily News reports, "Now, though, many are receptive to the store. . . . But some still have reservations."

Traffic dust-ups and crime were among community concerns voiced before Buc-ees opened, but pre-opening warnings turned out to be more dire than reality. Jason Franks, the chief of the Smiths Grove Police Department, told Dobbs, "With any new business, especially retail business, we’ve had more theft complaints, shoplifting calls, parking lot accidents, things of that nature, especially with that volume of vehicles coming in and out." Dobbs adds, "In all, though, Franks views the store as having been a boon for Smiths Grove."

Shelvie Payne, who has a 20-minute daily work commute to Smiths Grove, initially thought Buc-ees traffic would increase her travel time. Dobbs reports, "Payne takes the interstate every day to get to work, and said traffic conditions have improved in the area from what she has seen."

Payne added that she thought Buc-ees visitors helped her workplace attract more customers. She told Dobbs, "It’s brought in a lot more folks here on this exit that normally would have probably bypassed us."

Not everyone in town is sold on Buc-ees. "K.O. and Waz Blankenship run Psycho Granny’s Quilt Shop in Smiths Grove," Dobbs writes. "When asked what they thought the impact of Buc-ee’s had been, K.O. said 'negative, negative.'" She told Dobbs, “Business is dead, nobody’s walking (through town), we can’t talk them into coming in."

What happens to a mill town when the mill closes? Residents may have to accept change or move elsewhere.

Once known for its good-paying paper mill jobs and stinky smell, the small town of Canton, North Carolina, faced an uncertain future after the mill suddenly closed in March 2023. "Canton’s paper mill set the rhythm of life here for some 115 years," reports Emma Goldberg of The New York Times. Despite its sulfur-laden odor, "locals were proud of the mill, which employed hundreds in town and allowed its residents to build homes and send their children to college."

After the mill closed, residents weren't sure if the town could survive without the salaries the factory had provided for generations. "Canton lost its life source, and with it any sense of certainty about its economic future. It became one of more than 60,000 manufacturing hubs that have been wiped off America’s map since the late 1990s," Goldberg writes. "Just over a year after it closed, Hurricane Helene destroyed more than 30 homes and businesses in the area."

After its doors were shuttered, the mill sat vacant for two years until a developer from Missouri purchased it and worked to rally Canton residents to help reinvent the town. "Eric Spirtas closed the deal to buy the mill site," Goldberg reports. "He arrived in a flurry of ideas." 

Canton, N.C. is roughly 20 minutes from Asheville.

While Spirtas cheered for making Canton a must-see tourist destination, locals, including the town's mayor, Zeb Smathers, didn't see tourism jobs as a solution. Goldberg writes, "Smathers knows that many of the locals do not want hospitality jobs. They want high-paying manufacturing jobs. They talk excitedly about President Trump’s promises to make America once again a 'manufacturing superpower.'"

Now that the town's rotten-egg smell has disappeared, new residents and shops have moved in. "Canton’s main street has welcomed an apothecary, a record shop and a guitar store. Amanda Barta, who moved from Texas during the pandemic, opened a soap boutique weeks after Helene," Goldberg writes. 

Even as the town attracts new business, many former mill employees have taken jobs in nearby cities or moved away. At a recent Canton celebration, 77-year-old Gail Mull, a former mill worker who now serves as mayor pro tem, took a good look at the crowd and told Goldberg, "As my mother would say, these are not locals.”

Congress allotted $50 billion to support rural hospitals over the next 5 years; many advocates say it won't be enough

Rural hospital often care for sicker patients with lower
incomes. (Photo by J.B. Morris, Unsplash)

The newly approved federal budget includes a $50 billion purse to help rural hospitals address current and future needs; however, many experts warn that the money, which will be managed through the Rural Health Transformation Program, may not be enough to cover foreseeable Medicaid and budgetary reductions. 

The plan "calls for federal regulators to hand states $10 billion a year for 5 years starting in fiscal year 2026," reports Sarah Jane Tribble of KFF Health News. "But health advocates and researchers doubt it will be enough to offset expected cuts in federal funding."

