As chicken prices rise, and more increases are forecast, Cargill and Continental Grain are buying Sanderson Farms

“With the price of chicken soaring, the third-largest poultry producer in the U.S. is being bought for $4.53 billion,” report Dee-Ann Durbin and Michelle Chapman of The Associated Press. “Cargill and Continental Grain have formed a joint venture to acquire Sanderson Farms, paying $203 per share in cash for a company that last year processed more than 4.8 billion pounds of meat.”

The merger will have to pass anti-trust muster with the Department of Justice. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of  Iowa said on Twitter that he has expressed concerns to Justice about the deal, and "We've been too soft in allowing past mergers." He said he has heard complaints about lack of competition in the meat industry at his county meetings, and the poultry industry "has recently been investigated for price fixing, so we need thorough review."

“The deal comes as chicken prices are surging,” AP reports. “Wholesale chicken breast prices have been at or above $1.80 per pound since mid-April, a seven-year high, according to the Livestock Marketing Information Center. Last year at this time, they were $1.13 per pound.” The increases have been driven by demand from restaurants; several major chains have introduced new chicken sandwiches.

Tyson Foods, the biggest meatpacker, is projecting even higher meat costs ahead, as it "seeks to pass along elevated prices for animal feed, increased wages and ongoing pandemic expenses to restaurants and supermarkets," Jacob Bunge reports for The Wall Street Journal.

“Rising labor costs along with elevated prices for packaging, transport and grain—typically the biggest expense in raising livestock and poultry—are pushing Tyson to raise prices the company charges supermarkets and restaurants, executives said” in a conference call with reporters.

All state broadcaster groups back local journalism tax break

"Local broadcasters are urging the Senate to provide tax credits to stations that staff up their newsrooms, citing, in part, Big Tech's 'devouring' of their local ad market. In a letter to Senate leadership, all 50 state broadcaster associations called for passage of the Local Journalism Sustainability Act," John Eggerton reports for industry publication Broadcasting + Cable. "The bill, which was introduced last month by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, along with Sens. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), would provide tax breaks for stations as well as small businesses that support local media with their ad dollars."

The bill would be a "lifeline" for local newsrooms and enable them to continue providing a "critical public service" to their communities, the broadcasters wrote. It's especially needed now because ad revenue is down during the pandemic, and tech companies (mainly Google and Facebook) take a large percentage of news media sites' online advertising dollars, Eggerton reports.

Census is likely to confirm white population is declining; demographer cites opioids, low millennial birth rate

"For the first time in the history of the country’s census-taking, the number of white people in the United States is widely expected to show a decline when the first racial breakdowns from the 2020 Census are reported this week," Tara Bahrampour and Ted Mellnik report for The Washington Post.

The Census Bureau has estimated for the past five years that the white population has been shrinking and that people of color have driven all population growth. Data from the 2020 decennial census, planned to be released tomorrow, is expected to confirm and quantify those estimates, Bahrampour and Mellnik report. If that happens, the benchmark will come about eight years earlier than previously estimated, according to Brookings Institution demographer William Frey. He noted that the opioid epidemic and low birth rates among millennials after the Great Recession have accelerated the decline.

Census Bureau estimates from 2016 to 2020 "show that all of the country’s population growth during that period came from increases in people of color. The largest and most steady gains were among Hispanics, who have doubled their population share over the past three decades to almost 20 percent and who are believed to account for half of the nation’s growth since 2010. They are expected to drive about half the growth in more than a dozen states, including Texas, Florida, Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada," Bahrampour and Mellnik report. "The shifts signal what Frey calls a 'cultural generation gap,' with older generations that are much Whiter than younger ones. Racial minorities will drive all the growth in the U.S. labor force as White baby boomers retire and will make the difference between growth and decline in rural and suburban areas."

Infrastructure bill has provisions for abandoned mine and well reclamation, dangerous dam removal, and more

The infrastructure package the Senate passed Tuesday has plenty in it for rural America. The Rural Blog has previously reported on this, but some parts of the huge bill are still coming to light. 

The package allocates $11.3 billion to help clean up abandoned mines, nearly double the $6 billion the Abandoned Mine Reclamation Fund has received in the past 15 years (see p. 1776 of the bill) but short of the estimated $20 billion (click here for state estimates) needed for total clean-up costs.

The package also has $4.7 billion for plugging and reclaiming abandoned oil and gas wells on federal, state and tribal lands (p. 1744). States can apply for competitive grants of up to $25 million for the purpose. Well and mine operators must post bonds meant to cover clean-up costs, but they're often inadequate, and rural governments are frequently stuck with the bill when companies go under.

The mine funding will be spread over 15 years and will go to 25 states and three tribes: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and the Crow, Hopi and Navajo.

Dam safety also gets attention in the bill: It creates and funds a $553 million grant program for hydroelectric dam owners to make them safer and more efficient. And it would provide $1.6 billion for government agencies to remove dangerous dams. 

The package calls on the Transportation Department's Build America Bureau to establish a Rural and Tribal Assistance Pilot Program to provide technical, financial and legal assistance to rural and tribal governments' infrastructure projects. The pilot program is meant to last five years, and is funded as follows: $1.6 million for fiscal year 2022, $1.8 million for FY 2023, $2 million for FY 2024, $2.2 million for FY 2025, and $2.4 million for FY 2026.

Infrastructure bill would give state, local governments freer hand with broadband cash, so rural might have to fight for it

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the need to close the rural-urban digital divide, and many state and local governments plan to use billions of dollars in federal relief funds to do that. The $1 trillion infrastructure bill the Senate passed today would provide a big boost, and give governments more flexibility with it, Managing Editor Rich Ehisen reports for State Net Capitol Journal.

H.R. 3684 allocates $65 billion for broadband deployment and adoption in under-served areas, an amount that is "both much more than Congress has previously allocated specifically to broadband and substantially less than the $100 billion President Joe Biden was seeking," Ehisen reports. If passed as-is, $42 billion would likely be sent to states as block grants and $14 billion would permanently fund an emergency fund that helps low-income Americans pay internet bills.

Notably, the bill "grants state and local governments wide latitude to set their own priorities in funding broadband projects, a significant departure from the usual mandates for how federal funds are utilized," Ehisen reports. "It also allows funds to be allocated toward 'communities,' as defined by states themselves instead of the usual census blocks based on Federal Communications Commission data." That could mean rural areas shouldn't take for granted that they will get help from the bill, because it is not focused only on rural areas.

