Monday we reported opinions at the Fort Collins, Colo., meeting about anti-trust issues in the agriculture industry garnered mixed opinions from the 2,000 participants. Subsequent commentary about the meeting illustrate that split. "Much of the officials’ opening remarks made clear that they recognize Rural America is in crisis and that young people who want to farm or ranch should be able to do so and make a fair profit, and that to correct the situation, there must be an open, public dialogue on these very complex, but important issues," cattle-industry group R-Calf USA writes in a news release.
R-Calf cites statistics from U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack as justification for its position: "the Top 4 cattle packers control roughly 80 percent of steer and heifer procurement, and the Top 4 hog packers control roughly 65 percent of the market." R-CALF Region VI President Max Thonsberry said in the release, "R-CALF USA members are fortunate to finally have the opportunity to make our voices heard in an effort to make sure we preserve a competitive market capable of generating a fair, competitive profit from our efforts. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and we must seize it to correct these producer issues now. If we don’t, there likely won’t be a U.S. cattle industry comprised of independent cattle producers in another decade or so." (Read more)
Not everyone agreed with R-CALF's position. "Those words in the rules that hint that there are legitimate reasons for price differentiation have their meaning mostly stripped away by the fact that the rule's primary focus is to make it possible for anybody to sue any time any price differentiation takes place," Troy Marshall writes for BEEF Magazine of the proposed Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration rule. "The meeting in Fort Collins will inevitably be looked back on as a colossal waste of time and energy; it will do nothing to effect real opportunities like building beef demand. The meeting might be a sideshow, but the rules and their effects are anything but." (Read more)
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Results of rural/urban analysis of stimulus spending reveal little
County-level breakdowns of stimulus spending per person show rural counties received slightly more money than their urban counterpart, but the difference was too small to draw meaningful conclusions. "Are there patterns here? Frankly, there are no common factors that explain why some counties have gotten more stimulus spending than others," Roberto Gallardo and Bill Bishop report for the Daily Yonder. "Poor counties aren’t getting more per person than rich ones. Counties with high unemployment receive slightly less money than those with low unemployment." Gallardo and Bishop used ProPublica's database of stimulus spending for the analysis.
"We tested measures of poverty, education and employment, and none of these were statistically relevant to how stimulus money was distributed," the Yonder writes. "Rural counties received $782 per person in stimulus money, in this revised calculations. Urban counties received $690 and exurban counties received $673 per person." After removing state capital counties, which were credited in the database with money given to state governments for distribution, the analysis showed rural counties that voted for President Obama in the 2008 election received $915 per person, compared to $734 per person in counties that voted for John McCain. (Read more) (Yonder chart of rural county stimulus money)
"We tested measures of poverty, education and employment, and none of these were statistically relevant to how stimulus money was distributed," the Yonder writes. "Rural counties received $782 per person in stimulus money, in this revised calculations. Urban counties received $690 and exurban counties received $673 per person." After removing state capital counties, which were credited in the database with money given to state governments for distribution, the analysis showed rural counties that voted for President Obama in the 2008 election received $915 per person, compared to $734 per person in counties that voted for John McCain. (Read more) (Yonder chart of rural county stimulus money)
Farm exports up, helping industry weather the recession
While much of the U.S. economy continues to struggle despite signs of a slow recovery, federal estimates of farm trade and income show the agriculture sector is being boosted by a surge in exports. "The estimates confirm what economists have been saying for months: agriculture, which was generally not hit as hard by the recession as many other segments of the economy, remains a small bright spot going forward," William Neumann of The New York Times reports. Estimates predict U.S. farmers will ship $107.5 billion in agriculture products abroad by Sept. 30.
“We’re just having a robust rebound in the agricultural sector and promises of more growth,” Jason R. Henderson, vice president and economist at the Omaha branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said in a recent interview. The $107.5 billion would be the second highest total ever in a fiscal year, behind the $115.3 billion worth of exports from 2008. Next year exports are expected to top $113 billion, Neumann writes. U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack pointed to grains and meats as leader in the rebound and called the estimates "very encouraging."
"The export growth is propelled by higher prices for many products, including wheat, whose prices have skyrocketed as drought and punishing heat decimated crops in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan," Neumann writes. "Exports to Asia have been particularly strong, and China is forecast to surpass Mexico next year to become the second-largest foreign buyer of American farm products. Canada is the No. 1 export market." Total net farm cash income was estimated at $85 billion, up 25 percent from 2009 and above the ten-year $72 billion average. “The farm economy in rural America has not suffered as severely as the industrial part of the economy and, because of the strong exports, the rural economy is recovering what it lost during the downturn,” Roy Bardole, chairman of the Soybean Export Council, told Neumann. (Read more)
“We’re just having a robust rebound in the agricultural sector and promises of more growth,” Jason R. Henderson, vice president and economist at the Omaha branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, said in a recent interview. The $107.5 billion would be the second highest total ever in a fiscal year, behind the $115.3 billion worth of exports from 2008. Next year exports are expected to top $113 billion, Neumann writes. U.S. Department of Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack pointed to grains and meats as leader in the rebound and called the estimates "very encouraging."
"The export growth is propelled by higher prices for many products, including wheat, whose prices have skyrocketed as drought and punishing heat decimated crops in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan," Neumann writes. "Exports to Asia have been particularly strong, and China is forecast to surpass Mexico next year to become the second-largest foreign buyer of American farm products. Canada is the No. 1 export market." Total net farm cash income was estimated at $85 billion, up 25 percent from 2009 and above the ten-year $72 billion average. “The farm economy in rural America has not suffered as severely as the industrial part of the economy and, because of the strong exports, the rural economy is recovering what it lost during the downturn,” Roy Bardole, chairman of the Soybean Export Council, told Neumann. (Read more)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Earlybird deadline tomorrow for D.C. symposium on diseases humans get from other animals
Zoonoses, diseases transmitted from non-human animals to humans (such as the H1N1 virus), are becoming an increasingly significant concern in rural areas and other places with limited access to health care and disease prevention. Dr. Bonnie Buntain, a professor of public health at the University of Calgary, has emphasized the oft-neglected value of creating environments in which zoonoses have difficulty surviving. While it is important to deal with specific disease threats, Buntain argues we should place equal weight on prevention.
Buntain will be one of the featured speakers at Zoonoses: Understanding the Animal Agriculture and Human Health Connection, a Sept. 23-24 symposium in Washington, D.C., organized by Farm Foundation. The earlybird registration deadline for the event is tomorrow, Sept. 1. Early-bird registration is $300 and there is a special student rate of $175. Beginning Sept. 2, registration will be $350, with the student rate $200. For more information on the event, you can read our item from last week. --Charles Li, University of Kentucky College of Public Health, guest blogger
Buntain will be one of the featured speakers at Zoonoses: Understanding the Animal Agriculture and Human Health Connection, a Sept. 23-24 symposium in Washington, D.C., organized by Farm Foundation. The earlybird registration deadline for the event is tomorrow, Sept. 1. Early-bird registration is $300 and there is a special student rate of $175. Beginning Sept. 2, registration will be $350, with the student rate $200. For more information on the event, you can read our item from last week. --Charles Li, University of Kentucky College of Public Health, guest blogger
Animal cloning may be best used in production of medicine
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the brightest future for animal cloning may be in the lucrative industry of medicine, not food production. Rick Barrett writes that cloning animals to create living drug factories could lower the cost of medicine used to save lives.
The possibilites include cows that produce pharmaceutical proteins and antibodies in their milk and blood; chickens that lay drug-producing eggs; and pigs that grow human-ready organs. Cloned animals could also speed up the drug-making process. Currently, a Massachusetts biotech firm is using genetically engineered dairy goats to make a human protein that prevents blood clots from forming. GTC Biotherapeutics extracts the protein from the goats' milk for a drug that helps prevent strokes, pulmonary embolisms and other life-threatening conditions. (Illustration from futurethinktank.com)
But some do not share the optimism. George Kimbrell, an attorney with the Center for Food Safety, a nonprofit group focused on food issues, told Barrett that he feared cloned animals could get into the general population and cause problems. "What we have learned from the genetic engineering of crops is that nature finds a way" to reproduce, said Barrett. Genetic engineering also raises questions about animal cruelty. A government-owned company in New Zealand created four cloned calves intended to produce a hormone for treating infertility. Three of the calves developed huge ovaries and two of them died unexpectedly. (Read more)
Local governments look to shed public hospitals to save money
As local governments across the country look to trim their budgets, many are leaving the public hospital business. "More than a fifth of the nation's 5,000 hospitals are owned by governments and many are drowning in debt caused by rising health-care costs, a spike in uninsured patients, cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and payments on construction bonds sold in fatter times," Suzanne Sataline of The Wall Street Journal reports. "Because most public hospitals tend to be solo operations, they don't enjoy the economies of scale, or more generous insurance contracts, which bolster revenue at many larger nonprofit and for-profit systems." Many public hospitals, including several of the Journal's examples, are rural.
The bill for those small hospitals is expected to go up in the spring when the health care overhaul, which requires investment in technology, quality accounting and care coordination, goes into effect. "Moody's Investors Service said in April that many standalone hospitals won't have the resources to invest in information technology or manage bundled payments well," Sataline writes. "Many nonprofits have bad credit ratings and in a tight credit market cannot borrow money, either. Meantime, the federal government is expected to cut aid to hospitals."
"Sales and mergers of public hospitals are hard to quantify; the country had 16 fewer government-owned hospitals in 2008 than 2003, says the American Hospital Association, the result of sales, closings or transfers," Sataline writes. Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the private hospital trade group Federation of American Hospitals, told Sataline that private groups tend to run operations more efficiently, while adding capital. "Still, skeptics worry that in the hunt for healthy returns, the for-profits will kill expensive programs and close hospitals with poor revenue," Sataline writes. "Residents in many towns have fretted over the blow to their civic pride and the loss of their history." (Read more)
The bill for those small hospitals is expected to go up in the spring when the health care overhaul, which requires investment in technology, quality accounting and care coordination, goes into effect. "Moody's Investors Service said in April that many standalone hospitals won't have the resources to invest in information technology or manage bundled payments well," Sataline writes. "Many nonprofits have bad credit ratings and in a tight credit market cannot borrow money, either. Meantime, the federal government is expected to cut aid to hospitals."
"Sales and mergers of public hospitals are hard to quantify; the country had 16 fewer government-owned hospitals in 2008 than 2003, says the American Hospital Association, the result of sales, closings or transfers," Sataline writes. Chip Kahn, president and CEO of the private hospital trade group Federation of American Hospitals, told Sataline that private groups tend to run operations more efficiently, while adding capital. "Still, skeptics worry that in the hunt for healthy returns, the for-profits will kill expensive programs and close hospitals with poor revenue," Sataline writes. "Residents in many towns have fretted over the blow to their civic pride and the loss of their history." (Read more)
Report shows farmers need more support to grow and market fruits and vegetables
Federal agriculture policy discourages farmers from planting and marketing fruits and vegetables, says a new report from the nonprofit Farmers' Legal Action Group. "As a result of administering farm commodity programs for many years, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has developed a rich body of knowledge about historical yields and prices for crops such as corn, soybeans, wheat, rice and cotton," FLAG writes in a news release. This information "enables the federal government and private businesses to offer loans and financing, as well as crop insurance and other risk-management tools, to farmers producing commodity crops," FLAG writes, noting that similar information is not available for fruits and vegetables.
"This lack of information poses a problem — especially for farmers who market their fruits and vegetables directly to retailers and consumers, rather than to wholesalers," FLAG writes. "Farmers who direct market tend to use a business model that relies on higher prices and lower volumes, but federal programs are based on farm business models that rely on lower prices and higher volumes." Jill Krueger, a FLAG senior staff attorney and the lead author of the report, explained, "Federal policies should make it easier for farmers who would like to produce and market fruits and vegetables. Now is the time to build consensus for policy change to improve existing programs as they are implemented and to prepare for the next Farm Bill."
The group recommends that the USDA "provide crop insurance for fruits and vegetables and disaster assistance coverage equivalent to that provided for farmers who grow non-perishable commodities, explore policy changes to enable farmers participating in the commodity programs to use program acres for the planting of fruits and vegetables and encourage farmers, public health leaders and consumer advocates to identify ways to increase demand for fruits and vegetables in order to keep pace with increases in supply." (Read more)
"This lack of information poses a problem — especially for farmers who market their fruits and vegetables directly to retailers and consumers, rather than to wholesalers," FLAG writes. "Farmers who direct market tend to use a business model that relies on higher prices and lower volumes, but federal programs are based on farm business models that rely on lower prices and higher volumes." Jill Krueger, a FLAG senior staff attorney and the lead author of the report, explained, "Federal policies should make it easier for farmers who would like to produce and market fruits and vegetables. Now is the time to build consensus for policy change to improve existing programs as they are implemented and to prepare for the next Farm Bill."