Meanwhile, many rural hospitals require additional financial support now and are likely to face shortfalls when federal cuts begin to take effect. "Nearly 1 in 4 people in rural America use Medicaid, the state and federal program for low-income and disabled people," Tribble explains. "People who live in the nation's rural expanses have more chronic diseases, die younger, and make less money." 

Out of the $10 billion allotted each year, "half of the money will be 'distributed equally' among states that apply to and win approval from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services," Tribble explains. "States are required to submit a 'detailed rural health transformation plan' by the end of this year, according to the law."

The current CMS administrator, Dr. Mehmet Oz, "will determine how to distribute the other half, or $25 billion, using a formula based on states’ rural population and need," Tribble writes. The law says funds should be used by states and the CMS administrator "for such things as increasing use of robotics, upgrading cybersecurity, and helping rural communities to right-size their health care delivery systems.'"

While the plan is intended to fill funding gaps in rural health care, stakeholders are unclear about who creates state proposals and what measurements are required after funding is received. Sarah Hohman, the director of government affairs at the National Association of Rural Health Clinics, told Tribble, "There’s just some confusion about who actually gets this money at the end of the day. . . and what it is actually going to be used for?"

As health advocates review the program, some believe that politics, rather than the health of rural constituents, will drive how the $50 billion fund is spent. Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C., told Tribble, "As long as it’s a government slush fund where politics decides where the money goes, then there’s going to be a mismatch between where those funds go and what it is consumers need." 

Steelworkers considered this county 'too rural' to live there; local officials launched a plan to get them to put down roots

Mississippi County Courthouse, 
Osceola, Ark. (Wikipedia photo)

When U.S. Steel decided to make Mississippi County, Ark., its home base, local officials thought people would move to the area, bringing their spouses and families with them. They didn't. But the county didn't give up on leveraging its steel boom as way to address ongoing decline. 

"In recent years, this vast county in the Mississippi Delta has transformed itself into one of the largest U.S. hubs for steel production and reliable, well-paying steel work," reports Chao Deng of The Wall Street Journal. "Lately, it has shifted to an even harder task: getting those workers to move there."

Mississippi County was once a bustling farm region, but over several decades, families have left, and towns have fallen into decay. "Many steelworkers still see the county as too remote and rural to live in, so they choose to commute long distances every day, often from neighboring states," Deng explains. 

To get steelworkers and their families to move to Mississippi County, the county is "pushing a host of initiatives to increase its population and shore up its economic base," Deng writes. "The chief program, called 'Work Here. Live Here,' offers home buyers money toward down payments on new or existing property, as long as they live and work in the county for four years. . . . About 160 families have purchased homes with help from it."

Mississippi County location in Ark.
(Wikipedia map)

So far, the county's plan has been successful. Cliff Chitwood, the county’s economic-development officer, said about "250 new homes have gone up in the county in the past 14 months, with more than half of them bought under the 'Work Here. Live Here' initiative," Deng writes. Chitwood told Deng, “It doesn’t sound like many until you realize it’s more than we had in 20 years."

Coca-Cola sweetened with cane sugar could be more expensive; corn farmers worry they'll be hurt by the changes

Soft drink companies use high-fructose corn syrup to
reduce production costs. (Photo by J. Yarema, Unsplash)

If Coca-Cola wants to eliminate high-fructose corn syrup in Coke and replace it with cane sugar, it will need to find cane sugar suppliers outside the U.S. because the country already faces a cane sugar shortage. Since cane sugar is more costly than high-fructose corn syrup, the switch would increase the cost of Coke while simultaneously hurting U.S. corn farmers.

"Each year, America consumes about 12.5 million tons of sugar, but produces only 4 million tons of cane sugar. The rest is made up by imports and sugar sourced from sugar beets," report Patrick Thomas and Laura Cooper for The Wall Street Journal. "The beverage industry relies heavily on high-fructose corn syrup as its sweetener of choice. Each year, more than 7 million tons are produced by mills that grind up corn to make sweeteners and other products."