Study: Smoking rates have declined less among rural teens

Estimates of rural-urban difference in the prevalence of smoking
by high-school seniors, 1996-2021 (University of Minnesota chart)

Overall smoking rates continued to decline among teens from 1998 to 2018, but less so among rural teens, according to a newly published study in The Journal of Rural Health.

Smoking, the primary cause of preventable death, is more common in rural America. Since smokers typically begin the habit during adolescence, the researchers posited that higher smoking rates among rural teens contribute to significant long-term health disparities between rural and urban adults. They recommend that policymakers redouble their efforts to get rural teens to stop smoking or never start, since it could have big ramifications for rural morbidity and mortality rates down the line.

Researchers pulled data from 12th-grader surveys by the U.S. "Monitoring the Future" study from 1998 to 2018. Using the data, they estimated trends in the age of smoking initiation as well as how much the respondents smoke, both now and ever, and compared rural and urban estimates. 

Between 1998 and 2018, rural teens became far more likely than their urban peers to have ever smoked in their lifetimes. In 1998 rural teens were 6.9 percent more likely to have ever smoked, which rose to 13.5% in 2018—among the highest disparity in the past 20 years. 

However, over the past 20 years, the gap narrowed between rural and urban teens who had ever regularly smoked or currently smoke. The gap between rural and urban teens who had ever regularly smoked narrowed from 6.4% to 4.8% in the time period studied, while the gap between rural and urban teens who currently smoke narrowed from 5.5% to 3.0%.

Major climate report warns of increasingly extreme weather in coming decades, even if warming emissions are cut

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, scientists convened by the United Nations, has issued many reports on global warming and climate change. The latest sounds an alarm like no previous report. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called it “a code red for humanity.”

"Nations have delayed curbing their fossil-fuel emissions for so long that they can no longer stop global warming from intensifying over the next 30 years, though there is still a short window to prevent the most harrowing future," The New York Times reports. "Humans have already heated the planet by roughly 1.1 degrees Celsius, or 2 degrees Fahrenheit, since the 19th century, largely by burning coal, oil and gas for energy."

The consequences are already evident in record-breaking heat waves, wildfires, floods and more. "But that’s only the beginning, according to the report," Brad Plumer and Henry Fountain report for the Times. "Even if nations started sharply cutting emissions today, total global warming is likely to rise around 1.5 degrees Celsius within the next two decades, a hotter future that is now essentially locked."

What does that mean? "At 1.5 degrees of warming, scientists have found, the dangers grow considerably. Nearly 1 billion people worldwide could swelter in more frequent life-threatening heat waves. Hundreds of millions more would struggle for water because of severe droughts. Some animal and plant species alive today will be gone. Coral reefs, which sustain fisheries for large swaths of the globe, will suffer more frequent mass die-offs."

University of Leeds climatologist Piers Forster, who wrote the report along with hundreds of international scientists, summed it up for the Times: "We can expect a significant jump in extreme weather over the next 20 or 30 years ... Things are unfortunately likely to get worse than they are today."

Vaccinations pick up in most rural counties, indicating Delta variant is spurring more, but rural rate still 3/4 of metro rate

Rural/urban vaccination rates as of Aug. 5, compared to the national average and adjusted to account for vaccinations not assigned to specific counties. Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or here for the interactive version.

"More than half of the nation’s rural counties increased their pace of new vaccinations last week, an indication that the rapidly spreading Delta variant of Covid-19 is encouraging unvaccinated Americans to take action," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for The Daily Yonder. "Each of the 47 states in the union with rural counties had larger numbers of rural vaccinations last week than two weeks ago."

Between July 30 and Aug. 5, an additional 260,695 rural Americans completed their vaccinations, 74 percent more than the 150,205 who completed their vaccinations the week before. The nationwide rural vaccination rate climbed to 36.7% as of Aug. 5, up 0.5 percentage points from the week before. "Despite the gains, the rural vaccination rate remains much lower than the metropolitan rate," Murphy and Marema note. The metro rate rose 0.7 points, to 48% of the metro population.

Click here for an interactive county-level map, regional analysis and charts from the Yonder.

Aug. 16 webinar to discuss how rural areas can use federal infrastructure funds to boost local economies

The Aspen Institute will host a webinar at 3 p.m. ET on Aug. 16 to discuss how rural and tribal local governments can leverage new federal pandemic relief funding to invest in infrastructure. 

From the webinar website: Water, roads, bridges, broadband, and affordable housing are all critical for rural communities to thrive, but such infrastructure is crumbling in many areas because of deferred maintenance or lack of equitable investment, access to capital, or strong government relationships. This underinvestment has made it difficult for many rural Americans to access basic needs like clean drinking water and safe housing, which hurts rural health outcomes and economies.

Click here for more information or to register.

Rural electrics have cut their coal diet by more than half in seven years, but member-customers want more renewables

"Our members just wanted more renewables," said Luis

Reyes, CEO of Kit Carson Electric Cooperative in Taos,

N.M., the first distribution cooperative to negotiate an exit

from a generating co-op. (WSJ photo by Adria Malcom)

"U.S. utilities are moving to replace coal plants with renewable-energy sources, but the shift is happening more slowly at the cooperatives that serve much of rural America," Katherine Blunt reports for The Wall Street Journal. Electric cooperatives sourced 32 percent of their power from coal in 2019, according to industry data. By comparison, the U.S. as a whole got about 23% of its electricity from coal that year, a 42-year low, according to the Energy Information Administration."

Co-ops that generate electricity are switching sources; seven years ago, their coal share was 70%. But that's not fast enough for the smaller co-ops that only distribute electricity and are members of the generating co-ops. Under pressure from their consumer-members, "a growing number" of distribution co-ops "are agitating for a faster transition to wind and solar energy, which is cleaner and increasingly cheaper than coal power," Blunt reports. "That push is creating tension within the organizations, which exist to share the costs of generating and procuring electricity for less-populous areas—leading some members to break away," or at least look into breaking electric-purchase contracts.

"Co-ops, which provide power to about 42 million Americans, primarily in the Midwest and West, have remained more reliant on coal than investor-owned utilities in part because they don’t have the same means or motivation to retire coal plants," Blunt explains. "Because they are owned by customers, rather than shareholders, they can’t raise equity and instead rely mainly on debt for financing needs. They are exempt from federal income taxes and therefore can’t use renewable-energy tax credits. And many of the regions they serve rely on coal plants for jobs and tax revenue, making the prospect of closing them politically challenging. The issue has emerged as a key challenge to the ambitious targets set by the Biden administration and many states to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. Co-op industry leaders recently met in Washington to discuss ways to handle debt associated with coal plants as well as gaining access to federal tax credits for renewable-energy development."