The group recommends that the USDA "provide crop insurance for fruits and vegetables and disaster assistance coverage equivalent to that provided for farmers who grow non-perishable commodities, explore policy changes to enable farmers participating in the commodity programs to use program acres for the planting of fruits and vegetables and encourage farmers, public health leaders and consumer advocates to identify ways to increase demand for fruits and vegetables in order to keep pace with increases in supply." (Read more)
Mother Earth News sponsoring a fair in September
Mother Earth News is hosting a fair Sept. 25-26, at the Seven Springs Mountain Resort, near Pittsburgh, Pa. More than 200 sessions will be held on food, renewable energy, organic gardening, green building and remodeling, do-it-yourself projects, homesteading, small-scale livestock, green transportation, and related topics. Workshop leaders and topics include Chip Beam, building a wood-fueled car; Sherri Brooks Vinton, canning salsas, low-sugar jams and non-cucumber pickles; James Zitting, on simplified, sustainable beekeeping.
Cost is $15 for a one-day adult pass or $25 for both days. Children and teenagers under 17 are free. Order tickets or call (800) 234-3368. For lodging information and reservations at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, call (866) 437-1300.
Cost is $15 for a one-day adult pass or $25 for both days. Children and teenagers under 17 are free. Order tickets or call (800) 234-3368. For lodging information and reservations at Seven Springs Mountain Resort, call (866) 437-1300.
Banks fear losing too much business while trying to earn 'green credentials'
Earlier this month we reported Wells Fargo had moved to restrict its financing of mountaintop removal. The bank's decision is just one in a growing trend of financial institutions "taking a stand on industry practices that they regard as risky to their reputations and bottom lines," Tom Zeller Jr. of The New York Times reports. "The policy shift by Wells Fargo follows others over the last two years, including moves by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank, to increase scrutiny of lending to companies involved in mountaintop removal — or to end the lending altogether."
"In some cases, the changing policies represent an attempt to burnish green credentials in areas where the banks had little interest, and there is no indication that companies engaged in the objectionable practices cannot find financing elsewhere," Zeller writes. Still analysts say the debate over climate change, water quality and other environmental considerations are forcing banks to take a hard look at who they lend money to. "Environmental risk has been on the radar for lenders since the 1980s and early 1990s, when courts began forcing some measure of responsibility on banks for the polluting factories, superfund sites and other environmental problems that had, to one degree or another, been facilitated by their financing," Zeller writes.
Now financial institutions are left to wonder what pollution is too much. "It’s one thing if your potential borrower is dumping cyanide in a river," Karina Litvack, the head of governance and sustainable investment with London-based investment management firm F&C Investments, told Zeller. "But if they’re dumping carbon dioxide into the air, which is not exactly illegal — what do you do? Banks are in kind of a quandary, because they are competing for business, and if they get holier-than-thou and start to play policeman, they risk allowing other banks to take that business." (Read more)
"In some cases, the changing policies represent an attempt to burnish green credentials in areas where the banks had little interest, and there is no indication that companies engaged in the objectionable practices cannot find financing elsewhere," Zeller writes. Still analysts say the debate over climate change, water quality and other environmental considerations are forcing banks to take a hard look at who they lend money to. "Environmental risk has been on the radar for lenders since the 1980s and early 1990s, when courts began forcing some measure of responsibility on banks for the polluting factories, superfund sites and other environmental problems that had, to one degree or another, been facilitated by their financing," Zeller writes.
Now financial institutions are left to wonder what pollution is too much. "It’s one thing if your potential borrower is dumping cyanide in a river," Karina Litvack, the head of governance and sustainable investment with London-based investment management firm F&C Investments, told Zeller. "But if they’re dumping carbon dioxide into the air, which is not exactly illegal — what do you do? Banks are in kind of a quandary, because they are competing for business, and if they get holier-than-thou and start to play policeman, they risk allowing other banks to take that business." (Read more)
Drop in price of natural gas threatens coal as cheap energy
Last week the price of natural gas dropped under $4 per million British thermal units, making it competitive with coal, said the U.S. Department of State. "Coal has always been cheap and dirty. And the dirty part was justifiable because it was so cheap," Shelley DuBois of CNN reports. "Now, gas prices are dropping, threatening coal's dominance in the North American energy market. Which means gas could take over before coal gets a chance to clean up its act." As natural gas becomes cheaper some are questioning government investment in clean coal technology.
"Coal is still cheaper at $2.25 per million Btu in 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration," DuBois writes. "Even so, the coal market is starting to feel the burn from gas on its heels." In 2002 the federal government founded the Clean Coal Power Initiative to partner with industry and push clean coal technology. The initiative has so far completed 3 of the 18 total projects, 7 of which have been terminated. Gas is particularly threatening to coal, because it is also an local fuel that could provide energy relatively close to power pants, DuBois writes.
Gas isn't without its own environmental concerns, particularly water pollution from shale drilling plaguing the industry. "If regulators snap into place to oversee the United State's copious shale gas reserves, then coal will really be in trouble," DuBois writes. "Coal won't just be able to rely on being cheap anymore, it will have to be clean too. And yet, if natural gas stays cheap, it will still become increasingly difficult to make the economic or political case to keep throwing clean money after dirty coal." (Read more)
"Coal is still cheaper at $2.25 per million Btu in 2010, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration," DuBois writes. "Even so, the coal market is starting to feel the burn from gas on its heels." In 2002 the federal government founded the Clean Coal Power Initiative to partner with industry and push clean coal technology. The initiative has so far completed 3 of the 18 total projects, 7 of which have been terminated. Gas is particularly threatening to coal, because it is also an local fuel that could provide energy relatively close to power pants, DuBois writes.
Gas isn't without its own environmental concerns, particularly water pollution from shale drilling plaguing the industry. "If regulators snap into place to oversee the United State's copious shale gas reserves, then coal will really be in trouble," DuBois writes. "Coal won't just be able to rely on being cheap anymore, it will have to be clean too. And yet, if natural gas stays cheap, it will still become increasingly difficult to make the economic or political case to keep throwing clean money after dirty coal." (Read more)
Study shows challenges facing rural transportation; webinar to explore steps government can take
Rising congestion in tourist destinations, roads ill-equipped to handle increasing energy and agricultural output, and emerging cities that are not connected to the Interstate system are a few of the problems affected rural transportation identified in a new report from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. The report argues "more investment is needed in America's rural transportation system to keep agriculture, new energy products, and freight moving; improve access for the travel, recreation, and tourism industries; connect new and emerging cities; and to ensure reliable access to key defense installations," AASHTO says in a news release.
The group reports 66 cities with populations greater than 50,000, including one state capital, do not have immediate access to the Interstate system, and identifies the graying of America as a transportation problem. "In 2008, almost one out of eight people aged 65 and older lived in rural areas," AASHTO says. "This elderly population exceeds 9.6 million people and relies heavily on rural roads and public transit systems for their transportation."
To ensure connectivity of rural and urban America, the group argues any reauthorization of federal transportation legislation should "continue to fund rural portions of the Interstate Highway System and other federal-aid highways that connect America, double federal investment in rural transit systems to meet rising demand and expand the existing capacity of the Interstate system, upgrade rural routes to Interstate standards, and connect newly urbanized areas to the Interstate system." (Read more) "Association director John Horsley said that, in the short term, Congress needs to extend the funding at present levels until a new bill can be crafted. Horsley and other speakers said $600 billion would be enough to expand roads' capacity and make them safer," reports Chuck Bartels of The Associated Press reports.
Those interested in continuing the rural transportation reform conversation can register for the National Rural Assembly's upcoming rural transportation policy webinar. "With the federal transportation reauthorization bill pending, the nation has an opportunity to modernize, strengthen and integrate the transportation systems that connect rural people and places to each other and urban commercial centers, while protecting the landscapes, habitat and livelihoods of rural communities," the Rural Assembly says, noting "the webinar will cover upcoming federal transportation legislation and focus on rural transportation challenges and opportunities." (Register here)
The group reports 66 cities with populations greater than 50,000, including one state capital, do not have immediate access to the Interstate system, and identifies the graying of America as a transportation problem. "In 2008, almost one out of eight people aged 65 and older lived in rural areas," AASHTO says. "This elderly population exceeds 9.6 million people and relies heavily on rural roads and public transit systems for their transportation."
To ensure connectivity of rural and urban America, the group argues any reauthorization of federal transportation legislation should "continue to fund rural portions of the Interstate Highway System and other federal-aid highways that connect America, double federal investment in rural transit systems to meet rising demand and expand the existing capacity of the Interstate system, upgrade rural routes to Interstate standards, and connect newly urbanized areas to the Interstate system." (Read more) "Association director John Horsley said that, in the short term, Congress needs to extend the funding at present levels until a new bill can be crafted. Horsley and other speakers said $600 billion would be enough to expand roads' capacity and make them safer," reports Chuck Bartels of The Associated Press reports.
Those interested in continuing the rural transportation reform conversation can register for the National Rural Assembly's upcoming rural transportation policy webinar. "With the federal transportation reauthorization bill pending, the nation has an opportunity to modernize, strengthen and integrate the transportation systems that connect rural people and places to each other and urban commercial centers, while protecting the landscapes, habitat and livelihoods of rural communities," the Rural Assembly says, noting "the webinar will cover upcoming federal transportation legislation and focus on rural transportation challenges and opportunities." (Register here)
Monday, August 30, 2010
Education Department hopes to make policy more flexible for rural schools
Speaking to a group of agriculture teachers at a rural Arkansas high school Thursday, the Obama administration's top rural schools official said the Education Department is looking to make federal education law more flexible for small, rural schools. John White, the Education Department's deputy secretary for rural outreach, said the department "is seeking a change in key wording in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act from requiring 'highly qualified' teachers to requiring 'highly effective' teachers," Mary Schulken of Education Week reports on the Rural Education blog.
"That way, when you've got a science teacher in a rural school who also teaches math and another subject as well, and does so effectively, and at a high level of mastery, he or she can continue doing those duties without the school being penalized," White told Schulken. White's comments came after speaking to three agriculture teachers at Hamburg High School in southeast Arkansas following a stop by Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Get on the Bus Tour. "The criteria to be considered 'highly qualified' are that teachers hold at least a bachelor's degree, be fully licensed by the state, and demonstrate content knowledge in each subject they teach," Schulken writes. All core academic teachers must meet those requirements, which may be a problem in rural schools where teachers teach several subjects. (Read more)
"That way, when you've got a science teacher in a rural school who also teaches math and another subject as well, and does so effectively, and at a high level of mastery, he or she can continue doing those duties without the school being penalized," White told Schulken. White's comments came after speaking to three agriculture teachers at Hamburg High School in southeast Arkansas following a stop by Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Get on the Bus Tour. "The criteria to be considered 'highly qualified' are that teachers hold at least a bachelor's degree, be fully licensed by the state, and demonstrate content knowledge in each subject they teach," Schulken writes. All core academic teachers must meet those requirements, which may be a problem in rural schools where teachers teach several subjects. (Read more)
Colorado meeting illustrates divide over future of cattle industry
A Friday meeting in Fort Collins, Colo., about competition in the agriculture industry was met with equal support by both sides of the argument for and against further government regulation. "About half the audience supported sweeping change in how the government regulates the ailing cattle industry," Jason Blevins of The Denver Post reports. "The other half bemoaned the possibility of more regulation they fear will clog the industry with lawsuits and curtail cattlemen's ability to harvest top dollar for their herds." The meeting, hosted by Attorney General Eric Holder and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, was the fourth of five workshops about agricultural issues scheduled across the country.
"At the center of the arguments are new rules floated by the Obama administration that would make the powerful meatpacking companies — Tyson Foods, JBS, National Beef and Cargill — provide evidence supporting the prices paid for contracted cattle and give small ranchers more opportunities to contest that pricing," Blevins writes. Some ranchers say the rise in sales from the big four companies from 20 percent of all sales a decade ago to half in 2010 helps them by getting top dollar for their beef. Others say the consolidation leaves ranchers without the ability to fairly negotiate prices.