Due to U.S. sugar production limits, if Coca-Cola shifts to cane sugar on a broader scale, it will have to import sugar "from countries such as Brazil and Mexico — countries that face Trump administration tariffs of 50% and 30%, respectively, on Aug. 1," the Journal reports.

Although the soda giant has agreed to produce some American Coke with cane sugar, the switch will increase its expenses. Ron Sterk, a senior editor at SOSland Publishing, an information provider for the ingredients industry in the U.S., told Reuters, "Food and beverage industries started to use corn syrup in the U.S. in the past because of costs. It is cheaper than sugar."

U.S. corn farmers rely on domestic corn syrup production to drive grain market prices. Reuters reports, "The Corn Refiners Association said the complete elimination of high fructose corn syrup from the U.S. food and beverage supply would cut corn prices by up to $.34 a bushel, resulting in a loss of $5.1 billion in farm revenue."

'Hub City' earned its moniker from railroad days, but it's still a place where people from all walks of life come together

‘All Are Welcome’ banner on Bethlehem’s 
exterior. (Photo by Betsy Froiland, The Yonder)

Like spokes on a wheel, nine railroad lines used to converge in Aberdeen, South Dakota —a small rural town that railroads transformed into "Hub City." And while Aberdeen's moniker was earned in the early 1900s, much of the town's reputation as a physical and social hub remains. Betsy Froiland for The Daily Yonder writes, "Many of those railways are gone. But the nickname and the identity endure."

Today's Aberdeen is different in many ways, but it's still a "place where people with different backgrounds, political leanings, and personal identities come together," Froiland writes. Hub City still offers community spaces where its residents and visitors can feel welcome, no matter their differences.

"One such space is Bethlehem Lutheran Church," Froiland writes. "The church itself is a hub of activity, discussion, and community for people from all walks of life. . . . It's politically diverse. While the majority [of members] supported Donald Trump in 2024, 37.5% of its electorate voted for other candidates. People of all political leanings share pews in worship."

The Rev. Jeff Whillock is Bethlehem's lead pastor, who takes an open view to discussing things that can divide people. Froiland writes, "Instead of shying away from political topics at church. . . Whillock takes these conversations on, thoughtfully and methodically." He told Froiland, "I’m continually committed to being a pastor with people that I disagree with."

Like a track that keeps a train moving, part of what has kept Bethlehem alive and growing is "the congregation’s shared understandings of faith and nature to relay a powerful message: all are welcome at Bethlehem," Froiland explains. "Perhaps in part due to the church’s work to connect across differences, Bethlehem is thriving."

Some evenings at Bethlehem include a meal before the religious service. Members and visitors share a meal, with some staying for the service, but some head home after the meal. "In many ways, Bethlehem is a hub of its own. A hub where people from all walks of life can share a meal together," Froiland adds. "A hub where people with different political views can speak a common language."

2025 Best in Rural Writing Contest is taking submissions now through Sept. 15

It's time for authors to rev up their imaginations, seize their writing tools, and prepare to transport their readers to a story of rural making.

The Milk House and The Daily Yonder have opened submissions for their 2025 Best in Rural Writing Contest and invite authors from anywhere to enter their short stories or essays.

Authors can submit fiction or nonfiction stories limited to 7,000 words for $10 each. 

Deadline is Sept. 15. Read all the details and submit here. 

The overall winner of the Best in Rural Writing Contest will receive $500, and the second-place author will receive $200. 

Some fine print: Contest submissions may be previously published (as long as it was not published before January 2024), and will also be read within 2 to 3 months of submitting with an eye toward publication on the site, as well as the forthcoming "2026 Best in Rural Writing" print anthology. 

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

Quick hits: 'New' Superman is super-rural; VA restructuring; chocolate bar price bump; public pool safety; how much land does each state farm?

Superman (David Corenswet) and his dog Krypto in ‘Superman’ (Warner Bros, IMDb image via the Yonder).