Coal is no longer the cheap choice for co-ops. "The cost of generating power from a new coal plant over its expected life is now at least $65 a megawatt-hour, according to investment bank Lazard, and can be as high as $159 a megawatt-hour," Blunt reports. "New wind and solar farms, by comparison, can generate power for as little as $26 and $29 a megawatt-hour, respectively."

Many co-ops hesitate to prematurely close coal plants because they still owe millions of dollars on them. They also worry about hurting local economies, says Chris Riley, CEO of Guzman Energy LLC, a wholesale power company founded to help co-ops buy cleaner, cheaper energy. "You’re spreading the positive economic benefit across a huge geographic area" by closing a coal plant, he told Blunt. "But you’re concentrating the negative impact in just a couple of towns and cities, those that have the coal plants and the coal mines."

Pandemic stigma: Secret shots; rural coroner leaves Covid-19 off death certificates at kin's request; can farmers help?

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and immunization efforts:

As trusted local voices, farmers could be the key to increasing rural coronavirus vaccination rates, said the chief policy officer of the National Rural Health Association. Read more here.

Most unvaccinated Americans believe the coronavirus vaccine poses a greater health risk than the disease, a poll has found. Read more here.

Some people in rural Missouri are getting vaccinated in secret to avoid backlash from loved ones. Read more here.

A coroner in rural Missouri admits he has not listed Covid-19 on some death certificates because families asked him to leave it off. Read more here.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said he regrets signing a bill prohibiting local mask mandates, and asked state lawmakers to rescind the policy. Read more here.

Some state and local government employees say they refuse to get vaccinated because they don't trust the government, a new report found. Read more here.

A doctor answers rural Texans' questions about the coronavirus vaccine; maybe your readers have some of the same questions. Read more here.

A shocking loss spurred many to get vaccinated in one rural Arkansas community. Read more here.

Disagreements about vaccination are tearing some marriages apart. Read more here.

A retired family physician from small-town Mississippi explains how the coronavirus vaccine works in a clear, easy-to-understand Facebook post and answers follow-up questions from readers in the comments. The doctor, who says he worked on HIV vaccine development in the 1980's, also debunks common misinformation and reminds readers how stressful the pandemic has been for health-care workers. The post is an excellent example of how providers can help shape discourse in their communities. Read more here.

Wildfire roundup: Three lessons for forest towns, one for feds; what it's like to wait, worry as fire threatens your town

The remains of a building and truck in Greenville, California. (Washington Post photo by Stuart Palley)

The above-average wildfire season is expected to continue through September or longer. A map shows your county's expected risk. Read more here.

The Dixie Fire, which recently destroyed the town of Greenville, is now the second-largest wildfire in California history. Read more here. The fire's destruction of Greenville provides three important lessons for towns in forested areas. Read more here.

Federal officials are abandoning their policy of allowing some wildfires to burn in hopes that they'll burn themselves out. That's after a fire last month grew to 70,000 acres and burned down at least 10 structures. Read more here.

California tourist town Mendocino is running out of water because of the drought. Read more here.

A resident of rural Northern California reflects on what it's like to worry and wait as wildfires threaten your home. Read more here.

A Washington Post photo essay takes readers inside efforts to fight the Dixie Fire. Read more here.

An interactive feature shows how prescribed fires can help mitigate wildfires. Read more here.

Reporting series is touring Midwest this week, publishing interactive reports on commodity yields amid drought

U.S. Drought Monitor map by Richard Tinker, NOAA/NWS/NCEP/CPC

Starting today, DTN/The Progressive Farmer will kick off its Digital Yield Tour to estimate commodity yields in the heartland and assess the drought's impact on different farming regions. They'll publish daily in-depth reports estimating commodity yields in 10 major corn- and soybean-producing states, combining interactive data displays with "boots on the ground" reporting. 

"The annual event, now in its fourth year, will start with Nebraska and South Dakota. Even though North Dakota isn't officially part of the tour, we will include information on its growing conditions because of its relevance to this year's commodity price picture," Katie Micik Dehlinger reports for DTN. "From there, coverage moves into Missouri and Kansas on Tuesday, Aug. 10; Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin on Wednesday, Aug 11; and Illinois, Indiana and Ohio on Aug. 12. National average yield estimates will be released on Friday, Aug. 13." Click here for ongoing coverage.

On the upside, scientists say drought stress early in the season isn't as damaging to corn and soybeans as drought that continues through or occurs later in the season, reports Emily Unglesbee of DTN.

Feds, pursuing right-to-repair laws, want to hear your horror stories about trying to fix farm implements, other devices

President Biden recently signed an executive order that asked the Federal Trade Commission to tackle right-to-repair laws long sought by farmers and other users of complex equipment. Now, the FTC wants to hear from you. "If you’ve ever had a warranty issue that never quite felt right — for instance, a company claiming you voided your computer’s warranty by letting a friend fix it — the FTC wants to know about it," writes Chris Velazco for The Washington Post. 

You can submit a complaint at reportfraud.ftc.gov. And don't skimp on the gory details: FTC spokesperson Juliana Gruenwald Henderson told the Post that they encourage people to provide "as much detail as possible."

If the FTC ultimately passes right-to-repair laws, "you might be able to easily fix your own ailing gadgets with official repair manuals and parts," Velazco reports. "Not exactly the handy type? That’s okay — you may also have access to a wider array of third-party repair shops and technicians to help you instead."

New study says Alzheimer's deaths more common in rural U.S., especially in Southeast, and disparity is increasing

"Death rates from Alzheimer's disease are particularly high in the rural United States, a preliminary study finds, highlighting a need for health care resources in traditionally under-served areas," Amy Norton reports for HealthDay. In a study that has not been peer-reviewed, "Researchers discovered that over the past two decades, rural areas in the Southeast have seen the highest death rates from Alzheimer's, at 274 per 100,000 people. That's about twice the rate as seen in urban areas of the mid-Atlantic region, which had the lowest numbers."

Researchers studied data from the National Center for Health Statistics to compare deaths by region and urbanization. Overall, Alzheimer's deaths rose by 88 percent between 1999 and 2019, they found. "The Mid-Atlantic and New England regions maintained the lowest rates, while the Southeast had the highest for most of the study period. Big cities, meanwhile, had lower death rates than non-metropolitan areas," Norton reports. "Those disparities only increased over time, the study found."

