Iowa scientists say climate change is threatening the state's highly productive agriculture

Scientists in Iowa say climate change is posing a threat to the future of the state's farms. In their report, entitled "Iowa Climate Statement 2013: A Rising Challenge to Iowa Agriculture," the authors write: "Our state has long held a proud tradition of helping to 'feed the world.' Our ability to do so is now increasingly threatened by rising greenhouse gas emissions and resulting climate change. Our climate has disrupted agricultural production profoundly during the past two years and is projected to become even more harmful in coming decades as our climate continues to warm and change." (Map by Union of Concerned Scientists: How Iowa's climate could become more like that of Kansas, then Arkansas)

Iowa ranks first in the U.S. in corn and soybean production, and the state produces 28 percent of the nation's pork and much of its cattle, according to Iowa Farm Bureau. Changing weather, which can indicate climate change, is a major concern for producers. This spring was the wettest in the 140 years the state has kept records, "creating conditions that hampered the timely planting of corn and soybean fields," which led to 62 of Iowa's 99 counties experiencing severe enough storms and flooding to be declared federal disaster areas. The wet spring was followed by a hot and dry summer, with the extreme change in temperatures causing severe problems to crops. The report states: "In a warming climate, wet years get wetter and dry years get dryer and hotter. The climate likely will continue to warm due to increasing emissions of heat‐trapping gases."

Intense rain increases soil erosion, and "the increase in hot nights that accompanies hot, dry periods reduces dairy and egg production, weight gain of meat animals, and conception rates in breeding stock," the report states. "Warmer winters and earlier springs allow disease‐causing agents and parasites to proliferate, and these then require greater use of agricultural pesticides. Iowa’s soils and agriculture remain our most important economic resources, but these resources are threatened by climate change."

The report was signed by 156 scientists specializing in areas such as agronomy, biology, chemistry, biochemical engineering and geography. To read the full report, click here.

Federal judge says W.Va. poultry farm doesn't need EPA pollution permit for its stormwater; a key case?

"A federal court ruled yesterday that the Environmental Protection Agency cannot require a West Virginia poultry operation to obtain a Clean Water Act permit for is storm water in what farm groups are calling a major victory," Amanda Peterka writes today for Greenwire.

The case, Alt v. EPA, involves a debate about discharges from Lois Alt's farm in Old Fields, W.Va., in the ridges and valleys of the Eastern Panhandle, and whether they should be protected by a Clean Water Act exemption for agricultural stormwater, Peterka writes.

The debate began in June 2012 when EPA ordered Alt to get a Clean Water Act permit for the stormwater thought to be coming from her farm or pay a civil penalty of up to $37,500 per day. She argued that a permit isn't required for agricultural stormwater, but EPA said that exemption only applied to "areas where manure, litter or process wastewater has specifically been applied in accordance with the nutrient management practices, not to areas where they may have inadvertently accumulated during livestock operations," Peterka writes.

U.S. District Judge John Bailey of West Virginia wrote: "This court declares that the litter and manure which is washed from the Alt farmyard to navigable waters by a precipitation event is an agricultural stormwater discharge and therefore not a point source discharge—thereby rendering it exempt." 

Farm groups applauded the result, worrying that if EPA had won, it would "open concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, to permitting requirements for stormwater discharges," Peterka writes. Environmental groups in the case said they are "deeply concerned that the ruling will make it more difficult to restore the health of waterways across the country, including the Chesapeake Bay."

An appeal seems likely. Peterka writes, "In a statement, EPA said it and the Department of Justice 'are reviewing the court's decision'."

House may act on farmworker immigration bills

The issue of immigration reform—making a way for undocumented workers (including farm workers) to gain legal status and perhaps citizenship—has gained new momentum in Congress after a Senate-passed bill stalled in the House. President Obama and White House staffers called House offices asking to move legislation. The House, leaders of which have said it would not pass an omnibus bill, may attempt to finish two of the bills, H.R. 1773 and H.R. 1772 before 2014, Agri-Pulse reports.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., wrote both bills. H.R. 1773 would allow admit 500,000 temporary agricultural laborers each year. H.R. 1772 would require all employers to use E-Verify, a federal work-authorization program that is now voluntary for non-federal employers.