Before Superman was super-anything, he was an orphan raised by farmers in Smallville, Kansas. The newest Superman is an old-fashioned, sincere and sometimes corny-sounding hero-in-the-making, who struggles to stay true to his ideals "in a world beset by 24/7 media noise, rationalized indifference, and organized meanness," writes Adam B. Giorgi for The Daily Yonder. "The boon of super strength and super speed doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to keep being good in the face of hardship, to do the right thing when the chips are down, or to be kind even when it’s not expected or rewarded."

After shedding roughly 30,000 jobs earlier this year and announcing it plans to curtail further layoffs, the Department of Veterans Affairs is still restructuring. "Senior leaders are telling employees that major changes are still coming," reports Eric Katz of Government Executive. "The VA is looking to empower medical center directors. Several employees, based on meetings and internal conversations, speculated that headquarters and possibly regional staff could be a casualty of that change."

'Inflation isn't finished with your chocolate bar.'

Chocolate maker Hershey may sell delightful sweets, but its latest announcement is a summer bummer. "Hershey is raising prices on its candy in response to continued high cocoa costs," reports Owen Tucker-Smith and Jesse Newman of The Wall Street Journal. While exact price hikes will vary, U.S. consumers can expect a roughly 20% increase on Hershey treats. "Three-quarters of Hershey’s confection portfolio should continue to cost $4 or less. . . .Demand for Hershey’s products has stayed strong. Shares of Hershey are up more than 7% this year."

With its varied seasons and climates, U.S. farmers and gardeners grow thousands of different crops each year. The amount of land dedicated to principal crops depends on the state. Discovering which states and regions farm the most land is best described in the map shared below.

Over half of Iowa is dedicated to farming. Click on map to enlarge.

The future of farming may involve less physical labor and more technology. "Imagine a farm where fleets of autonomous tractors, drones and harvesters are guided by AI that tweaks operations minute by minute based on soil and weather data," reports William Boston of The Wall Street Journal. "Farmers could swap long hours in the cab for monitoring dashboards and making high-level decisions. . . . Despite the promise of digital tools and autonomous machines, cost is a big barrier." 

Taking care while enjoying public pools can help reduce the chance of illness or skin rashes.
(Photo by Maria Korneeva, Moment, Getty Images via The Conversation CC)

Does chlorine kill all infectious "things" that end up swimming in the public pool? No. "Summer news headlines and social media posts often spotlight the 'ick-factor' of communal swimming spaces. These concerns do have some merit," writes Lisa Cuchara for The Conversation. "The good news is that chlorine, which is widely used in pools, is effective at killing many pathogens. The not-so-good news is that chlorine does not work instantly, and it doesn’t kill everything. . . .Read Cuchara's 10 tips for healthier public pool swimming here.

Nominations sought for the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism by Aug. 11

Each year the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues presents the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, tenacity and integrity in rural journalism, named for the couple who exemplified those qualities as publishers of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., for 52 years.

Nominations for the Gish Award may be made at any time, but the deadline for new nominations to be considered for this year's award is Monday, Aug. 11. The winner will receive the award at an event in Lexington, KY, on Nov. 13. 

Eric Meyer and the Marion County Record in Kansas received the award in 2024. 

To make a nomination, please send a detailed letter with some documentation explaining how the nominee shows the kind of courage, tenacity and integrity that Tom and Pat Gish demonstrated at their weekly newspaper in the Central Appalachian coalfield. They withstood advertiser boycotts, business competition, declining population, personal attacks, and even the burning of their office to give their readers the kind of journalism often lacking in rural areas, and were the first winners of the award named for them. Tom died in 2008 and Pat in 2014. Their son, Ben, is editor and publisher of the Eagle and serves on the award selection committee.

Additional documentation may be submitted after the nomination, and may be requested or required. Send your nominating letter, initial documentation and any questions to Institute Director Benjy Hamm at benjy.hamm@uky.edu.