The study didn't address the reasons for the trends, but lead researcher Dr. Ambar Kulshreshtha of Emory University said some likely culprits include the higher likelihood of stroke and heart disease—both of which are risk factors for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia—as well as overall poorer health-care access, Norton reports. That can mean people are less likely to get early dementia screening or specialist care. He recommends more training for doctors and more resources for under-served communities.

The findings, which were presented this week at the Alzheimer's Association's annual meeting, are considered preliminary until published and peer-reviewed.

Newspapers in Idaho, New Mexico, New York, South Dakota and Wyoming win NNA contest general-excellence awards

The North Scott Press of Eldridge, Iowa, won for best website
and was second in general excellence for medium-large weeklies.

The Sioux City Journal, the Idaho Mountain Express of Ketchum, The Highlands Current of Cold Spring, N.Y., The Taos News and the News Letter Journal of Newcastle, Wyo., are the general-excellence winners in the National Newspaper Association's annual Better Newspaper Contest.

The Sioux City Journal won the daily division. The Idaho paper won the division for weeklies with 10,000 or more print circulation. The Taos paper won the 6,000-to-9,999 category; the Cold Spring paper was tops in those 3,000-5,999; and the Newcastle paper won among those of less than 3,000.

Second-place winners in those respective categories were the Wyoming Tribune Eagle of Cheyenne, The Examiner of Beaumont, Texas; the North Scott Press of Eldridge, Iowa, the Hyattsville Life & Times of Maryland and the Antelope County News of Neligh, Nev.

Third-place winners were The Daily Times of Farmington, N.M.; The Pilot of Southern Pines, N.C.; the Blair Pilot-Tribune of Nebraska, the Lake Oswego Review of New York and the Glenrock Independent of Douglas, Wyo.

The general-excellence awards are a combination of editorial and advertising awards. Here are some of the editorial awards, for particular pieces of work:

Local-government reporting: The Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan won first and second place in the daily division; the Sioux City Journal won third. The division for non-dailies was won by the Walsh County Record of Grafton, N.D. The North Scott Press and the Jackson Hole News and Guide were second and third, respectively.

Among categories open to all papers, the Eldridge North Scott Press won for best website and best localized national story, the Antelope County News won the award for best use of social media for breaking news, The Highlands Current had the best front-page design, and the Taos News won for best civic and community service.

Cattle ranchers not seeing profit from high grocery store beef prices; many blame major processors

Annual farmers' share compared with beef and veal prices, 1970-2020. Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting chart; click the image to enlarge it.

"While consumers pay high beef prices at the grocery store, very little has trickled down to ranchers — in fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gap between the retail price for beef and the price producers receive is the largest it's ever been," Mary Hennigan reports for the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. "In interviews, eight ranchers in seven states agreed their profits have stagnated or even decreased, while the meatpacking companies — which buy the animals for slaughter, then package the meat to be sold at grocery stores — have benefited."

Some ranchers blame limited processing capacity, especially with pandemic shutdowns. But most ranchers blame meat processors Cargill, JBS, Tyson Foods and National Beef, which accounted for more than 80 percent of the processed beef in the U.S. Numerous lawsuits in recent years claim meatpackers have colluded to raise beef prices by limiting supply, Hennigan reports.

Whatever the cause, "since 2017, the price consumers have paid for beef and veal has increased each year. In 2020, the cost increased by about 10% from 2019, the sixth highest year-to-year increase in four decades. In turn, the companies’ profits have skyrocketed. From 2010 to 2020, both Tyson and JBS saw an increase in revenue from their cattle operations, 34% and 66% respectively, according to the companies’ annual reports," Hennigan reports. "But, at the same time, the farmers’ cut has decreased. Between 2010 and 2020, the farmers’ share — beef’s value to the rancher divided by its retail value — decreased by about 9%."

The federal government is taking notice. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry held a hearing in June to seek answers. On July 9, President Biden signed an order to promote economic competition, and specifically addressed agricultural consolidation. And that same day, "Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the USDA would spend half a billion dollars to encourage building more meatpacking plants closer to producers," Hennigan reports.

Quick hits: plague chipmunks; farmers' markets importance; what ballads and science fiction tell us about Appalachia . . .

Adorable and, possibly, dangerous.
Alamy Stock Photo by Sam Judy

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

Hopefully not coming to a tree near you: the U.S. Forest Service has had to close several top hiking spots on Lake Tahoe because of chipmunks with the bubonic plague (most small-mammal infections are in the West.). A park ranger said wild rodents in the Sierra Nevada commonly carry the virus and advises people to keep their dogs on a leash. Read more here.

A small Black-majority town in Virginia is trying to keep a supermarket chain from building a warehouse there, worrying it could destroy the rural character of their town. Read more here.

To cap off National Farmers Market Week: The markets are growing in their role as essential sources of healthy food for the rich and poor, say two landscape architecture professors. Read more here.

What ballads and science fiction tell us about Appalachia's past, present and future. Read more here.

Rural communities should harness the once-in-a-generation windfall from the American Rescue Plan to invest in and improve school STEM programs, writes a rural education expert. Read more here.

The Agriculture Department is taking applications for loans and grants for rural start-ups, small businesses, non-profits, institutions of higher learning, and more. Read more here.

A new report provides a road map for expanding chestnut agri-forestry in the U.S. Read more here.

The Vera Institute of Justice is inviting applications for grants to rural organizations seeking alternative solutions to incarceration. Read more here.

Journalism chops and receptionist charm will get you a job and a home in West Virginia. Read more here.

Multi-pesticide 'cocktails' used on farms can kill twice as many bees as regular pesticides, studies find

"Agricultural pesticides sold to farmers ready-mixed into 'cocktails"' can kill twice as many bees, Victoria Gill reports for BBC News. That's according to an analysis of 90 studies that measured the impact of environmental stressors such as pesticides and poor nutrition. University of Texas at Austin researchers cross-referenced that data to figure out how combinations of those factors affected bees. 

When a pesticide that kills 10 percent of bees is combined with another pesticide that kills 10%, one might expect a cocktail of the two to kill 20% of bees, but a "synergistic effect" could make the combo deadly to 30% to 40% of bees, lead researcher Harry Siviter told Gill.

Such cocktails should be required to have their own license, since pesticides are not generally monitored once they're licensed for use. That would create more of a paper trail when pesticide cocktails harm bees, he said.