Goodlatte hopes the House will pass the bills this year. The United Farm Workers and other immigration-reform groups have staged more and more protests across the nation. UFW brought together some California farm workers to deliver 8,000 signed letters advocating reform to Rep. Kevin McCarthy. "As majority whip and California's most powerful Republican, Congressman McCarthy not only has the power but a duty to represent one of California's leading industries," UFW Vice President Armando Elenes told Agri-Pulse.

Not everyone agrees with the proposed reforms. More than "100 groups representing workers and immigrant, civil rights and faith communities wrote to Congress Tuesday to state their opposition to H.R. 1772," Agri-Pulse reports. They said the reform wouldn't fix the immigration system; it would decrease worker protection and threaten the jobs of hundreds of thousands of U.S. citizens and authorized workers.

Marielena Hincapie, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, said, "Not one single person should lose his or her job because of a government error or an employer's failure to follow the program's rules. Before this legislation is rushed to the House floor, our representatives should listen to the stories of real people who have suffered greatly due to errors in the databases on which E-Verify relies."

Companies would have from six months to two years to comply with the bill, depending on the number of employees. Farmers would have five years to comply with an E-Verify mandate, Agri-Pulse reports. Along with this, the Senate bill (S. 744) passed four months ago will help establish a blue card program for experienced farm workers.

"The new H-2C visa program included in Goodlatte's guestworker bill would allow workers to stay in the United States for up to 18 months, as opposed to the maximum of one year issued to current H-2A visa holders." (Read more)

New Farm Bill may lead to more closures and mergers of USDA's Farm Service Agency offices

The fate of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency offices is in the hands of Congress and its decision on a new Farm Bill. Farm bills passed by the House and Senate would eliminate direct payments, "which are funds awarded to commodity producers regardless of individual need or market conditions," reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. "Without direct payment processing, some speculate the workload for Farm Service Agency field offices could drop substantially," and target more of them for closure.

The agency has been eliminating offices in small counties for several years. Lat year it consolidated 125. "Offices not staffed by USDA full-time employees, or staffed by fewer than two full-time employees and within 20 miles of another FSA office, were listed for closure," Agri-Pulse notes. "The plan prompted a bill, introduced by Reps. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.), to prevent the closure of FSA offices without a workload assessment.The bill did not receive a floor vote, but it illustrates the difficulties USDA faces in closing offices."

"Greg Fogel of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition said the entire workload created by direct payments would not be lost because FSA could be tasked with new commodity programs," Agri-Pulse writes. "That’s a point echoed by USDA Undersecretary Michael Scuse, who pointed to several proposed farm programs dealing with shallow losses, a new dairy program and the Stacked Income Protection Program for cotton – just to name a few." Scuse told Agri-Pulse, “We will have to see what farm bill looks like, but there will still be plenty of work for the Farm Service Agency.” Agri-Pulse is subscription-only but is available for a free trial by clicking here.

Report puts pressure on animal agriculture and Congress to do something about issue of antibiotics

The federal Centers for Disease Control reported last month that 23,000 people die each year from antibiotic-resistant infections, but Congress continues to kill "every effort to restrict the feeding of farm animals the same antibiotics used in human medicine, even as antibiotics have grown less effective in treating infection," Melinda Henneberger reports for The Washington Post. "And regulation has gotten weaker under the Obama administration." (Graphic by Antimicrobial Resistance Learning Site)

Henneberger writes about a report by the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. Its director, Bob Martin, said studies "show that as much as 80 percent of the antibiotics sold in this country are fed to food animals," Henneberger writes. "The more a particular germ is exposed to antibiotics, the more rapidly it can develop resistance. Most scientists agree that over-prescribing the drugs to humans is the predominant cause for bacteria evolving to outsmart them. Feeding the drugs widely to control and prevent disease in cows, pigs and chickens also is believed to play a role."