"While the two ideologies clashed, there was agreement on many issues, including the trouble facing the nation's cattle industry," Blevins writes. "The number of American cattle farms has dropped from 1.6 million in 1980 to 950,000 today. In 1980, cattlemen earned 62 cents for each dollar spent on their beef. Today, they get 42 cents." Some, including Robbie LeValley, president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, said the key to fixing the cattle industry was both sides working together. "We should not be circling the wagons and shooting inward," she said. (Read more)
"At the center of the arguments are new rules floated by the Obama administration that would make the powerful meatpacking companies — Tyson Foods, JBS, National Beef and Cargill — provide evidence supporting the prices paid for contracted cattle and give small ranchers more opportunities to contest that pricing," Blevins writes. Some ranchers say the rise in sales from the big four companies from 20 percent of all sales a decade ago to half in 2010 helps them by getting top dollar for their beef. Others say the consolidation leaves ranchers without the ability to fairly negotiate prices.
"While the two ideologies clashed, there was agreement on many issues, including the trouble facing the nation's cattle industry," Blevins writes. "The number of American cattle farms has dropped from 1.6 million in 1980 to 950,000 today. In 1980, cattlemen earned 62 cents for each dollar spent on their beef. Today, they get 42 cents." Some, including Robbie LeValley, president of the Colorado Cattlemen's Association, said the key to fixing the cattle industry was both sides working together. "We should not be circling the wagons and shooting inward," she said. (Read more)
Report says better monitoring could protect rural wireless carriers
Following concerns from rural wireless carriers, the Government Accountability Office issued a report last week recommending the Federal Communications Commission broaden the types of data it collects to monitor wireless competition. "The report authors expressed concern that industry consolidation has created a situation where four carriers — AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile — increasingly dominate the market," Joan Engebretson of Connected Planet reports. "As of 2009, those four carriers had 90.3% of all wireless subscribers, up from 85% in 2006."
"Industry consolidation has created some challenges for small and regional carriers to remain competitive," the GAO wrote. "These challenges include securing subscribers, making network investments and accessing handsets." The report also cited rural carriers' concerns about spectrum auction policies. "According to some small carriers and other stakeholders with whom we spoke, the size of spectrum blocks has had the effect of pricing small and regional carriers out of recent auctions, making it difficult for these carriers to enter into new markets or expand their services," the report said. The FCC took no position on the report.
To better monitor competition in the wireless industry, the report recommends FCC collect four additional types of data, including pricing, special access rates, capital expenditures and data about device and equipment costs. The Rural Cellular Association issued a release praising the new report. "RCA has urged the FCC to take immediate action on three policy issues that will help enhance and preserve competition in the wireless marketplace," Steven K. Berry, president and CEO of RCA, said in the statement. "These three actions include ending handset exclusivity, mandating data roaming and mandating interoperability across all paired bands of 700 MHz broadband spectrum," Engebretson writes. (Read more)
"Industry consolidation has created some challenges for small and regional carriers to remain competitive," the GAO wrote. "These challenges include securing subscribers, making network investments and accessing handsets." The report also cited rural carriers' concerns about spectrum auction policies. "According to some small carriers and other stakeholders with whom we spoke, the size of spectrum blocks has had the effect of pricing small and regional carriers out of recent auctions, making it difficult for these carriers to enter into new markets or expand their services," the report said. The FCC took no position on the report.
To better monitor competition in the wireless industry, the report recommends FCC collect four additional types of data, including pricing, special access rates, capital expenditures and data about device and equipment costs. The Rural Cellular Association issued a release praising the new report. "RCA has urged the FCC to take immediate action on three policy issues that will help enhance and preserve competition in the wireless marketplace," Steven K. Berry, president and CEO of RCA, said in the statement. "These three actions include ending handset exclusivity, mandating data roaming and mandating interoperability across all paired bands of 700 MHz broadband spectrum," Engebretson writes. (Read more)
Cowboy teaches low-stress livestock handling in wake of abusive animal video
In the wake of a widely distributed video of cows being beaten and proded with pitchforks at an Ohio dairy farm, one man in the cattle industry is hoping to teach other ranchers low-stress methods of handling livestock. Curt Pate, a 49-year-old Montana cowboy, said his "goal is to teach ranchers traditional livestock handling methods used 100 years ago," Matt Volz reports for The Washington Post. "Back then, there were fewer corrals and fences, and a manager didn't spend as much time on a computer as with livestock." His work is sponsored by the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, which is eager to counter bad publicity from the video.
"It makes me ill," cowboy Pate told Volz of the Ohio video. "I really can't stand it. If you care about animals, you just can't stand those things." After an animal rights group released the video in May, "a grand jury decided there wasn't evidence to prosecute the farm's owner, but the video was circulated widely online, making national headlines and leading to threats against the farmer and his family," Volz writes. Now, The cattlemen's association has other cowboys like Pate visiting state fairs across the country to "teach low-stress methods and show the public that the Ohio video is not representative of how members treat their animals," Volz writes.
Among Pate's tips: make sure the cattle can see you, don't make loud noises, don't rush the animals, use cattle prods and other equipment sparingly and try to think like a cow. "We've got to step out of the human world and become a cow," he said. "If you think like a cow, pretty soon you start getting the cow to think more like a human." (Read more)
"It makes me ill," cowboy Pate told Volz of the Ohio video. "I really can't stand it. If you care about animals, you just can't stand those things." After an animal rights group released the video in May, "a grand jury decided there wasn't evidence to prosecute the farm's owner, but the video was circulated widely online, making national headlines and leading to threats against the farmer and his family," Volz writes. Now, The cattlemen's association has other cowboys like Pate visiting state fairs across the country to "teach low-stress methods and show the public that the Ohio video is not representative of how members treat their animals," Volz writes.
Among Pate's tips: make sure the cattle can see you, don't make loud noises, don't rush the animals, use cattle prods and other equipment sparingly and try to think like a cow. "We've got to step out of the human world and become a cow," he said. "If you think like a cow, pretty soon you start getting the cow to think more like a human." (Read more)
Gun-rights advocates resist EPA proposal to ban lead from hunting bullets
Gun-rights advocates are mobilizing against a proposal from environmental groups for the Environmental Protection Agency to ban lead in hunting bullets and fishing tackle. "The groups behind the push for new lead limits dismiss its portrayal as 'anti-hunting' by the National Rifle Association and the hunting-industry representatives at the National Shooting Sports Foundation," Elana Schor of Environment & Energy Daily reports. "Where gun-rights advocates see a back-door attempt to rein in hunting, the environmentalists petitioning EPA see an effort to protect species vulnerable to lead poisoning from the ingestion of spent ammunition."
"This is not about curtailing hunting," Michael Fry, director of conservation advocacy at the American Bird Conservancy, told Schor. "It's simply about having bullets and shotgun pellets that get into the environment be nontoxic." A petition filed earlier this month by the ABC and four other groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, "cites the availability of less toxic alternatives to lead in asking EPA to weigh in," Schor writes. The agency opened the groups request for public comment until Oct. 31.
In alerting its members to contact their Congressional representatives about the petition, NSSF maintained prohibiting lead hunting equipment would actually hurt wildlife conservation. The federal excise tax that manufacturers pay on the sale of the ammunition (11 percent) is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding, NSSF Senior Vice President Larry Keane wrote. "The bald eagle's recovery, considered to be a great conservation success story, was made possible and funded by hunters using traditional ammunition -- the very ammunition organizations like the CBD are now demonizing." The petition argues lead could be replaced by other materials without affecting availability of the products. (Read more, subscription required)
"This is not about curtailing hunting," Michael Fry, director of conservation advocacy at the American Bird Conservancy, told Schor. "It's simply about having bullets and shotgun pellets that get into the environment be nontoxic." A petition filed earlier this month by the ABC and four other groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, "cites the availability of less toxic alternatives to lead in asking EPA to weigh in," Schor writes. The agency opened the groups request for public comment until Oct. 31.
In alerting its members to contact their Congressional representatives about the petition, NSSF maintained prohibiting lead hunting equipment would actually hurt wildlife conservation. The federal excise tax that manufacturers pay on the sale of the ammunition (11 percent) is a primary source of wildlife conservation funding, NSSF Senior Vice President Larry Keane wrote. "The bald eagle's recovery, considered to be a great conservation success story, was made possible and funded by hunters using traditional ammunition -- the very ammunition organizations like the CBD are now demonizing." The petition argues lead could be replaced by other materials without affecting availability of the products. (Read more, subscription required)
Questionable medical practice in rural Ky. advertises regionally, gets business from afar
UPDATE, Sept. 9: MCL reports that the clinic has closed.
The Marion County Line, a blog based in Lebanon, Ky., population 6,300, reports on a medical clinic that opened recently in town. "The Lebanon Trade Center is like any other shopping center in Kentucky -- there's a cigarette outlet, a chiropractor, a Subway shop, a hair salon, and a cash-only pain clinic, where anybody with $200 can get a prescription for Oxycontin," writes Jim Higdon, Lebanon resident and graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism.
When Wanda Abell Meade read an advertisement for the clinic, in her local newspaper in Grayson, Ky., 162 miles east of her hometown of Lebanon, she became concerned. The ad said, "Specializing in complete pain management ... Walk-ins welcome. Now accepting new patients." Meade, who manages nursing homes, asked a nurse on her staff to make an inquiry and was told by the clinic to bring in an MRI less than two years old, $200 in cash, and a fax number for your pharmacist. No ads have appeared in The Lebanon Enterprise.
UPDATE, Sept. 8: Stephen Lega of the Enterprise reports that the clinc has also advertised in The Morehead News, also in northeastern Kentucky, "No one involved seems to want to talk about it," Lega writes of the clinic. "Official documents filed on behalf of the business also appear to contain inaccurate information." Lega's well-reported story is here.
The medical office is open sporadically, but when it is open, cars arrive from as far away as Leitchfield (81 miles west), Wolfe County (129 miles east), and Paducah (222 miles west), a Lebanon Trade Center businessperson told Higdon. The cars generally carry four or five people per vehicle -- all seeking prescriptions from Lebanon Medical Solutions, according to a local pharmacist, who will no longer fill prescriptions written there. The clinic is owned by two doctors; one has had a series of competency issues throughout his career and the other has practiced in several locations, Higdon reports.
Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said "Grayson and Morehead are near one end of the so-called pill pipeline from Florida, which may be tightening because of new laws and enforcement in that state." The Rural Blog has reported on the topic; here is a recent item.
The Marion County Line, a blog based in Lebanon, Ky., population 6,300, reports on a medical clinic that opened recently in town. "The Lebanon Trade Center is like any other shopping center in Kentucky -- there's a cigarette outlet, a chiropractor, a Subway shop, a hair salon, and a cash-only pain clinic, where anybody with $200 can get a prescription for Oxycontin," writes Jim Higdon, Lebanon resident and graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism.
When Wanda Abell Meade read an advertisement for the clinic, in her local newspaper in Grayson, Ky., 162 miles east of her hometown of Lebanon, she became concerned. The ad said, "Specializing in complete pain management ... Walk-ins welcome. Now accepting new patients." Meade, who manages nursing homes, asked a nurse on her staff to make an inquiry and was told by the clinic to bring in an MRI less than two years old, $200 in cash, and a fax number for your pharmacist. No ads have appeared in The Lebanon Enterprise.
UPDATE, Sept. 8: Stephen Lega of the Enterprise reports that the clinc has also advertised in The Morehead News, also in northeastern Kentucky, "No one involved seems to want to talk about it," Lega writes of the clinic. "Official documents filed on behalf of the business also appear to contain inaccurate information." Lega's well-reported story is here.
The medical office is open sporadically, but when it is open, cars arrive from as far away as Leitchfield (81 miles west), Wolfe County (129 miles east), and Paducah (222 miles west), a Lebanon Trade Center businessperson told Higdon. The cars generally carry four or five people per vehicle -- all seeking prescriptions from Lebanon Medical Solutions, according to a local pharmacist, who will no longer fill prescriptions written there. The clinic is owned by two doctors; one has had a series of competency issues throughout his career and the other has practiced in several locations, Higdon reports.
Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said "Grayson and Morehead are near one end of the so-called pill pipeline from Florida, which may be tightening because of new laws and enforcement in that state." The Rural Blog has reported on the topic; here is a recent item.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Live! This morning! Bluegrass on radio and 'net!
Matthew of The Art of the Rural blog asks, "What other local radio stations are our readers listening to, either on the radio or on the Internet?" Feel free to drop us a line or comment on our Facebook page; we would love to follow up with more features on these stations, and to add them to our Rural Arts Map."
Friday, August 27, 2010
Environmental groups find 39 more sites contaminated by coal ash
A new report from three environmental groups documents 39 additional coal-ash dump sites in 21 states are contaminating drinking or surface water with arsenic and other heavy metals. Experts from the Environmental Integrity Project, Earthjustice and the Sierra Club found "at every one of the coal-ash dump sites equipped with groundwater monitoring wells, concentrations of heavy metals such as arsenic or lead exceeded federal health-based standards for drinking water," Ken Ward Jr. of The Charleston Gazette reports on his Coal Tattoo blog.