Fire destroys Calif. town; nearby paper steps up to cover it: 'These are the numbers, but they don't tell the story'

Greenville before the fire (Google maps) and after (above)

The Dixie Fire, now one of the 10 largest in California history, has destroyed most of the town of Greenville. And though the story has been covered by many nationwide outlets, one based an hour away, in Quincy, has stepped up to cover the story comprehensively.

Nationwide stories have covered the size of the fire and progress on its containment, and the Plumas News has those essentials, but as one update noted, "these are the numbers, but they don't tell the story." Only from a local paper can readers hear whether a beloved local bakery has survived. And only a local news source can help outsiders understand how Greenville's natural beauty and quirky residents made it special, as this moving "Eulogy for Greenville" does.

Plumas News is an umbrella website for six local newspapers owned by Feather Publishing Co., whose owners kept the paper local by selling it to longtime employees Cobey and Susan Brown a year ago. Cobey Brown, now the president and publisher, has been with the company for 33 years.

The print editions halted in April because of the pandemic, but Plumas News is still providing vital local coverage online. It's filling other community needs too, publishing notices about missing people and providing a place for community members to voice their grief.

Trumka, who mined Pa. coal, then became a UMW lawyer and the labor leader of all labor leaders, dies suddenly at 72

Rich Trumka spoke to the International Brotherhood
of Boilermakers convention in 2016. (IBB photo)

Richard Trumka, who went from mining coal in rural Pennsylvania to the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America and the AFL-CIO labor federation, has died. He was 72.

Trumka's death was announced on the Senate floor by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, "his voice breaking as he patted the lectern to compose himself," CNN reports. "The working people of America have lost a fierce warrior at a time when we needed him most," Schumer said.

Trumka was born in Nemacolin, Pa., originally a coal camp, and became a third-generation miner in 1968. After getting a law degree, he was a UMW staff attorney, and became president of the union in 1982. His high point there was a successful nine-month strike against Pittston Coal Co.,"which became a symbol of resistance against employer cutbacks and retrenchment for the entire labor movement, Wikipedia says. He became AFL-CIO secretary-treasurer in 1995 and president of the federation in 2009.

"President Biden called Trumka a 'very close' friend and said he was more than head of AFL-CIO,' in brief remarks to reporters," The Washington Post reports. "The president added that Trumka had died during a camping trip with family members." Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who grew up less than an hour away from Trumka, said of him, “He never forgot where he came from. He dedicated the rest of his career to fighting for America’s working men and women. He was a fierce advocate for working people, and a truly decent man.”

Rural vaccination rate steady overall, rising in high-infection areas; new rural infections up more than 50% in past week

New coronavirus infections, in ranges by county, July 25-31
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or click here for the interactive version

Two items from The Daily Yonder show rural trends in coronavirus vaccinations and infections.

Driven by the highly infectious Delta variant, the coronavirus "surged across the southern Midwest and South for the fifth consecutive week last week, raising new rural infections to a rate not seen since the middle of February," Tim Murphy and Tim Marema report for the Yonder. Rural areas saw just under 70,000 new cases in the week of July 25-31, a jump of more than 50 percent "after climbing by more than 60% the week before. In the past six weeks, new cases in rural counties have increased five-fold. The metropolitan new-infection rate has climbed at a slightly higher rate over the same period."

Deaths, the most lagging indicator of the pandemic, are beginning to rise. Rural counties saw 368 Covid-related deaths last week, up 25 from the week before—a 7% increase. New Covid deaths in metropolitan counties rose about 22% last week, Murphy and Marema report.

"The number of rural red-zone counties also surged last week, climbing by more than two-thirds to 945," they report. "That means nearly half of all the nation’s 1,976 nonmetropolitan counties are in the red zone, a three-fold increase in the past three weeks." Red zones, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have 100 or more new infections per 100,000 residents in a week.

Click here for more charts and regional analysis from the Yonder on infection rates, including an interactive county-level map.

Meanwhile, new vaccination rates in rural areas remained steady overall last week, but 19 states, "including several with rising rates of new Covid-19 infections, saw gains in the pace of rural vaccinations last week," Murphy and Marema report. "Increases in vaccination numbers in states like Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana confirm anecdotal evidence that rising infection rates in those states are creating renewed interest in vaccinations."

Nationwide, 150,205 rural residents completed coronavirus vaccinations last week. "That brings the percentage of the total rural population that has completed vaccination to 36.2%, an increase of about 0.3 percentage points from two weeks ago," Murphy and Marema report. The metropolitan vaccination rate, now at 47.3%, is 11.1 percentage points higher than the rural rate. The metro rate continues to grow more quickly; last week the gap widened by 0.1 points.

Click here for more charts and regional analysis from the Yonder on vaccination rates, including an interactive county-level map.

Rural/urban vaccination rates as of July 29, compared to the national average and adjusted to account for vaccinations not assigned to specific counties. Map by The Daily Yonder; click the image to enlarge it or here for the interactive version.

Gov't watchdog report: FEMA not doing enough to convince homeowners in high-risk areas to buy flood insurance

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been collecting a lot of information about flood risks across America, including the increased risk of flooding linked to climate change. But the agency has not effectively used that new knowledge to persuade more Americans to buy flood insurance, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office," James Bruggers reports for Inside Climate News. "As a result, homeowners are at increasing risk of costly damage from floods, and the government is facing rising costs for disaster relief assistance, the report found. The report called on Congress to consider requiring FEMA to evaluate how the agency can use the 'comprehensive and up-to-date flood risk information' it has been collecting to determine which properties should be required to have flood insurance under the National Flood Insurance Program."

Many rural areas, particularly those near water and some mountainous areas, are at a higher risk for flooding. After disasters, those without flood insurance have a hard time rebuilding without flood insurance, especially in poorer areas.

Trusting News: Reporters should stop 'journalismplaining,' which is using jargon, being defensive, getting on a pedestal

News research project Trusting News has some advice for journalists who want to help skeptical readers understand the reporting process: stop "journalismsplaining."

Lynn Walsh writes in their latest newsletter: "Talking about ourselves in a story is not something that comes easily to most journalists. But we know that people have questions about what makes our reporting credible. And we know that when those questions aren't answered, users make their own (usually negative) assumptions. It's better to be proactive, and that means talking about ourselves and our reporting process."

But, she continues, journalists should steer clear of "using a lot of industry jargon, being defensive or putting ourselves on a pedestal. Let's all try to avoid what we are calling 'journalismsplaining.'"

She suggests journalists answer questions such as why they chose to write a story, why readers should care about it, whether they were fair and respectful of sources, and more.