The Institute seeks nominations that measure up, at least in major respects, to the records of the Gishes and other previous winners. Other winners have been the Ezzell family of The Canadian Record in the Texas panhandle; Jim Prince and Stanley Dearman, current and late publishers of The Neshoba Democrat in Philadelphia, Miss.; Samantha Swindler of The Oregonian for her work at The Times-Tribune in Corbin, Ky., and Jacksonville Daily Progress in Texas; Stanley Nelson and the Concordia Sentinel in Ferriday, La.; Jonathan and Susan Austin of the Yancey County News in North Carolina; the late Landon Wills of the McLean County News in Kentucky; the Trapp family of the Rio Grande Sun in northern New Mexico; Ivan Foley of the Platte County Landmark in northwestern Missouri; the Cullen family of the Storm Lake Times-Pilot in northwest Iowa; and Les Zaitz of the Malheur Enterprise in eastern Oregon. In 2019, the award went to three reporters whose outstanding careers revealed much about the coal industry in Central Appalachia: Howard Berkes, retired from NPR; Ken Ward Jr., then with the Charleston Gazette-Mail; and his mentor at the Gazette, the late Paul Nyden. In 2020 the award went to the late Tim Crews of the Sacramento Valley Mirror; in 2021 to the Thompson-High Family of The News Reporter and the Border Belt Independent in Whiteville, N.C.; in 2022 to Ellen Kreth and the Madison County Record of Huntsville, Ark.; in 2023 to Craig Garnett of the Uvalde Leader-News in Texas; and in 2024 to Eric Meyer and the Marion County Record in Kansas.

The Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, which is based at the University of Kentucky, is focused on helping to sustain journalism in rural communities in the United States, through information, expertise, training, outreach and other programs.

A stop in Rock County, Minnesota, reignites memories of a dynamic war-time reporter that comes with a twist

Al Cross

During a trip to the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference, Al Cross stopped to pay tribute to the late Al McIntosh, a World War II reporter and local newspaper publisher. The trip yielded some surprising connections.

Luverne, Minnesota, is in Rock County, the southwest corner of Minnesota, just east of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When I saw Sioux Falls consumed one day’s itinerary of the annual conference of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, which recently elected me to its board of directors, I planned a side trip to Luverne – for reasons that started out esoteric but turned out to be quite meaningful.

I was interested in Luverne and its newspaper because Ken Burns and Tom Hanks had told me a lot about them – in Burns’ 2007 documentary “The War,” about the American home front during World War II. Burns focused on four towns: Mobile, Ala., Waterbury, Conn.; Sacramento, Calif.; and Luverne, a county-seat town of 5,000 on the Rock River (the one in the Missouri River basin).

The unexpected star of the documentary, at least for me, was Al McIntosh. He was editor of the Rock County Star Herald before, during and after the war. He chronicled the home front in such compelling detail that Burns said his team’s discovery of the newspaper’s carefully stored bound volumes (dating to 1873) was “in some ways . . . the single greatest archival find that we have ever made.” Hanks, who voiced McIntosh’s writings for the documentary, was so taken by them that he pushed Burns to use more of them, and Burns did.

“He had this task of explaining the unexplainable to his fellow neighbors,” Burns said. “He did so magnificently, and wrote as beautifully as any editor I’ve ever come across."

Al McIntosh at his desk (PBS website photo)

McIntosh started his war journalism even before the U.S. entered the fight, with a piece about a woman who had survived the blitz of London and was visiting her brother in Rock County: “She has had her best friends killed. Looking out at the peaceful countryside from the Thompson porch, she said it was hard to believe the rest of the world was at war.” That was in the first written quotation of the show, which introduced McIntosh as a North Dakotan who “had turned down big-city jobs to run his own small-town paper. He would soon find himself trying to explain the unexplainable to his new neighbors.” 

When the documentary premiered on PBS, I wrote a short story for The Rural Blog, a publication of the University of Kentucky’s Institute for Rural Journalism, which I ran at the time. As I watched the show and heard Hanks read McIntosh’s evocative writings, I got choked up. Here, in what most Americans might call the middle of nowhere, a weekly newspaper editor was capturing the courage, loss, sacrifice, resolution, pathos and daily grind of being a small-town American in our most demanding war.