Concentrations at the Hatfield’s Ferry site in Pennsylvania were as high as 341 times the federal standard for arsenic, Ward writes. "There is no greater reason for coal ash regulation than preventing the poisoning of our water," Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel for Earthjustice, said in a news release. "We now have 39 more good reasons for a national coal ash rule. The mounting number of contaminated sites demonstrates that the states are unable or unwilling to solve this problem."
The report also found "the total number of sites polluted by coal ash or sludge is now at least 137 in 34 states," Ward writes. "These sites account for 29 percent of the 467 plants that dispose of coal ash onsite or offsite." At least 18 of the 39 newly identified contaminated sites are located within five miles of a public groundwater well. "It is clear from this report that the closer we look the worse this problem becomes," Lyndsay Moseley, federal policy representative for the Sierra Club, said. "The only real solution is for the EPA to adopt federally enforceable protections as part of its push to improve public health. We’re talking about people’s lives here." (Read more)
Concentrations at the Hatfield’s Ferry site in Pennsylvania were as high as 341 times the federal standard for arsenic, Ward writes. "There is no greater reason for coal ash regulation than preventing the poisoning of our water," Lisa Evans, senior administrative counsel for Earthjustice, said in a news release. "We now have 39 more good reasons for a national coal ash rule. The mounting number of contaminated sites demonstrates that the states are unable or unwilling to solve this problem."
The report also found "the total number of sites polluted by coal ash or sludge is now at least 137 in 34 states," Ward writes. "These sites account for 29 percent of the 467 plants that dispose of coal ash onsite or offsite." At least 18 of the 39 newly identified contaminated sites are located within five miles of a public groundwater well. "It is clear from this report that the closer we look the worse this problem becomes," Lyndsay Moseley, federal policy representative for the Sierra Club, said. "The only real solution is for the EPA to adopt federally enforceable protections as part of its push to improve public health. We’re talking about people’s lives here." (Read more)
Military says wind turbines are threat to radar systems
(Wind turbines, Thomas Boyd/The Oregonian)
Because of its concerns, the Defense Department has emerged as a serious opponent to the Energy Department in its attempts to foster wind power development. "I call it the train wreck of the 2000s," Gary Seifert, who has been studying the radar-wind energy clash at the Idaho National Laboratory, an Energy Department research facility. "The train wreck is the competing resources for two national needs: energy security and national security." Last year about 9,000 megawatts of proposed wind projects were abandoned following complaints from the military and Federal Aviation Administration.
"Collisions between the industry and the military have occurred in the Columbia River Gorge on the Oregon-Washington border and in the Great Lakes region," Vestel writes. "But the conflicts now appear to be most frequent in the Mojave [Desert], where the Air Force, Navy and Army control 20,000 square miles of airspace and associated land in California and Nevada that they use for bomb tests; low-altitude, high-speed air maneuvers; and radar testing and development." The Energy Department hopes updating radar software can fix the problem, others say more help is needed. "I can’t imagine a better example of everyone wanting to do the right thing and nobody doing it," Howard Swancy, an aviation consultant and former FAA official, told Vestel. "We need an infrastructure-size development plan." (Read more)
Newspaper editors: Has the time come to print anonymous letters?
UPDATE, Feb. 22, 2011: The Freeman Courier has reverted to its old policy. See new item.
During the June International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference Bill Reader, an assistant professor at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, argued that newspapers should print anonymous letters to the editor. In the age of anonymous online commenting, newspapers continued reluctance to print unsigned letters is archaic and out of touch, Reader argued. In his presentation, Reader wrote that newspapers are in the midst of a cultural revolution whether they like it or not, and resources should be devoted to content of letters rather than authorship. (You can read the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issue's story on the conference here.)
The Freeman Courier of South Dakota took Reader's argument to heart in deciding to change its policy and allow anonymous letters. "If you’ve got something to say in print but don’t want your name attached, while we may not agree with your desire to hide behind anonymity, we will grant you that right," editors Tim and Jeremy Waltner write in the August ISWNE newsletter. The Waltners note their policy is an experiment and they reserve the right to change their minds, they must still be able to verify the identity of the author whether his or her name is printed or not and they still will not print potentially libelous statements.
In his first newsletter column as ISWNE president Jeremy Condliffe, editor of the Congleton Chronicle in England, argues in support of anonymous letters. "It’s true that some of you might be opposed to anonymous letters because you just feel it’s plum wrong, and unethical to run anonymous attacks, but, as was pointed out in Kentucky, doing this can give a voice to the voiceless," Condliffe writes. "I certainly print letters criticizing those in power that come from working class readers who don’t feel they have any other way of expressing an opinion."
Not everyone at the conference was persuaded by the anonymous letter argument. Marcia Martinek, editor of the Herald Democrat of Leadville, Colo., notes her paper has always received plenty of letters to the editor despite its policy that it only prints signed ones. Martinek writes in the newsletter her paper sometimes explores issues raised in anonymous letters it receives but for now "I’m not thinking of changing any of our policies. Most Leadvillites have the courage to put their names on their letters. I’m proud of that, and you should be, too." (Read the newsletter here)
During the June International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference Bill Reader, an assistant professor at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, argued that newspapers should print anonymous letters to the editor. In the age of anonymous online commenting, newspapers continued reluctance to print unsigned letters is archaic and out of touch, Reader argued. In his presentation, Reader wrote that newspapers are in the midst of a cultural revolution whether they like it or not, and resources should be devoted to content of letters rather than authorship. (You can read the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issue's story on the conference here.)
The Freeman Courier of South Dakota took Reader's argument to heart in deciding to change its policy and allow anonymous letters. "If you’ve got something to say in print but don’t want your name attached, while we may not agree with your desire to hide behind anonymity, we will grant you that right," editors Tim and Jeremy Waltner write in the August ISWNE newsletter. The Waltners note their policy is an experiment and they reserve the right to change their minds, they must still be able to verify the identity of the author whether his or her name is printed or not and they still will not print potentially libelous statements.
In his first newsletter column as ISWNE president Jeremy Condliffe, editor of the Congleton Chronicle in England, argues in support of anonymous letters. "It’s true that some of you might be opposed to anonymous letters because you just feel it’s plum wrong, and unethical to run anonymous attacks, but, as was pointed out in Kentucky, doing this can give a voice to the voiceless," Condliffe writes. "I certainly print letters criticizing those in power that come from working class readers who don’t feel they have any other way of expressing an opinion."
Not everyone at the conference was persuaded by the anonymous letter argument. Marcia Martinek, editor of the Herald Democrat of Leadville, Colo., notes her paper has always received plenty of letters to the editor despite its policy that it only prints signed ones. Martinek writes in the newsletter her paper sometimes explores issues raised in anonymous letters it receives but for now "I’m not thinking of changing any of our policies. Most Leadvillites have the courage to put their names on their letters. I’m proud of that, and you should be, too." (Read the newsletter here)
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Steps taken to slow the 'carp highway' into the Great Lakes
Attorneys from five Great Lakes states argued before U.S. District Judge Robert M. Dow to close Chicago-area shipping locks to stop Asian carp before they reach Lake Michigan, the Chicago Tribune reported Monday. The states are asking Dow to issue an emergency injunction to close what Michigan's assistant attorney general Robert Reichel called a "carp highway." Department of Justice attorneys argue that the federal government and Army Corps have spent millions to track and control Asian carp. Sealing the locks, which also aid in flood control by releasing water back into Lake Michigan, presents a grave risk to area residents during heavy rains. Dow will consider the states' request for an emergency injunction after a three-day hearing in Chicago beginning Sept. 7. (Read more)
Asian carp is not the only problem in Chicago waterways. "Alligator Bob," who has volunteered with the Chicago Herpetological Society for about 20 years, has rescued more than 70 alligators from Illinois and Wisconsin waterways. He doesn't give out his last name because people call him to take their unwanted animals. After being summoned to nab a gator seen sunning on the banks of the Chicago River, Bob said, "If I don't get it, the animal is going to die," adding that alligators won't survive Chicago winters. Bob caught a 3-foot alligator Monday in the Chicago River. (Read more)
Race to Top winner list raises questions of urban, geographic bias
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said Tuesday the second round winners of Race to the Top funding demonstrated the boldest plans for turning around public schools, but they also share another factor: geography. "Of the dozen states that have won major grants to date in the two-part grant contest that is the Obama administration’s signature education initiative, 11 are east of the Mississippi and most hug the East Coast, including Florida and Georgia in the South and New York and Massachusetts in the North," Sam Dillon of The New York Times reports. "Among the winners, Hawaii is the lone geographic exception."
Educators in many of the states that didn't win or participate in the competition said "the competition’s rules tilted in favor of densely populated Eastern states, which tend to embrace more of the ideas that Washington currently considers innovative, including increasing the number of charter schools and firing principals in chronically failing schools," Dillon writes. Experts agreed "those rules have seemed a poor fit for the nation’s rural communities and sparsely populated Western regions." Duncan said of the prevalence of Eastern winners, "We went as far west as we could go. We want to work with Western states. Geography was irrelevant."
"This whole effort had more of an urban than a rural flavor," Armando Vilaseca, commissioner of education of Vermont, whose state did not participate in either round of Race to the Top. Delaware and Tennessee were selected as winners in the first round of competition, and the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island were selected as second round winners. Among the surprise losers were Colorado and Louisiana, which each "endured divisive legislative battles to change education laws in ways favored by the administration, to improve their chances of winning Race to the Top money," Dillon writes. (Read more)
Educators in many of the states that didn't win or participate in the competition said "the competition’s rules tilted in favor of densely populated Eastern states, which tend to embrace more of the ideas that Washington currently considers innovative, including increasing the number of charter schools and firing principals in chronically failing schools," Dillon writes. Experts agreed "those rules have seemed a poor fit for the nation’s rural communities and sparsely populated Western regions." Duncan said of the prevalence of Eastern winners, "We went as far west as we could go. We want to work with Western states. Geography was irrelevant."
"This whole effort had more of an urban than a rural flavor," Armando Vilaseca, commissioner of education of Vermont, whose state did not participate in either round of Race to the Top. Delaware and Tennessee were selected as winners in the first round of competition, and the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island were selected as second round winners. Among the surprise losers were Colorado and Louisiana, which each "endured divisive legislative battles to change education laws in ways favored by the administration, to improve their chances of winning Race to the Top money," Dillon writes. (Read more)
Funding for broadband in North Carolina called a 'game changer'
We've been following the stimulus package broadband awards, several of which have gone to rural schools. Now some rural advocates say these awards could be key to altering "the playing field for rural schools and the communities they serve," Mary Schulken of Education Week reports on the Rural Education blog. "The grants and projects vary widely, from funding fixed wireless broadband in Michigan to providing mobile broadband access to rural Alabama," Schulken writes. "Yet all the projects focus primarily on unserved or underserved communities and in many instances will provide discounted service to anchor institutions in communities such as schools and libraries."
"The [Broadband Technology Opportunities Program] award is truly a game changer for North Carolina," Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, told Schulken of a $75.8 million grant announced last week for North Carolina from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Bowles, who chaired a rural prosperity task force 11 years ago that set blanket broadband access for students and households as a top priority, told Schulken the award was "the most significant event toward meeting this goal since it was crafted a decade ago."
"When the [stimulus package] broadband money was debated in Washington, not everyone thought spending money to connect rural communities offered as much promise as Bowles' remarks suggest," Schulken writes, pointing to a National Public Radio story from 2009. "Yet the money rolls, bringing jobs and, perhaps more significant in the long-term, bandwidth and speed," Schulken concludes. (Read more)
"The [Broadband Technology Opportunities Program] award is truly a game changer for North Carolina," Erskine Bowles, president of the University of North Carolina system, told Schulken of a $75.8 million grant announced last week for North Carolina from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Bowles, who chaired a rural prosperity task force 11 years ago that set blanket broadband access for students and households as a top priority, told Schulken the award was "the most significant event toward meeting this goal since it was crafted a decade ago."