Click here for more tips on avoiding journalismsplaining. Trusting News is a collaboration of the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute.

CDC extends eviction moratorium extended for counties where pandemic is most active; see county-level map

Level of coronavirus transmission: non-metropolitan counties on the left, all counties on the right. CDC maps, adapted by The Rural Blog. Click the image to enlarge it or here for the interactive version.

"Days after a national eviction moratorium expired, the Biden administration on Tuesday issued a new, more limited freeze that remains in effect through Oct. 3. Like the previous order, the two-month moratorium issued Tuesday comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," Barbara Sprunt reports for NPR. "The new ban on evictions covers parts of the United States that are experiencing what the CDC calls 'substantial' and 'high' spread of the coronavirus. As of Tuesday afternoon, that's the vast majority of U.S. counties."

The last-minute order has caused widespread confusion, The Washington Post reports. The order is not retroactive, and so does not ban or stop evictions that were filed last week. It is likely to be challenged in court, under a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. Legal information site Nolo.com has specifics on who qualifies for the extension and a searchable database of tenant protections by state. Surgo Ventures has county-level estimates of people who are behind on rent.

All Tyson employees must get a coronavirus vaccination by Nov. 1; vaccinated front-line workers will get $200 bonus

Tyson Foods will require its 120,000 U.S. workers to be vaccinated by Nov. 1, "making it the largest food company to mandate vaccinations in an industry beleaguered by coronavirus outbreaks,"  Taylor Telford and Abha Bhattarai report for The Washington Post. "Less than half of Tyson’s workforce is vaccinated, chief executive Donnie King said Tuesday in a memo to employees. Tyson leadership will have to be vaccinated by Sept. 24, while other office workers will have until Oct. 1." Front-line Tyson workers who present proof of vaccination will get a $200 bonus.

The nationwide rise in infections, driven by the Delta variant, has prompted many companies to mandate vaccinations and other distancing measures. But that's mostly been among white-collar employers such as Google and Facebook. Walmart, the nation's largest private employer, mandated vaccines for corporate employees; it increased its cash incentive for vaccinated store and warehouse workers rather than requiring a shot, Bhattarai and Erica Werner report for the Post. Ford Motor Co. employees don't have to get a shot but have to mask up in states where such mandates are allowed.

"Tyson’s sweeping mandate marks a shift in how some companies with employees who work in proximity to one another may be reconsidering their role in preventing the spread of the virus," Telford and Bhattarai report. "Mandates from companies like Tyson — whose employees work in conditions more conducive to virus spread — are more likely to have an impact on nationwide vaccination rates, according to Laura Boudreau, an assistant professor of economics at Columbia Business School."

A representative for the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 24,000 Tyson employees and 250,000 food-processing workers nationwide, said it is seriously concerned about the mandate and wants employers to provide paid leave so workers can get vaccinated without worrying about missing work.

Infrastructure bill has funds for Appalachian highways, wildlife corridors, rural weather-resilience grants, more

The Rural Blog has already listed some of the rural-interest features in the bipartisan infrastructure package, but here are some more, as noted by PBS NewsHour. The 2,700-page bill is a daunting meal for journalists to digest, so more details will undoubtedly come to light.

Here's what reporter Lisa Desjardins found in the bill, along with the page number so you can read more:

• Resilience improvement grants (p. 356) to help communities upgrade infrastructure to better prepare for climate-change fueled disasters such as flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, and more. At least 25 percent of the funds must go to rural areas, and at least 2% must go to Native American tribal areas.
• Full funding for what the federal government owes in dozens of lawsuits over water rights of Native American tribes. (p. 2192)
• A $350 million pilot program (p. 34) to make safe corridors for wildlife to pass through private lands.
• Funding to potentially complete the Appalachian Highway System (p. 81), a network of roads and bridges begun in 1965 to connect some of the most remote parts of Appalachia.

Lawsuits from conservative groups drive up price tag, timing of Biden minority-farmer relief program, now at risk

"A string of legal defeats for a groundbreaking program to forgive the debts of minority farmers is presenting the Biden administration with a stark choice. It can continue the fight and risk further setbacks or give up and disappoint activists and lawmakers who have championed the cause," Josh Gerstein and Ximena Bustillo report for Politico. "The estimated $4 billion program is under siege by conservative legal groups — including one founded by close aides to former President Donald Trump — who have filed at least 13 lawsuits arguing the debt relief effort unconstitutionally discriminates on the basis of race."

Preliminary injunctions from three judges have blocked the program nationwide until the lawsuits are resolved. The Justice Department usually appeals in such cases, but hasn't yet. "Legal experts say the Biden administration’s best move at the moment might be to huddle with congressional allies and come up with a program more likely to pass muster," Gerstein and Bustillo report. "Otherwise, they say, there’s a danger of provoking court rulings that might undermine other programs aimed at remedying past discrimination." Several legal experts told Politico the program would be overturned if a case reached the Supreme Court.

Job gains, especially rural, stagnate over past three months; most counties are still below pre-pandemic levels

Employment in June 2021 compared to June 2021, by rurality and relative gain or loss.
Daily Yonder map; click the image to enlarge it or here for the interactive version.

Nationwide employment numbers have stagnated over the past three months and barely inched up in June, especially in rural areas. "Between May and June, the nation’s net gain in employment nationally amounted to just 0.3 percent. Rural America added about 93,000 jobs in June, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was an increase of just one half of one percent over May," Bill Bishop reports for The Daily Yonder. "And, as the map above shows, most U.S. counties had fewer jobs this June than June of 2019, before the Covid pandemic began." Nationwide employment in June 2021 was at 96.7% of June 2019 levels.

Metro counties lost a greater share of jobs in the early months of the pandemic, but have bounced back more quickly than rural areas. Twenty Republican-led states reduced unemployment benefits in June in an effort to force more people to return to work, The Washington Post reports. Those states did see more workers over age 25 return to work, but didn't really gain net jobs because those workers essentially elbowed out teen workers. Health concerns and childcare difficulties are probably the biggest reason people still aren't coming back to work, one expert said.

Click here for more charts and analysis from the Yonder, including an interactive county-level map.

Old coal plant now powers Bitcoin 'mine' in upstate N.Y.

From the BBC: "Bitcoin mines require a lot of energy to power the computers inside. Greenidge Generation in New York has converted a former coal plant into a gas-fired Bitcoin mine. Facing criticism from environmentalists, the company argues it offsets its emissions, is 100 percent carbon neutral, and has plans to invest in solar energy." BBC's North America technology reporter, James Clayton, takes viewers on a visit to the mine on Seneca Lake, one of the Finger Lakes.