So, if I was going to Sioux Falls, I was going to Luverne, at least to pay my respects at the grave of Al McIntosh, who died in 1979. When I looked it up on Findagrave.com, a wonderful resource, I found something flabbergasting. McIntosh’s obituary, posted on the site, revealed that he was the author of an editorial column that formed the basis for the first speech I ever gave, in 1965, when I was 11 years old. 

Desperate for a topic for the 4-H speech contest, I saw the headline “I Am a Tired American” in one of the many newspapers that reprinted the editorial, originally titled “A Tired American Gets Angry.” A few weeks after I gave the speech, I became the official scorer for the local baseball leagues, which included writing them up for the weekly Clinton County News, where I got my first byline.

Al McIntosh’s editorial was a reactionary screed against a host of things that he thought were wrong with the country and its critics (mostly the latter), and young Al Cross parroted most of the complaints. My meager effort earned me third place in the contest, but the experience gave me enough confidence to enter and win the following year, then become a color commentator on baseball games, which led to me becoming a licensed radio announcer at the age of 13. (In those days you had to get a license, by passing a test.) I kept my hand in journalism, and edited and managed weekly papers before spending 26½ years as a reporter at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, the last 15½ as political writer and columnist, then 20 years at the University of Kentucky.

I still write occasional political columns for the Northern Kentucky Tribune and other news outlets. As a political observer, I see McIntosh’s most-published piece as a harbinger of today’s tribulation. “I am a tired American,” he wrote, “choked up to here on this business of trying to intimidate our government by placard, picket line and sit-in by the hordes of the dirty unwashed who rush to man the barricades against the forces of order, law and decency.” 

But he also was “sickened by the slack-jawed bigots who wrap themselves in bedsheets in the dead of night and roam the countryside looking for innocent victims.” And he said he was “real tired of those who are trying to sell me the belief that America is not the greatest nation in all the world, a generous-hearted nation, a nation dedicated to trying to help the 'have nots' achieve some of the good things that our system of free enterprise brought about.”

In Al McIntosh’s day, it was not unusual for weekly editors to editorialize about state, national and international questions. Now most papers, even weeklies, are owned by chains, most of which think too much opinion is bad for business. Even many independent papers shy away from publishing letters and columns about President Donald Trump, for fear of having to play referee in a mudball contest. So we don’t read much in weekly papers about national protest campaigns, racial issues, foreign aid and the like.

McIntosh has had some fine successors, including Michelle Erpenbach, who runs a major nonprofit in Sioux Falls, and Lori Sorenson, a Rock County native who has been at the family-owned paper for 33 years. She told me that she delves into national issues from time to time.

“Where appropriate and if it has bearing on our readers in Rock County, I will use our opinion page to voice concern about national issues,” Sorenson said in an email. “Rock County is a very RED and very religious county, and many are eagerly lapping up the disinformation that circulates on social media. I have written more than one editorial encouraging readers to be judicious about their ‘news’ sources and to remember that we are ‘community first’ despite occasional disagreements about national issues.”

Good for her. If we are to overcome the partisan and cultural divides that are bedeviling this country, I think it will most likely start in small towns like Luverne, where people know each other as neighbors and are still mostly willing to listen to each other, and agree to disagree.

Local newspapers have long been one of the best forums for a community to have a conversation with itself, but in many small towns, papers no longer play a leading civic role, for a host of reasons: they have failed to maintain circulation and household penetration, have owners who don’t want to make anyone mad, have smaller staffs with less time and talent for commentary, or they may even lack a local editor because the chain owner runs several papers as a group. All this has added to a shortage of local news, while news media and social media are dominated by national news, opinion and misinformation.

Every county in America deserves to have a news outlet that can help its audience be better citizens of their state and nation, not just their locality. Our nation would be a lot better off if we had lot more editor-publishers like Al McIntosh. May his example never be forgotten. 