"When the [stimulus package] broadband money was debated in Washington, not everyone thought spending money to connect rural communities offered as much promise as Bowles' remarks suggest," Schulken writes, pointing to a National Public Radio story from 2009. "Yet the money rolls, bringing jobs and, perhaps more significant in the long-term, bandwidth and speed," Schulken concludes. (Read more)
Maine among states with inadequate access for email open record requests
The Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting filed a state open records request for emails from 2005-2007 between the Public Utilities Commission chairman and representatives of wind company First Wind. PUC attorney Joanne Stenack told the center the request could be completed for $10,000, Naomi Schalit of the center reports. "The center then asked for a waiver of the $10,000 cost, under provisions in the state’s FOAA that allow waivers to be granted for noncommercial use of public information," Schalit writes. "They refused to grant the waiver and revised their estimate of the cost for the Center to get the information to $36,239.52." (Read more)
Now what seemed initially like an effort by the PUC to avoid complying with the request may actually be evidence of an archaic email system plaguing, not only Maine but other state governments across the country. "Here's the really surprising thing the Portland Phoenix has learned from just a little research into the matter: the estimate reflects the state's actual cost to extract the information from its e-mail archive, which is so cumbersome that it's next to impossible to actually use," Jeff Inglis reports for the Phoenix. Greg McNeal, Maine's chief information officer, told Inglis responding to a similar request would take one of his two e-mail technicians an entire year of full-time work.
"McNeal calls the backup mechanism 'archaic,' and says he has been lobbying to improve it for some time now, but the state lacks both funding and a working example to adapt to Maine's needs," Inglis writes. McNeal and state archivist David Cheever say the problem isn't unique to Maine either, which has "roughly 12,000 state e-mail accounts, with thousands upon thousands of actual messages, which must all be backed up in a way that must somehow or other be accessible to the public and yet secure from destruction," Inglis writes.
"Neither of them is aware of a state government that has a timely, inexpensive storage-and-retrieval method for state officials' e-mail messages," Inglis writes. Cheever said the state can't afford to experiment with other systems: "We don't have the money to be wrong," he told Inglis. Schalit told the Phoenix if the claim is true Maine's system is "mind-boggling for anybody who has an interest in history. If this is the kind of system they have installed for government business, there's something wrong with the system." (Read more)
Now what seemed initially like an effort by the PUC to avoid complying with the request may actually be evidence of an archaic email system plaguing, not only Maine but other state governments across the country. "Here's the really surprising thing the Portland Phoenix has learned from just a little research into the matter: the estimate reflects the state's actual cost to extract the information from its e-mail archive, which is so cumbersome that it's next to impossible to actually use," Jeff Inglis reports for the Phoenix. Greg McNeal, Maine's chief information officer, told Inglis responding to a similar request would take one of his two e-mail technicians an entire year of full-time work.
"McNeal calls the backup mechanism 'archaic,' and says he has been lobbying to improve it for some time now, but the state lacks both funding and a working example to adapt to Maine's needs," Inglis writes. McNeal and state archivist David Cheever say the problem isn't unique to Maine either, which has "roughly 12,000 state e-mail accounts, with thousands upon thousands of actual messages, which must all be backed up in a way that must somehow or other be accessible to the public and yet secure from destruction," Inglis writes.
"Neither of them is aware of a state government that has a timely, inexpensive storage-and-retrieval method for state officials' e-mail messages," Inglis writes. Cheever said the state can't afford to experiment with other systems: "We don't have the money to be wrong," he told Inglis. Schalit told the Phoenix if the claim is true Maine's system is "mind-boggling for anybody who has an interest in history. If this is the kind of system they have installed for government business, there's something wrong with the system." (Read more)
Obama administration's shift of rural aid money angers some farmers
A record federal deficit and shifting priorities have led the Obama administration to shift some rural aid money from farmers to broadband providers, land-conservation efforts and nutrition programs, angering some in the agriculture industry. "To many farmers, the changes seem designed to satisfy organic-food devotees, first lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity cause, weekend duck hunters, and small-town Internet users -- everyone, that is, except traditional farmers," Alan Bjerga of Bloomberg reports. Nebraska cattle rancher and crop insurance salesman Kris Luoma said to Bjerga of Washington policy makers, "A lot of them don’t know where their food comes from."
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "in July trimmed $6 billion in payments to crop insurers such as San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. for the next decade," Bjerga writes. "Now he’s looking at cuts of as much as $5 billion a year from an automatic payments program that compensates farmers even if they grow nothing." Bjerga characterizes Vilsack as the "chief messenger of this makeover, a turnabout for farmers who have known him as one of their staunchest advocates." Vilsack advocates diversifying rural economies, and if done right, government programs will benefit everyone, including crop growers and ranchers who need thriving communities nearby.
"The last real attempt to cut subsidies, in 1996, led to a backlash -- and bailout checks for farmers after export declines and heat waves persuaded lawmakers to abandon cost-cutting," according to Bjerga. Now the $1.3 trillion annual deficit will make subsidy cuts stick, said Minnesota Democratic Rep. Collin Petersen, the House Agriculture Committee chairman. "Vilsack calls the deficit an incentive to revamp farm support and allocate funds to alternative energy and broadband projects, benefiting telecommunications companies such as New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and ethanol producers, including Poet LLC of Sioux Falls, South Dakota," Bjerga writes. (Read more)
U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack "in July trimmed $6 billion in payments to crop insurers such as San Francisco-based Wells Fargo & Co. for the next decade," Bjerga writes. "Now he’s looking at cuts of as much as $5 billion a year from an automatic payments program that compensates farmers even if they grow nothing." Bjerga characterizes Vilsack as the "chief messenger of this makeover, a turnabout for farmers who have known him as one of their staunchest advocates." Vilsack advocates diversifying rural economies, and if done right, government programs will benefit everyone, including crop growers and ranchers who need thriving communities nearby.
"The last real attempt to cut subsidies, in 1996, led to a backlash -- and bailout checks for farmers after export declines and heat waves persuaded lawmakers to abandon cost-cutting," according to Bjerga. Now the $1.3 trillion annual deficit will make subsidy cuts stick, said Minnesota Democratic Rep. Collin Petersen, the House Agriculture Committee chairman. "Vilsack calls the deficit an incentive to revamp farm support and allocate funds to alternative energy and broadband projects, benefiting telecommunications companies such as New York-based Verizon Communications Inc. and ethanol producers, including Poet LLC of Sioux Falls, South Dakota," Bjerga writes. (Read more)
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Some coal mining companies are forced to answer for mine safety
U.S. coal mines continue to violate safety laws despite an increase in enforcement following the April explosion that killed 29 West Virginia miners at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch Mine. Recent surprise inspections from the Mine Safety and Health Administration revealed "miners had worked under an unsupported roof at a Tennessee mine, and sections of a West Virginia mine were closed after inspectors found numerous serious violations," Tim Huber of The Associated Press reports. "Serious violations turned up at two Kentucky mines, including an International Coal Group operation that was ordered to stop production last week until its ventilation plan was rewritten."
"It is appalling that our inspectors continue to find such egregious violations, especially with the explosion at Upper Big Branch still fresh in everyone's minds," MSHA director Joe Main said in a statement. "MSHA will continue to target mines with enhanced inspections where conditions merit such actions, particularly at mines that display a disregard to miners' safety and health." No Massey mines were included in the last blitz of inspections. ICG received 43 citations at it's Classic Mine in Eastern Kentucky. ICG said it had fixed the mine's ventilation plan and production resumed Monday. (Read more)
A coal company in Letcher County, Ky., was found at fault for disciplining a miner who had photographed the mine's unsafe practices, reports Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Charles Scott Howard used a video camera to document leaking seals at Cumberland River Coal Co. Band Mill No. 2 mine. After Howard showed the video to federal inspectors, the mine was closed. Soon after that, the company placed a disciplinary letter in Howard's file saying he had created unsafe conditions by bringing a camera into the mine. But Administrative Law Judge T. Todd Hodgdon said the letter was a pretext to discipline Howard because company managers were displeased that he had videotaped the seals causing the mine to be closed.
Howard told Estep that coal miners should work hard and help their employers be profitable, but that profit can't come at the expense of safety, "You gotta stand up for your rights," he said to Estep. "To lose a life over ignorance or fear of spending a little money is uncalled for." (Read more)
"It is appalling that our inspectors continue to find such egregious violations, especially with the explosion at Upper Big Branch still fresh in everyone's minds," MSHA director Joe Main said in a statement. "MSHA will continue to target mines with enhanced inspections where conditions merit such actions, particularly at mines that display a disregard to miners' safety and health." No Massey mines were included in the last blitz of inspections. ICG received 43 citations at it's Classic Mine in Eastern Kentucky. ICG said it had fixed the mine's ventilation plan and production resumed Monday. (Read more)
A coal company in Letcher County, Ky., was found at fault for disciplining a miner who had photographed the mine's unsafe practices, reports Bill Estep of the Lexington Herald-Leader. Charles Scott Howard used a video camera to document leaking seals at Cumberland River Coal Co. Band Mill No. 2 mine. After Howard showed the video to federal inspectors, the mine was closed. Soon after that, the company placed a disciplinary letter in Howard's file saying he had created unsafe conditions by bringing a camera into the mine. But Administrative Law Judge T. Todd Hodgdon said the letter was a pretext to discipline Howard because company managers were displeased that he had videotaped the seals causing the mine to be closed.
Howard told Estep that coal miners should work hard and help their employers be profitable, but that profit can't come at the expense of safety, "You gotta stand up for your rights," he said to Estep. "To lose a life over ignorance or fear of spending a little money is uncalled for." (Read more)
Landowners band together to cash in on natural gas boom
As natural gas drilling continues to trend upward with the popularity of hydraulic fracturing, more landowners are banding together to sell rights to the gas below their property. "The Ohio and Surrounding Counties of West Virginia Landowners Group includes more than 400 property owners and controls gas rights over 26,400 acres, stretching into Western Pennsylvania," Andrew Conte of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. Seizing on their joined power, the group reportedly turned down an offer in April from Chesapeake Appalachia worth more than $80 million up front, at $3,000 an acre, plus 18 percent royalties on the gas.
The Ohio/West Virginia group isn't the only coalition of landowners looking to cash in on the natural gas boom. The Friendsville Group, located in Pennsylvania's Bradford and Susquehanna counties with 1,384 members and 33,047 acres, negotiated a deal with Talisman Energy last year worth $181 million up front, at $5,500 an acre, plus 20 percent of royalties. "There's a lot of these large groups that are being put together," James McCune, a Washington County, Penn., lawyer who specializes in gas leases, told Conte. "If they're done correctly and if people get lucky, they can be a big benefit for people. But there are so many variables and so many differences in the tracts of land in a group of that size." (Read more)
The Ohio/West Virginia group isn't the only coalition of landowners looking to cash in on the natural gas boom. The Friendsville Group, located in Pennsylvania's Bradford and Susquehanna counties with 1,384 members and 33,047 acres, negotiated a deal with Talisman Energy last year worth $181 million up front, at $5,500 an acre, plus 20 percent of royalties. "There's a lot of these large groups that are being put together," James McCune, a Washington County, Penn., lawyer who specializes in gas leases, told Conte. "If they're done correctly and if people get lucky, they can be a big benefit for people. But there are so many variables and so many differences in the tracts of land in a group of that size." (Read more)
Value of vaccinating hens for egg safety still undecided
In the wake of the country's largest ever egg recall the Food and Drug Administration has said the salmonella outbreak could have been avoided if new food safety rules were enacted earlier. Now some industry officials wonder if the food safety rules are enough since FDA declined to mandate vaccinating hens against salmonella as part of the rules, William Neuman of The New York Times reports. The vaccinations helped eliminate a salmonella outbreak in England over a decade ago.
American regulators said there was not enough evidence to conclude the vaccinations would prevent people from getting sick. Mandatory vaccinations would cost less than a penny per dozen eggs, Neuman writes. The new rules, which FDA said could have averted the outbreak, "include regular testing for contamination, cleanliness standards for henhouses and refrigeration requirements, all of which experts say are necessary," Neuman writes. FDA said the new rules do encourage farmers to use vaccinations if they believe it will help prevent salmonella infections.
The vaccines "are the only thing I’m aware of that really controls the problem from the inside out, at the source,” Ronald Plylar, the former president of a company that developed an early salmonella vaccine, told Neuman. Several industry officials told Neuman they believed the recall would force producers to begin vaccinating hens. While FDA said it considered mandating vaccinations very seriously, "We didn’t believe that, based on the data we had, there was sufficient scientific evidence for us to require it,” Dr. Nega Beru, director of the agency’s Office of Food Safety, told Neuman. (Read more)
American regulators said there was not enough evidence to conclude the vaccinations would prevent people from getting sick. Mandatory vaccinations would cost less than a penny per dozen eggs, Neuman writes. The new rules, which FDA said could have averted the outbreak, "include regular testing for contamination, cleanliness standards for henhouses and refrigeration requirements, all of which experts say are necessary," Neuman writes. FDA said the new rules do encourage farmers to use vaccinations if they believe it will help prevent salmonella infections.