What is Bitcoin mining? CNet's Oscar Gonzales explains: "When Bitcoins are traded, computers across the globe race to complete a computation that creates a 64-digit hexadecimal number, or hash, for that Bitcoin. This hash goes into a public ledger so anyone can confirm the transaction for that particular Bitcoin happened. The computer that solves the computation first gets a reward of 6.2 bitcoins, or about $225,000 at current prices.

All that computing makes Bitcoin mining a notorious energy hog. "The Digiconomist's Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index estimated that one Bitcoin transaction takes 1,544 kWh to complete, or the equivalent of approximately 53 days of power for the average US household. To put that into money terms, the average cost per kWh in the US is 13 cents. That means a Bitcoin transaction would generate more than $200 in energy bills," Gonzales reports. Bitcoin mining uses more electricity each year than Argentina, "according to an analysis from Cambridge University in February. At 121.36 terawatt-hours, crypto mining would be in the top 30 of countries based on energy consumption."

Rural clinics have grants to persuade locals to get vaxed; they could collaborate with other providers and newspapers

The Biden administration recently announced it's sending $100 million to rural health clinics for outreach efforts to increase locals' confidence in the safety of coronavirus vaccines, but that leads to the question of how such efforts can be effective. Many rural health leaders say it's is a delicate business, and say it's counterproductive for advocates to be too assertive about vaccines, seem as if they invade their privacy, or send in outsiders to help, Erin Banco reports for Politico. What will rural public health clinics do with the money if they're reluctant to press locals on the issue?

"Well, they could collaborate with local newspapers and health-care providers," says Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues and publisher of The Rural Blog. "Community newspapers are generally trusted sources, and these funds could be used to finance sample-copy editions to reach every household with information from local doctors and other health providers."

In many rural areas, people rarely discuss the vaccine in public, and health leaders worry about alienate friends and family if they push too hard or even broach the subject. Officials Alabama and Louisiana "say their governments have in the past shied away from door knocking, trusting that if they put up enough flyers and promote the safety of the vaccine through the media, people would sign up," Banco reports. "But that strategy is not working. Vaccination rates have declined in recent weeks."

The biggest roadblocks are mistrust of the government, partisan sentiment, and social-media misinformation. "Almost every public-health official, local vaccine volunteer and physician in Alabama and Louisiana who spoke to Politico pointed to social media and the media as the main reason people in their neighborhoods are still holding out on the vaccine," Banco reports. "Their only hope for getting people vaccinated is if the media outlets that message to these areas, primarily Fox News, start advocating people get the shot, instead of pushing them away from the jab." Fox hosts and many Republican lawmakers have recently begun promoting the vaccine, but after months of aggressively questioning its safety and, in some cases, promoting conspiracies, it may be too late to change some people's minds.

Having more single-dose vaccines on hand could help, said one public-health official in rural Fayette County, Ohio, just south of Columbus. County immunization coordinator Amy Friel staffed a tent at the county fair to answer questions and get people scheduled for vaccines, but said it was a tough sell, Nick Evans reports for NPR affiliate WOSU Public Media.

It's difficult to administer vaccines at pop-up events because the multi-dose vials must be refrigerated, and doses end up getting wasted. "If there was a way for us to put it in a single-dose vial, and get out there, oh we’d be all over it," Friel told Evans. "I’d be all over the place, just 'hey do you want your vaccine? I’ve got it right now.'"

Pandemic roundup: Indoor masking advised in most counties; debates on school masking stir confusion, anger

Levels of coronavirus transmission by county from July 26-31, 2021. NPR map based on CDC data. Click the image to enlarge it or here for the interactive version.

Here's a roundup of recent news about the pandemic and immunization efforts:

The number of welfare recipients increased in most states during the pandemic, but declined in 10 of the 13 states that refused to drop rules requiring residents to work or look for a job to qualify for assistance. The decline is likely because it was more difficult to meet such requirements amid widespread shutdowns. Read more here.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising vaccinated people to wear a mask indoors in counties with substantial coronavirus spread. See whether it's recommended for your county (above). Read more here.

State-level CDC data show that breakthrough cases among the vaccinated are relatively rare, and that the vast majority of Covid-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are unvaccinated people. Read more here.

According to an internal CDC document, the Delta variant is more likely to infect vaccinated people, and may cause more severe illness, than other coronavirus variants. It's also as contagious as the chicken pox, and more contagious than the viruses that cause MERS, SARS, Ebola, the common cold, the seasonal flu and smallpox. Read more here.

The hype—and controversy—surrounding messenger RNA vaccines is distracting people from discussing other ways to end the pandemic, including more traditionally formulated coronavirus vaccines such as the Novavax. scientist Hilda Bastian writes for The Atlantic. Read more here.

As the new school year looms, debates over mask mandates stir anger and confusion. Read more here.

Covid-19 outbreaks are on the rise in nursing homes. Read more here.

Vaccination rates are surging in areas where the Delta variant is running rampant. Read more here.

Walmart and other major employers are strengthening masking and vaccination requirements and/or incentives for employees. Read more here.

Another coronavirus variant is spreading in Florida. Read more here.

FCC plugs loopholes that let telecoms companies use rural broadband subsidies for urban areas

The Federal Communications Commission told SpaceX and other companies recently that "that the billions in rural broadband subsidies it doled out last year can’t be used in already connected areas like 'parking lots and well-served urban areas,' citing complaints," Joey Roulette reports for The Verge, a publication of Vox Media. "The commission, in an effort to 'clean up' its subsidy auction program, offered the companies a chance to rescind their funding requests from areas that already have service. The companies that got the subsidies must do the work to determine they qualify for the money."

SpaceX’s satellite internet network Starlink won $886 million last December as part of the FCC's Rural Digital Opportunity Fund, a $9.2 billion auction meant to expand rural broadband. But the auction was riddled with wasteful spending and widespread data flaws, according to reports from the Competitive Carriers Association and consumer-advocacy group Free Press, Roulette reports. 

The Free Press report found that over $700 million in RDOF funds had been awarded to areas that already have broadband access. In particular, $111 million of SpaceX's share was going to "well-served urban areas and random patches of land with no infrastructure, from thin highway medians and empty patches of grass to New York City parking lots and big-box stores," Roulette reports. "The RDOF subsidies were announced under former FCC chairman Ajit Pai, a Republican who left office when President Biden became president."