Al Cross lives in Frankfort and Albany, Kentucky, and is on Facebook, LinkedIn, Threads, BlueSky and @ruralj. The Minnesota Newspaper Association presents the Al McIntosh Award to those who dedicate themselves to their communities through their reporting, editorials and columns. 

As farm raids continue, farmers may not have enough workers to harvest crops; some in GOP want reforms

Deportation raids and fear have led to fewer farm workers.
 (Photo by Tim Mossholder, Unsplash)

Despite President Donald Trump's aggressive push to oust unauthorized immigrants from the United States, a growing number of Republicans see the current lack of illegal border crossings as an opportunity to push for a shift in priorities that includes legislation that protects farm workers from deportation.

GOP backers for immigration change warn that "if farms can’t hire all of the workers they need, they risk being forced to leave crops to spoil or paying more for labor, which could lead to higher food costs," report Olivia Beavers and Michelle Hackman of The Wall Street Journal. Some GOP members "argue the party should focus on changing immigration law to allow some workers to gain temporary legal status and make sure people can remain on the job."

Still, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), "who controls what bills come to the floor, signaled any immigration overhaul would face an uphill battle," Beavers and Hackman write. 

The Labor Department recently "established the Office of Immigration Policy, which aims to streamline and modernize the process for employers — including agricultural employers — as they navigate the various programs that include supporting legal pathways to work," Beavers and Hackman add. 

While the U.S. has several visa programs for agricultural workers, many farmers say that the programs are cumbersome and fail to meet the needs of certain types of farms. According to the Wall Street Journal article, "People using the visas also need to return to their home countries for a chunk of each year, meaning farms with year-round work, like dairy farms, can’t use them."

Republicans backing immigration reform face push-back from the Trump administration and potential fallout from another failed immigration reform bill. "Administration officials have repeatedly pledged to hit a goal of arresting a million unauthorized immigrants in Trump’s first year in office, though they have hit less than a fifth of that number so far," the Journal reports. "Farm areas skew heavily toward Republicans, raising the political stakes for the party."

U.S. dairy farmers see an increase in I-9 audits for immigrant workers as their newest labor challenge

Dairy farms need year-round workers to fill labor gaps. (Farm Journal photo)

Beyond international tariffs, bird flu and possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, U.S. dairy farmers have a new worry to add to their unpredictable livelihoods: I-9 audits. "Nervousness and frustrations are spreading across the dairy industry," reports Tyne Morgan of Dairy Herd Management. "With reported flaws in the E-Verify system, the audits are resulting in dairies being forced to fire employees who are found to have illegal documents and only given 10 days to do so."

When I-9 audits occur, worker documents are examined, and it's often discovered that "employees submitted either illegal paperwork or forms that weren’t theirs," Morgan explains. "There’s no way for a dairy to know. That’s what the E-Verify system is meant to do." 

Although only dairies in South Dakota and Texas have been audited so far, increased inspections aren't welcome news for dairy farmers, who often rely on immigrant labor to perform much of the constant and strenuous work required. Tyne explains, "The dairy industry seems to be on an island when it comes to finding a legal workforce. Dairies aren’t seasonal; therefore, they can’t utilize H-2A, and that’s something the dairy industry is pushing to change."

Donald Grady, the senior director of legislative affairs at the International Dairy Foods Association, views the H-2A program as something that can be modified to help dairies and off-site milk processing plants. He told Morgan, "We are looking to be able to expand the H-2A program so that dairy operations on-farm and in the plant can have another tool in their toolbox to meet their labor needs."

Despite the recent I-9 audit spike, "leaders within the dairy industry say for the first time in nearly two decades, there does seem to be momentum for changes to the H-2A program and address the pain points with the current immigration system," Morgan adds. The CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, Rick Naerebout, told Morgan, "We’ve not had this kind of traction with an administration ever on this issue. . . but we’re cautiously optimistic here in Idaho." 

Morgan adds, "Naerebout says after 20-plus years, he thinks agriculture finally has a legitimate chance at solving a problem that’s been plaguing the industry. And that solution needs to not only come from the White House, but the long-term fix needs to be addressed by Congress."