The vaccines "are the only thing I’m aware of that really controls the problem from the inside out, at the source,” Ronald Plylar, the former president of a company that developed an early salmonella vaccine, told Neuman. Several industry officials told Neuman they believed the recall would force producers to begin vaccinating hens. While FDA said it considered mandating vaccinations very seriously, "We didn’t believe that, based on the data we had, there was sufficient scientific evidence for us to require it,” Dr. Nega Beru, director of the agency’s Office of Food Safety, told Neuman. (Read more)
Symposium to examine link between animal disease and human health
The early registration deadline for an international, multi-disciplinary symposium about connections between zoonotic diseases, animal agriculture and human health from the non-profit Farm Foundation is Sept. 1. The symposium is scheduled for Sept. 23-24 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D. C. "The recent H1N1 outbreak is one in a long series of disease outbreaks that has raised questions about the relationship between diseases, agricultural production systems and human health," Farm Foundation Vice President Sheldon Jones said in a news release. "An understanding of the risks and interactions is critical to health professionals working with humans and animals, policy makers and regulators. This symposium is designed to help build a systematic knowledge of those relationships."
The symposium is targeted at public health officials, epidemiologists, virologists, veterinarians, agriculture producer groups and media representatives. Speakers include Kevin Walker of Michigan State University, William Karesh of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Marguerite Pappaioanou of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, Juan Lubroth of the United Nation’s Food Agriculture Organization and David Heymann of the Centre on Global Health Security, United Kingdom. The registration fee is $300 before Sept. 1 and $350 afterward. (Read more)
The symposium is targeted at public health officials, epidemiologists, virologists, veterinarians, agriculture producer groups and media representatives. Speakers include Kevin Walker of Michigan State University, William Karesh of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Marguerite Pappaioanou of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges, Juan Lubroth of the United Nation’s Food Agriculture Organization and David Heymann of the Centre on Global Health Security, United Kingdom. The registration fee is $300 before Sept. 1 and $350 afterward. (Read more)
Rural co-ops no longer just for farms and electricity
Electric co-operatives and farming co-ops have long been staples of rural America, but now the co-operative model is now catching on in new industries. The model has "evolved into hybrids that combine two or more business interests, and it’s expanding into new and unlikely service sectors," Nancy Jorgensen reports for the Daily Yonder reports. One such area is buying co-operatives between farmers and local institutions like hospitals, schools or governments. Puget Sound residents also can turn to the co-op model for funeral arrangements.
Stephen Ronstrom, CEO of Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisc., was recognized by the state of Wisconsin and the Wall Street Journal for buying local farm products for hospital meals. "Local food is good medicine for everyone," Ronstrom wrote in a 2008 newspaper editorial that got the ball rolling. "It preserves and expands family farms, provides jobs in production and processing, and keeps money in our community." Sacred Heart committed to spending 10 percent of its $2 million annual food budget on local food and in 2009 it joined with local farmers to form the Producers & Buyers Co-op.
"Institutional food buyers maintain long-standing relationships with suppliers, making it difficult for other producers to break into the market," Jorgensen writes. Buyers can also face limited product availability. "The co-op removes these barriers," Rick Beckler, Sacred Heart's director of hospitality services, told Jorgensen, "because the organization is itself a mid-tier value-added food chain made up of producers, processors, transporters, and institutional buyers." Two other hospitals have joined the co-op and the group is working to attract more buyers, including schools, universities, nursing homes and cafeterias. (Read more)
Stephen Ronstrom, CEO of Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire, Wisc., was recognized by the state of Wisconsin and the Wall Street Journal for buying local farm products for hospital meals. "Local food is good medicine for everyone," Ronstrom wrote in a 2008 newspaper editorial that got the ball rolling. "It preserves and expands family farms, provides jobs in production and processing, and keeps money in our community." Sacred Heart committed to spending 10 percent of its $2 million annual food budget on local food and in 2009 it joined with local farmers to form the Producers & Buyers Co-op.
"Institutional food buyers maintain long-standing relationships with suppliers, making it difficult for other producers to break into the market," Jorgensen writes. Buyers can also face limited product availability. "The co-op removes these barriers," Rick Beckler, Sacred Heart's director of hospitality services, told Jorgensen, "because the organization is itself a mid-tier value-added food chain made up of producers, processors, transporters, and institutional buyers." Two other hospitals have joined the co-op and the group is working to attract more buyers, including schools, universities, nursing homes and cafeterias. (Read more)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Arizona private prison escape leads to questions about industry oversight
The escape of three Arizona inmates from a private prison which possibly resulted in two murders has led state regulators to reexamine the private prison industry's growth and degree of state oversight. "State leaders in recent years have pushed for more privatization and have blocked efforts to regulate the industry, which has invested heavily in local lobbying and contributed to political campaigns," Casey Newton, Ginger Rough and J. J. Hensley of The Arizona Republic report. Private prisons, like one near Kingman, Arizona , population just over 31,000, tend to be located in rural areas.
"The last fugitives in that escape were caught Thursday, and the state's prison director has promised changes to the private sites that house Arizona inmates," the reporters write. While many private prison advocates say they represent a cheaper option for states, "data suggest that the facilities are less cost-effective than they claim to be," Newton, Rough and Hensley report. "A cost study by the Arizona Department of Corrections this year found that it can often be more expensive to house inmates in private prisons than in their state-run counterparts."
The state Department of Corrections has varying levels of oversight for each of Arizona's private prisons with the department regulating facilities that house prisoners convicted in Arizona. The department does not dictate what type or prisoners private prisons accept from other states on behalf of the federal government or how they are secured. In that case private prisons report to Arizona only "names, security classifications and number of inmates housed at their facilities," the reporters write.
In the wake of the escape, members of both parties have criticized the five-tiered system which allows "some violent criminals to migrate to lower-security facilities for good behavior," the reporters write. Two of the three inmates who escaped from the medium-security Kingman facility had been convicted of murder. Gov. Jan Brewer told the Republic she still favored private prisons, but the escape was "unacceptable, and I am absolutely pushing for more accountability." (Read more)
"The last fugitives in that escape were caught Thursday, and the state's prison director has promised changes to the private sites that house Arizona inmates," the reporters write. While many private prison advocates say they represent a cheaper option for states, "data suggest that the facilities are less cost-effective than they claim to be," Newton, Rough and Hensley report. "A cost study by the Arizona Department of Corrections this year found that it can often be more expensive to house inmates in private prisons than in their state-run counterparts."
The state Department of Corrections has varying levels of oversight for each of Arizona's private prisons with the department regulating facilities that house prisoners convicted in Arizona. The department does not dictate what type or prisoners private prisons accept from other states on behalf of the federal government or how they are secured. In that case private prisons report to Arizona only "names, security classifications and number of inmates housed at their facilities," the reporters write.
In the wake of the escape, members of both parties have criticized the five-tiered system which allows "some violent criminals to migrate to lower-security facilities for good behavior," the reporters write. Two of the three inmates who escaped from the medium-security Kingman facility had been convicted of murder. Gov. Jan Brewer told the Republic she still favored private prisons, but the escape was "unacceptable, and I am absolutely pushing for more accountability." (Read more)
Former USDA employee rejects offer to return to agency
Shirley Sherrod, former employee of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture who was fired last month, has refused an opportunity to return to the agency. She was offered the newly-created job of USDA deputy director of the Office of Advocacy and Outreach by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. She told CNN she needs to "take a break" from the furor surrounding her dismissal and rejected Vilsack's offer, even though he pushed "really, really hard" to get her to take the job.
She praised "new processes in place" to prevent discrimination and inappropriate firings at the department, but said she doesn't "want to be the one to test it," reports CNN. Sherrod is likely to serve in an unofficial advisory capacity to help address issues related to racism at the department. She said at a press conference, "We need to work on issues (of) discrimination and racism in this country, and I'd certainly like to play my role."
Sherrod was forced to resign after highly edited video of a portion of a speech she made was broadcast by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart on the internet. (Read more)
Sherrod grew up in Southwest Georgia and, as reported by Kathleen Hennessey for the Tribune Washington Bureau, it was not an easy life. Historians describe southwest Georgia as among the most difficult to integrate in the 1960s, writes Hennessey. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. left Albany having accomplished little. The murder of Sherrod's father moved her to spend her life working for racial justice.
Sherrod and her husband Charles Sherrod were among a dozen black families who formed a farming cooperative, New Communities. Across the South in the 1970s and 1980s, black farmers lost their land and livelihoods while the USDA, historically a safety net for family farms, allowed them to fail. New Communities had applied for a loan from the USDA, but was denied without reason. Eventually, New Communities sold its land and closed.
After a class action lawsuit was filed in 1997, a judge awarded a $2-billion settlement against the USDA for discrimination. In 2009, an arbitrator ruled the department had discriminated against New Communities and awarded $12.8 million. The Sherrods received $150,000 for "mental anguish."
Shirley Sherrod's life has been inextricably connected to the history of the region, and though her life has not been easy there, she chose to remain. (Read more)
She praised "new processes in place" to prevent discrimination and inappropriate firings at the department, but said she doesn't "want to be the one to test it," reports CNN. Sherrod is likely to serve in an unofficial advisory capacity to help address issues related to racism at the department. She said at a press conference, "We need to work on issues (of) discrimination and racism in this country, and I'd certainly like to play my role."
Sherrod was forced to resign after highly edited video of a portion of a speech she made was broadcast by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart on the internet. (Read more)
Sherrod grew up in Southwest Georgia and, as reported by Kathleen Hennessey for the Tribune Washington Bureau, it was not an easy life. Historians describe southwest Georgia as among the most difficult to integrate in the 1960s, writes Hennessey. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. left Albany having accomplished little. The murder of Sherrod's father moved her to spend her life working for racial justice.
Sherrod and her husband Charles Sherrod were among a dozen black families who formed a farming cooperative, New Communities. Across the South in the 1970s and 1980s, black farmers lost their land and livelihoods while the USDA, historically a safety net for family farms, allowed them to fail. New Communities had applied for a loan from the USDA, but was denied without reason. Eventually, New Communities sold its land and closed.
After a class action lawsuit was filed in 1997, a judge awarded a $2-billion settlement against the USDA for discrimination. In 2009, an arbitrator ruled the department had discriminated against New Communities and awarded $12.8 million. The Sherrods received $150,000 for "mental anguish."
Shirley Sherrod's life has been inextricably connected to the history of the region, and though her life has not been easy there, she chose to remain. (Read more)
Study highlights rural student mobility problems
Studies regarding student mobility -- how often students switch schools -- has usually been focused on poor urban areas, but new research suggests rural student mobility may be as big a problem. A recent analysis of five states by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning suggests "in a small rural district, it takes a lot fewer kids moving around to play havoc with your staff assignment, special education supports and even course offerings," Sarah Sparks of Education Week reports on the Inside School Research blog.
High student mobility can affect individual students as they struggle to adjust to news schools and other students as teachers and administrators work to catch up new students, Sparks writes. "Andrea Beesley, McREL senior director and lead author on the report, studied state-reported student mobility data for Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming," Sparks writes. "The research team found that in Wyoming and North Dakota, rural districts had higher student mobility than did cities, though the smaller school populations in these districts may skew the sample."
"'Hotspots' of high student mobility often coincided with districts with high poverty or Native American reservations," Sparks writes. "Yet much more than that we can't tell, because each state collects and reports its data on student mobility differently: different grade levels included, different ways to include students who leave and return several times, and practically no information on where a mobile student comes from or goes to when he leaves." Beesley explained, "No two of them do it the same way. Unfortunately it leaves you in the situation where in many cases you don't understand a lot about student mobility." (Read more)
High student mobility can affect individual students as they struggle to adjust to news schools and other students as teachers and administrators work to catch up new students, Sparks writes. "Andrea Beesley, McREL senior director and lead author on the report, studied state-reported student mobility data for Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and Wyoming," Sparks writes. "The research team found that in Wyoming and North Dakota, rural districts had higher student mobility than did cities, though the smaller school populations in these districts may skew the sample."
"'Hotspots' of high student mobility often coincided with districts with high poverty or Native American reservations," Sparks writes. "Yet much more than that we can't tell, because each state collects and reports its data on student mobility differently: different grade levels included, different ways to include students who leave and return several times, and practically no information on where a mobile student comes from or goes to when he leaves." Beesley explained, "No two of them do it the same way. Unfortunately it leaves you in the situation where in many cases you don't understand a lot about student mobility." (Read more)
Recall shows the downside of consolidation and lack of oversight in egg industry
The largest egg recall in U.S. history was amplified by consolidation in the egg industry and a gap in federal food safety regulations that left the facilities in question without proper oversight. United Egg Producers data reveals "just 192 large egg companies own about 95 percent of laying hens in this country, down from 2,500 in 1987," Lyndsey Layton of The Washington Post reports. "Most of those producers are concentrated in five states: Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania and California." To make matters worse neither of the two Iowa facilities at the heart of the recall had ever been inspected by Food and Drug Administration officials.