Senate unveils details of infrastructure bill; Appalachian Regional Commission's budget would more than double

"Senate Democrats and Republicans unveiled on Sunday a roughly $1 trillion proposal to improve the country’s roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections, setting in motion a long-awaited debate in the chamber to enact one of President Biden’s economic policy priorities," Tony Romm reports for The Washington Post.

One interesting tidbit: Funding for the Appalachian Regional Commission would more than double under the bill, receiving an additional $1 billion over the next four years. That's a significantly larger increase than other federal regional commissions would get from the package. The federal agency, responsible for promoting economic development in Appalachia, is led by Gayle Manchin, the wife of Senate swing voter Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Haris Alic reports for The Washington Times.

The bill calls for $550 billion in new spending over five years above projected federal spending levels, but the other half will come from existing, planned spending. It includes $73 billion to upgrade the nation's energy grid and $21 billion for environmental issues such as pollution. It also has an additional $65 billion to build out broadband internet and make sure it's affordable for the poor, but only $2 billion of that will go through the Agriculture Department. "The measure would also spend billions on carbon removal, firefighting and forest management resources, tree planting and more," Ximena Bustillo reports for& Politico's Weekly Agriculture.

Now the bill goes through Senate debate and a lengthy amendment process. But its future seems bright: "Last week, 17 GOP senators joined all Democrats in voting to start work on the bipartisan bill," Kevin Frekin and Lisa Mascaro report for The Associated Press. "That support largely held, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., voting yes in another procedural vote to nudge the process along in the 50-50 Senate, where 60 votes are needed to overcome a filibuster and advance legislation.

"The legislation will face a more complicated path in the House, which Democrats control narrowly," Andrew Duehren reports for The Wall Street Journal. "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has repeatedly said that the chamber won’t take up the infrastructure agreement until the Senate approves a separate antipoverty and climate package that Democrats expect to pass through a budget process called reconciliation without GOP support."

More support secession, especially Southern Republicans

Support for secession from the U.S. to join new, regional unions (Bright Line Watch map; click to enlarge it.)

Six months after the Capitol riot, surveys show Americans more deeply divided than ever, and most Southern Republicans want their state to secede to a new nation of the South. That's according to June polling from Bright Line Watch, an initiative to monitor the strength of democracy. It polled 2,750 Americans and 327 political scientists. Secession support increased from a February survey.

Overall, the report says: "We find deep partisan polarization in perceptions of what is right and wrong with American democracy and the steps that should be taken to fix it. In addition, experts express reservations about current changes to election law at the state level. Still, we find some signs that Americans regard partisan attacks on election administration with skepticism."

Some other key findings:

• The public and experts don't generally approve of tactics like gerrymandering, packing the Supreme Court or blocking nominees, voter suppression, abolishing the filibuster, adding new states to the nation, or refusing to certify election results. But, when elites carry out such actions, voters don't usually punish them at the ballot box.
• Experts believe such tactics will become more common, especially extreme partisan gerrymandering. But they think Democrat-favored tactics such as adding states or abolishing the filibuster are less likely.
• Bills that reduce the political independence of local elections officials or restrict mail-in voting are dangerous to democracy, experts say.

The report is long and dense, with plenty of charts and maps, and it's worth the time to explore it.

Eviction moratorium extended for those with federal loans; estimates show how many renters are behind in your county

Estimated percentage of renting households in arrears, June 23 to July 5, 2021. Based on Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey Wave. Surgo Ventures map; click the image to enlarge, or click here for an interactive version.

Though the federal government's eviction moratorium expired on Friday, President Biden has asked the Agriculture Department and other agencies to extend it until Sept. 30 for those who have real-estate loans through federal agencies, Ximena Bustillo reports for Politico's Weekly Agriculture.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Biden to extend the whole program, saying that the administration must take action, but Biden insisted that only Congress has that power, citing a Supreme Court ruling in June that said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overstepped its authority in creating the policy. "The moratorium, put in place during the pandemic, was credited with keeping more than 2 million renters in their homes. Two days before it ended – and just one day before the House adjourned – the White House made its first public appeal for Congress to take action to extend the policy," Joey Garrison reports for USA Today. "The Democratic-controlled House adjourned for recess last week without taking action on a bill that would have renewed it."

Meanwhile, renters and landlords nationwide are struggling. An NBC investigation revealed last week that many states had, for a variety of reasons, distributed only a fraction of the aid meant to keep tenants from being evicted and unpaid landlords able to cover their own costs. A laid-off Phoenix woman, for example, told The Arizona Republic that the state said it was processing her application in early April, but despite numerous calls hasn't been able to get an update, a human voice on the phone, or a check. And in Georgia, only about 6% of the $710 million the state received has been paid out as of July 20, while 160,000 to 344,000 Georgians are likely to be evicted, according to Census Bureau estimates. According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the culprits are "slow rollouts, cumbersome paperwork for both renters and landlords, and landlords who decline to accept payments have left government programs sitting on piles of unspent aid just as renters need it the most."

About 6.2 million American households are behind on rent, according to a new report by humanitarian data science outfit Surgo Ventures, an initiative of the Surgo Foundation. Households in arrears represent 14.7% of all renting households and owe an average of $3,700, or $23 billion nationwide.

A county-level map from the report shows that Southern renters are especially likely to owe money, with 16% of all households in arrears and owing $8.4 billion as of July. It's important to note that county-level figures are estimates based on Surgo's extrapolation of state-level data from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey and cross-referenced with the 2019 American Community Survey; however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers Surgo's work careful enough to use its Covid-19 Community Vulnerability Index as a resource. Read more about its methodology here.

National Farmers Market Week begins today

This is National Farmers Market Week, an Agriculture Department celebration in its 22nd year.  

In his proclamation affirming the observation, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted that farmers' markets "serve as significant outlets for small-to-medium, new and beginning, socially disadvantaged, and veteran agricultural producers to market agricultural products, in turn generating revenue that supports the sustainability of family farms and the revitalization of rural communities nationwide."

According to the 2019 National Farmers Market Managers survey, there are more than 8,000 farmers markets in the U.S.  Farm vendors benefit in a number of ways, including:

• 67% increased overall production.
• 33% increased the number of workers employed on the farm.
• Nearly 40% were able to sell imperfect products that would otherwise go unsold.
• 77% diversified the types of agricultural products they grew.

A blog post from the USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service has links to farmers' markets data and programs meant to help them.