Egg industry consolidation's "magnified effect is illustrated by the current recall: Just two Iowa producers, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, have been implicated in a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis, with the companies recalling 500 million eggs sold under 24 brands," Layton writes. The mega-producers have grown up in corn belt states, where abundant corn, can supply cheap feed to egg companies. These companies have gone largely without government oversight as neither the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship had ever inspected the two Iowa facilities either. (You can see our previous item on the recall here)
"It is shocking that nobody was in these facilities, but it also illustrates that egg-laying facilities have fallen into the crack between the government agencies that are responsible for food safety," Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, told Layton. USDA regulates the health of chickens, but not eggs, and Iowa, the leading egg producer, does not inspect egg-laying facilities like some other states. FDA historically has only inspected egg facilities if it suspects contamination, though a new agency rule that took effect in July should change that. "Food safety legislation pending on Capitol Hill would require the FDA to routinely inspect high-risk food facilities, including henhouses," Layton writes. (Read more)
Egg industry consolidation's "magnified effect is illustrated by the current recall: Just two Iowa producers, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, have been implicated in a nationwide outbreak of Salmonella enteritidis, with the companies recalling 500 million eggs sold under 24 brands," Layton writes. The mega-producers have grown up in corn belt states, where abundant corn, can supply cheap feed to egg companies. These companies have gone largely without government oversight as neither the U.S. Department of Agriculture or Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship had ever inspected the two Iowa facilities either. (You can see our previous item on the recall here)
"It is shocking that nobody was in these facilities, but it also illustrates that egg-laying facilities have fallen into the crack between the government agencies that are responsible for food safety," Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, told Layton. USDA regulates the health of chickens, but not eggs, and Iowa, the leading egg producer, does not inspect egg-laying facilities like some other states. FDA historically has only inspected egg facilities if it suspects contamination, though a new agency rule that took effect in July should change that. "Food safety legislation pending on Capitol Hill would require the FDA to routinely inspect high-risk food facilities, including henhouses," Layton writes. (Read more)
Columnist: Google, Verizon proposal isn't without merit but has big flaw
Earlier this month we reported the proposal between Google and Verizon that would exempt wireless Internet services and second level of the Internet from net neutrality regulations. That agreement has some merits and has understandably been met by much outcry from net neutrality advocates, but is most confusing because of the parties involved, writes one technology columnist. "Many Web sites and telecom firms would probably support the policies, but it's odd that they are coming from these two in particular," Rob Pegoraro of The Washington Post writes, noting Google has long supported net neutrality regulation and Verizon "didn't have a problem buying up new spectrum under those obligations."
Still, the "proposal features some reasonable ideas," Pegoraro writes. "Chief among them is requiring transparency about network-management practices. The insistence of telecom firms that they don't -- or no longer -- discriminate against legitimate sites and services suggests that publicity alone might deter some abuses." Pegoraro doesn't dismiss the proposals' call for "additional online services" that would not be subject to net neutrality out of hand either, but notes "it would help if the companies better explained what they have in mind."
Pegoraro notes the one area the proposal has earned its negative backlash is that "Google and Verizon make a fundamental mistake in not treating wired and wireless connections alike." He notes two ways unregulated wireless service would constrain competition: "First, 3G coverage maps of carriers illustrate how many areas have just two or one choices for mobile broadband," he writes. "Second, long-term contracts mean most users can vote with their wallets only every two years."
"So why would we now want to subject companies that use a cable or wire to provide broadband to stringent regulations and leave out competitors that use public airwaves?" Pegoraro concludes. "Just because the government plays favorites this way all the time doesn't mean it should repeat that error."
(Read more)
Still, the "proposal features some reasonable ideas," Pegoraro writes. "Chief among them is requiring transparency about network-management practices. The insistence of telecom firms that they don't -- or no longer -- discriminate against legitimate sites and services suggests that publicity alone might deter some abuses." Pegoraro doesn't dismiss the proposals' call for "additional online services" that would not be subject to net neutrality out of hand either, but notes "it would help if the companies better explained what they have in mind."
Pegoraro notes the one area the proposal has earned its negative backlash is that "Google and Verizon make a fundamental mistake in not treating wired and wireless connections alike." He notes two ways unregulated wireless service would constrain competition: "First, 3G coverage maps of carriers illustrate how many areas have just two or one choices for mobile broadband," he writes. "Second, long-term contracts mean most users can vote with their wallets only every two years."
"So why would we now want to subject companies that use a cable or wire to provide broadband to stringent regulations and leave out competitors that use public airwaves?" Pegoraro concludes. "Just because the government plays favorites this way all the time doesn't mean it should repeat that error."
(Read more)
Coal $ could flow through door high court opened
The West Virgina race for Congress between incumbent Democratic Rep. Nick Rahall and Republican Elliott "Spike" Maynard could be the first test case for the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that allows corporations, unions and non-profit organizations to spend unlimited funds to back or oppose candidates in federal elections.
The decision has stirred interest in the coal industry in playing a role in elections in Central Appalachian states, though no fund-raising and spending has yet been manifested. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, notes West Virginia already has a history of big energy campaign donations and Citizens United could lead to even more spending, Paul J. Nyden of The Charleston Gazette reports.
"Few companies seem willing so far to get too far in front, since this spending would bring a great deal of criticism with it, maybe even from some shareholders," Sabato told Nyden. "However, it's been suggested that energy companies may be among the boldest this year in testing the new court-permitted expenditures." Nyden notes, "Last month, Roger Nicholson, senior vice president of the Scott Depot-based International Coal Group, sent e-mails to other mining executives suggesting they take advantage of the decision allowing companies or unions to fund independent political committees."
Much of the coal spending is expected to be in support of Maynard, thought Rahall has received campaign donations from Peabody Energy, Consolidation Coal, Arch Coal and Patriot Coal, among other companies, Nyden reports. "Any of these groups that desire to put a great deal of money into advertisements trying to sway the outcome of the election must realize an individual like Nick Joe Rahall has performed so well for the citizens of his district that they have learned to trust and respect him," State Democratic Chairman Larry Puccio told Nyden. "Some ads on television will not change the commitment citizens have to Congressman Rahall or the commitment Rahall has to his constituents." (Read more)
In Kentucky, the Senate race between Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway has bene mentioned as a possible playing ground for coal money, supporting Paul and opposing Conway.
The decision has stirred interest in the coal industry in playing a role in elections in Central Appalachian states, though no fund-raising and spending has yet been manifested. Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, notes West Virginia already has a history of big energy campaign donations and Citizens United could lead to even more spending, Paul J. Nyden of The Charleston Gazette reports.
"Few companies seem willing so far to get too far in front, since this spending would bring a great deal of criticism with it, maybe even from some shareholders," Sabato told Nyden. "However, it's been suggested that energy companies may be among the boldest this year in testing the new court-permitted expenditures." Nyden notes, "Last month, Roger Nicholson, senior vice president of the Scott Depot-based International Coal Group, sent e-mails to other mining executives suggesting they take advantage of the decision allowing companies or unions to fund independent political committees."
Much of the coal spending is expected to be in support of Maynard, thought Rahall has received campaign donations from Peabody Energy, Consolidation Coal, Arch Coal and Patriot Coal, among other companies, Nyden reports. "Any of these groups that desire to put a great deal of money into advertisements trying to sway the outcome of the election must realize an individual like Nick Joe Rahall has performed so well for the citizens of his district that they have learned to trust and respect him," State Democratic Chairman Larry Puccio told Nyden. "Some ads on television will not change the commitment citizens have to Congressman Rahall or the commitment Rahall has to his constituents." (Read more)
In Kentucky, the Senate race between Republican Rand Paul and Democrat Jack Conway has bene mentioned as a possible playing ground for coal money, supporting Paul and opposing Conway.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Philanthropist pushes to paint flaking bridge, raising lead-contamination issue for many localities
The CSX Transportation bridge over the inaptly named Barren River "had long been a local eyesore, as paint flaked into the river and onto its banks, but when local philanthropist David Garvin offered to restore the bridge in 2009 it became the symbol of a battle between locals and the railroad," Jon Hale writes for the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues. "More than a year later, the bridge still hasn’t been painted, but testing of the banks revealed lead contamination – and questions about how many bridges across the country might be in similar condition." (Photos courtesy of David Garvin)
“What started out as painting a Rust Belt image bridge has, in fact, uncovered a major national lead pollution problem on thousands of bridges across the Eastern United States,” Garvin told the Bowling Green Daily News, which has followed the case closely. He told the paper and the Institute that his sampling found lead levels at least seven times the limit for soil in a residential or play area. CSX has taken its own samples, and tests “could prompt the state to consider if it needs to look at the condition of other CSX bridges in Kentucky,” Robyn L. Minor of the Daily News reported Aug. 20.
Study highlights importance of support systems for rural entrepreneurs
Local support groups are among the most important factors in fostering rural entrepreneurship, says a new report from the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs. The report's author Greg Wise, professor and community development specialist and director for the Center for Community and Economic Development at the University of Wisconsin–Extension, reports "the most important factors in developing a culture for entrepreneurship include: building and supporting business skills among entrepreneurs; developing vital resource centers; creating community awareness of and support for entrepreneurs; and building networks and collaboration," says a Newswise release.
The report, "Wisconsin Inventor & Entrepreneur Clubs: Investment in an Innovative Approach to Entrepreneurship," examines the roles reveals entrepreneurial clubs "offer a place for individuals to share new ideas, develop networks, obtain support for their efforts and offer a place to explore new ideas and move them to reality," the release says. The report says Wisconsin's entrepreneurial clubs have become an important place for entrepreneurs "to share ideas, obtain information and make connections with other entrepreneurs." (Read more)
You can obtain a copy of the report by contacting IIRA here.
The report, "Wisconsin Inventor & Entrepreneur Clubs: Investment in an Innovative Approach to Entrepreneurship," examines the roles reveals entrepreneurial clubs "offer a place for individuals to share new ideas, develop networks, obtain support for their efforts and offer a place to explore new ideas and move them to reality," the release says. The report says Wisconsin's entrepreneurial clubs have become an important place for entrepreneurs "to share ideas, obtain information and make connections with other entrepreneurs." (Read more)
You can obtain a copy of the report by contacting IIRA here.
Proposed Muslim center shakes up Tenn. town
UPDATE, Aug. 31: Following likely arson of construction equipment, and gunshots heard during a CNN crew's visit to the Islamic center, "Nearby mosques have hired security guards, installed surveillance cameras and requested the presence of federal agents at prayer services," Robbie Brown of The New York Times reports.
Like New York City, the much smaller town of Murfreesboro, Tenn., is grappling with acceptance of a proposed Muslim community center. The center is not to be built in a neighborhood with an emotional resonance like the New York location, but the local Muslim planners have been surprised by the backlash. "We haven't experienced this level of hostility before ever, so it's new to us," Saleh M. Sbenaty, an engineering professor who is overseeing the mosque's planned expansion told Annie Gowen of The Washington Post. The Islamic center became a political topic during the recent Republican gubernatorial primary; Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey asked if Islam was a "cult." Sbenaty has lived in Murfreesboro for 30 years and is confounded by the reaction.
While some residents voice a begrudging acceptance -- "We have to allow them freedom of religion," -- the opposition is vocal. A 44-year-old correctional officer named Kevin Fisher is using the local alternative newspaper as his means of being heard, reports Gowen. The Tennessean reported in June that Fisher told the Rutherford County Planning Commission, "Why have a mosque nine times the size of Nashville's in the middle of a farming, residential community?" About 1,000 people representing both sides of the issue were at a recent rally in the Murfreesboro town square. Said Fisher, it was "a beautiful example of our democracy at work." Not everyone felt that way. Lema Sbenaty, Saleh Sbenaty's 19-year-old daughter and a Middle Tennessee State University student, told Gowen, "You could see the hatred in their eyes." (Read more)
A proposed mosque in Northern Kentucky has also prompted opposition, with one flyer asking citizens to call Florence city officials and "stop the takeover of our country." Joshua Wice, ocmmunity and business development director, said the property is properly zoned. "It's a permitted use and this is really a property rights issue," he said. Mark Hansel of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that a 2000 federal law says, "No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution." (Read more)
Like New York City, the much smaller town of Murfreesboro, Tenn., is grappling with acceptance of a proposed Muslim community center. The center is not to be built in a neighborhood with an emotional resonance like the New York location, but the local Muslim planners have been surprised by the backlash. "We haven't experienced this level of hostility before ever, so it's new to us," Saleh M. Sbenaty, an engineering professor who is overseeing the mosque's planned expansion told Annie Gowen of The Washington Post. The Islamic center became a political topic during the recent Republican gubernatorial primary; Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey asked if Islam was a "cult." Sbenaty has lived in Murfreesboro for 30 years and is confounded by the reaction.
While some residents voice a begrudging acceptance -- "We have to allow them freedom of religion," -- the opposition is vocal. A 44-year-old correctional officer named Kevin Fisher is using the local alternative newspaper as his means of being heard, reports Gowen. The Tennessean reported in June that Fisher told the Rutherford County Planning Commission, "Why have a mosque nine times the size of Nashville's in the middle of a farming, residential community?" About 1,000 people representing both sides of the issue were at a recent rally in the Murfreesboro town square. Said Fisher, it was "a beautiful example of our democracy at work." Not everyone felt that way. Lema Sbenaty, Saleh Sbenaty's 19-year-old daughter and a Middle Tennessee State University student, told Gowen, "You could see the hatred in their eyes." (Read more)
A proposed mosque in Northern Kentucky has also prompted opposition, with one flyer asking citizens to call Florence city officials and "stop the takeover of our country." Joshua Wice, ocmmunity and business development director, said the property is properly zoned. "It's a permitted use and this is really a property rights issue," he said. Mark Hansel of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that a 2000 federal law says, "No government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution." (Read more)
TVA phasing out coal-powered plants in favor of nuclear-generated power
The Tennessee Valley Authority announced Friday it will begin shuttering part of its aging fleet of coal-fired power plants in favor of nuclear energy and energy conservation. TVA President Tom Kilgore outlined the 10-year plan, which would have TVA "idle at least 1,000 megawatts of coal generation, more than 7 percent of its biggest source of power, by 2015," Dave Flessner of the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports. TVA directors also approved plans "to move ahead with reviving work on its unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant in Alabama and restructuring electric rates next spring to encourage distributors...to limit consumption during peak demand periods," Flessner writes.
"We want to be a leader in cleaner energy and cleaner air, and that means we will have to be less reliant upon coal," Kilgore said. "That doesn’t mean that coal is going away, but we are looking at idling some of our coal units pretty soon." TVA got more than 60 percent of its electricity from coal-fired plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky in 2009. Until now, only one TVA-built plant has ever closed, the Watts Bar Steam Plant in Rhea County, Tenn., which closed in 1983.
"Some of the potential units on the chopping block could include the oldest units at the Widows Creek plant near Stevenson, Ala., the John Sevier plant near Rogersville, Tenn., and the Johnsville plant in West Tennessee," Flessner writes. Stephen Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the decision was "absolutely the right path for TVA," but added "We believe there are a significant number of older, inefficient, dirty plants, even beyond the 1,000 megawatts that TVA is committing to retire today, that TVA should consider phasing out." (Read more)
"We want to be a leader in cleaner energy and cleaner air, and that means we will have to be less reliant upon coal," Kilgore said. "That doesn’t mean that coal is going away, but we are looking at idling some of our coal units pretty soon." TVA got more than 60 percent of its electricity from coal-fired plants in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky in 2009. Until now, only one TVA-built plant has ever closed, the Watts Bar Steam Plant in Rhea County, Tenn., which closed in 1983.
"Some of the potential units on the chopping block could include the oldest units at the Widows Creek plant near Stevenson, Ala., the John Sevier plant near Rogersville, Tenn., and the Johnsville plant in West Tennessee," Flessner writes. Stephen Smith, executive director for the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, said the decision was "absolutely the right path for TVA," but added "We believe there are a significant number of older, inefficient, dirty plants, even beyond the 1,000 megawatts that TVA is committing to retire today, that TVA should consider phasing out." (Read more)
Testimony at livestock industry antitrust hearings 'defend a way of life'
Farmers across the country are encouraged to attend a Friday meeting in Fort Collins, Colo., where U.S. Department of Agriculture and Justice Department officials will take testimony on antitrust violations in the livestock industry. "To thousands of people, however, this hearing isn’t about rules and regulations or interpretations of century-old laws," Bill Bishop writes for the Daily Yonder. "They are driving hundreds of miles to Fort Collins to defend a way of life." The meeting has been called the "most important day in the history of the U.S. cattle industry and in rural America," by Bill Bullard of Montana-based cattle raisers group R-CALF, who is trying to get 25,000 people to come to the meeting.
"Everybody in rural America needs to understand that this can be a beginning of a new direction," Bullard said earlier this month. "This is our opportunity and everyone who has a stake in rural America needs to be in Fort Collins on that day." Bishop agrees with Bullard that the meeting has large implications for rural America as it represents a government reinvestment in antitrust action after the Bush administration saw it as "ham-handed, intrusive and so, well, 20th century," Bishop writes.
The meeting offers a rare blending of politics with "thousands of lizard-booted ranchers and Deere-owning farmers, most from red states, driving hundreds of miles to support a big government solution proposed by a Democratic president," Bishop writes. The National Farmers Union has asked farmers to abandon the red/blue dynamic so common to our country's political system Friday by wearing green shirts to the meeting. Perhaps most importantly, the Fort Collins meeting may represent just the beginning of the antitrust push in agriculture. Wal-Mart now controls 25 percent of the nation's grocery business, which some say is forcing consolidation among meatpackers. USDA and the Justice Department are set to hold its final hearing in December, this one on competition in the retail grocery business. (Read more)
"Everybody in rural America needs to understand that this can be a beginning of a new direction," Bullard said earlier this month. "This is our opportunity and everyone who has a stake in rural America needs to be in Fort Collins on that day." Bishop agrees with Bullard that the meeting has large implications for rural America as it represents a government reinvestment in antitrust action after the Bush administration saw it as "ham-handed, intrusive and so, well, 20th century," Bishop writes.
The meeting offers a rare blending of politics with "thousands of lizard-booted ranchers and Deere-owning farmers, most from red states, driving hundreds of miles to support a big government solution proposed by a Democratic president," Bishop writes. The National Farmers Union has asked farmers to abandon the red/blue dynamic so common to our country's political system Friday by wearing green shirts to the meeting. Perhaps most importantly, the Fort Collins meeting may represent just the beginning of the antitrust push in agriculture. Wal-Mart now controls 25 percent of the nation's grocery business, which some say is forcing consolidation among meatpackers. USDA and the Justice Department are set to hold its final hearing in December, this one on competition in the retail grocery business. (Read more)
Hog farmers warn of risks from reducing antibiotics
The Obama administration wants farmers to use fewer antibiotics in their livestock operations, but that approach isn't without its hurdles. Randy, Mark and Tom Hilleman raise hogs for Iowa cooperative Eden Farms, which markets pork to high-end restaurants under the condition hogs have not been given antibiotics for growth promotion. The approach brings its own challenges, Philip Brasher of the Des Moines Register reports, namely "Some of the black Berkshire hogs grunting and rooting around the Hillemans' barns are likely to get sick and die before they're ready for market. That's because it's sometimes impractical to treat them, the brothers say."
Following concerns that overuse of antibiotics in livestock is contributing to drug-resistant diseases in humans, "the Food and Drug Administration this summer proposed to phase out the use of antibiotics as growth promotion but still allow drugs to be added to feed or water for purposes of preventing specific diseases," Brasher writes. Newly weaned pigs arrive at the Hillemans' farm when they are three weeks old and only receive"antibiotics while in the nursery and again for their first two weeks or so in the open-ended hoop barns where they spend most of their seven-month-long lives." Then the pigs only receive antibiotics if they are sick.
"If a sick pig doesn't get better on its own, it's likely to get a shot of an antibiotic, unless the animal is under the 100-day drug ban," Brasher writes. "If the hogs are given antibiotics then, they can only be sold as conventional hogs, and that means keeping a treated animal in a separate pen or marking it in some way to make sure it wasn't mixed with the hogs that will be marketed under the Eden Farms label." The Hillemans say it's impractical for them to treat the pigs and handle them separately. For every 100 hogs they raise, two or three die of pneumonia or some other illness.
Some members of the Eden Farms co-operative have gone completely antibiotic free, but the Hillemans say not giving infant hogs antibiotics would be too risky. "Experts say that it's especially challenging to keep young pigs healthy without the use of antibiotics, since the animals are weaned at 3 weeks old or younger, much earlier than they would be in nature," Brasher writes. "That's so the sows can be impregnated and produce another litter as soon as possible." (Read more)
Following concerns that overuse of antibiotics in livestock is contributing to drug-resistant diseases in humans, "the Food and Drug Administration this summer proposed to phase out the use of antibiotics as growth promotion but still allow drugs to be added to feed or water for purposes of preventing specific diseases," Brasher writes. Newly weaned pigs arrive at the Hillemans' farm when they are three weeks old and only receive"antibiotics while in the nursery and again for their first two weeks or so in the open-ended hoop barns where they spend most of their seven-month-long lives." Then the pigs only receive antibiotics if they are sick.
"If a sick pig doesn't get better on its own, it's likely to get a shot of an antibiotic, unless the animal is under the 100-day drug ban," Brasher writes. "If the hogs are given antibiotics then, they can only be sold as conventional hogs, and that means keeping a treated animal in a separate pen or marking it in some way to make sure it wasn't mixed with the hogs that will be marketed under the Eden Farms label." The Hillemans say it's impractical for them to treat the pigs and handle them separately. For every 100 hogs they raise, two or three die of pneumonia or some other illness.
Some members of the Eden Farms co-operative have gone completely antibiotic free, but the Hillemans say not giving infant hogs antibiotics would be too risky. "Experts say that it's especially challenging to keep young pigs healthy without the use of antibiotics, since the animals are weaned at 3 weeks old or younger, much earlier than they would be in nature," Brasher writes. "That's so the sows can be impregnated and produce another litter as soon as possible." (Read more)
Suburban Chicago schools to build wind farm in rural Illinois and reap the financial rewards
Three suburban Chicago school districts are turning to a rural county 140 miles southwest of the city in hopes of balancing their budgets for years to come. "Empowered by recent legislation, Keeneyville School District 20, Carpentersville's Community Unit School District 300 and Prospect Heights School District 23 have joined together to build a 13-turbine wind farm that would sell energy to defray their own electrical bills," Robert Channick reports for The Chicago Tribune. The farm, to be built in Stark County, could bring in "$3 million in annual revenues for some 30 years — the expected life of the wind turbines."
The wind consortium is believed to be the nation's first scholastic wind farm, though several rural districts have on-site turbines to help supply electricity. "In 2007, Illinois adopted a net metering law requiring utilities to credit customers with renewable electricity generators for excess energy, further opening the door for other school districts, community colleges and municipalities to own and operate wind turbines to reduce costs," Channick writes, but urban districts said "installing the structures with their enormous blades proved impractical." A 2009 bill would have allowed urban districts to use offsite turbines to take advantage of the credit, but it was defeated after utilities objected to the plan.
The new legislation "in essence turns the schools into taxable energy wholesalers," Channick writes. The Stark County wind farm is expected to generate 65,000 megawatt hours annually, enough energy for about 5,000 homes, though the power purchase contract has yet to be negotiated. District 300, the third largest district in the state, which cut 114 teachers and $9 million from the budget, would get 80 percent of the revenue as it plans to invest the most money in the project. If the plan works it could catch on at other schools across the country. "It's totally unique, and the legislation that enables that project to work is also very unique," Kevin Borgia, executive director of the nonprofit Illinois Wind Energy Association, told Channick. "We really hope it does come together because it could be a big benefit for schools in Illinois and nationwide." (Read more)
The wind consortium is believed to be the nation's first scholastic wind farm, though several rural districts have on-site turbines to help supply electricity. "In 2007, Illinois adopted a net metering law requiring utilities to credit customers with renewable electricity generators for excess energy, further opening the door for other school districts, community colleges and municipalities to own and operate wind turbines to reduce costs," Channick writes, but urban districts said "installing the structures with their enormous blades proved impractical." A 2009 bill would have allowed urban districts to use offsite turbines to take advantage of the credit, but it was defeated after utilities objected to the plan.
The new legislation "in essence turns the schools into taxable energy wholesalers," Channick writes. The Stark County wind farm is expected to generate 65,000 megawatt hours annually, enough energy for about 5,000 homes, though the power purchase contract has yet to be negotiated. District 300, the third largest district in the state, which cut 114 teachers and $9 million from the budget, would get 80 percent of the revenue as it plans to invest the most money in the project. If the plan works it could catch on at other schools across the country. "It's totally unique, and the legislation that enables that project to work is also very unique," Kevin Borgia, executive director of the nonprofit Illinois Wind Energy Association, told Channick. "We really hope it does come together because it could be a big benefit for schools in Illinois and nationwide." (Read more)
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