Shelly Burgess, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, told the Post in an email that their plan to address the issue “is to phase out the use of medically important antibiotics in food animals for growth promotion and feed efficiency. FDA believes these drugs should be used only in situations where they are necessary for treating, controlling or preventing a specifically identified disease—and only under the oversight of a veterinarian.” (Read more)

However, the FDA is "limited in ruled-making authority," Agri-Pulse notes. This means Congress should intervene, said Michael Blackwell, former dean of the college of veterinary medicine at the University of Tennessee and a member of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, which in 2008 recommended phasing out non-therapeutic use of antibiotics.

Advocates of using antibiotics disagree. "Farm and pharmaceutical lobbies have blocked all meaningful efforts to reduce the use of antibiotics in raising livestock in the United States," Henneberger writes. Emily Meredith, a spokeswoman for the Animal Agriculture Alliance, told the Post that producers "have made significant progress over the past decade and have for years been using antibiotics judiciously."

Some people see the livestock industry's response as an indication that they are paying attention to the issues at hand and some compromise could be in the offing. "Former Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman, who participated in the 2008 Pew Commission but did not contribute to CLF's new analysis, said he sees Tuesday's back-and-forth as a clear signal for all parties interested in antibiotics to come to the table," Agri-Pulse reports.

To read the full report click here. To read other items about this issue, click here, here and here.

Study finds link between mountaintop-removal coal mining and depression in Central Appalachia

People who live near mountaintop-removal coal mines are more likely to suffer from depression than those who live in areas where the practice doesn't occur, according to a study by West Virginia University, published in Ecopsychology. The study, which sampled 8,591 adults in the region, found that 17 percent of those living in areas with mountaintop removal showed signs of depression, compared to 10 percent in other areas. 

Researchers said the "disparity was partly attributable to socioeconomic disadvantage, but after statistical control for income, education and other risks, depression risk for residents in the mountaintop removal area remained significantly elevated. This study contributes to the empirical evidence in support of the concept of solastalgia and indicates that persons who experience environmental degradation from mountaintop removal coal mining are at elevated risk for depression."

"Solastalgia is a term coined to describe this placebased distress engendered by unwelcome environmental change," Ken Ward of The Charleston Gazette explains on his Coal Tattoo blog, citing a similar study from last year. "Solastalgia is a psychoterratic mental health issue; that is, it is an earth-related mental health problem stemming from negatively perceived and felt environmental change. Solastalgia is especially distressing for those who directly witness the destruction of their home environment and who feel intimately connected to the place in which they are rooted." (Read more)

Rural law enforcement officers in remote areas often respond to calls without support of backup

Law enforcement officers in rural and remote areas —where there's lots of ground to cover, many people to serve and protect and a limited number of police on staff— know they often have to approach their jobs differently than officers who have partners or back-up on the way. It's easy to forget the high demand put on such officers, who are often on their own when dispatched to calls.

This is common knowledge to most rural journalists, but not to all their readers, viewers and listeners. So from time to time, it's good to do a story like John Hult did for the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls, reporting that officers had to learn to earn the trust of citizens, while placing their own trust and safety in the hands of the community. (A-L photo by Emily Spartz: Hanson County Sheriff Randy Bartlett)

"Trainers at the state’s police academies teach new officers how to respond under the assumption that there will be two officers for every domestic violence call and four for every burglar alarm," Hult writes. "In rural South Dakota, however, cops respond to disputes and suspicious circumstances alone, wearing bullet-proof vests as they approach rural homes and farmsteads. Backup, if available at all, might be 45 minutes away. Cops in small towns need to be especially skilled at talking people down. They also need to earn and keep the trust and respect of the community because their safety depends on it."

The high demand, and sometimes long hours, of the job has led to high turnover, with officers leaving for bigger cities that offer more money and safety, Hult writes. In places like Hanson County, in the southeastern part of the state, Sheriff Randy Bartlett and one deputy patrol a 436 square-mile area with 3,600 residents. With only two officers on staff, the nearest backup is usually state troopers or the state Division of Criminal Investigation, which is called upon to investigate serious crimes in small counties.

For many officers, the solution is building good relationships with the community, Hult writes. "Douglas County Sheriff Jon Coler sustained a broken arm one year into the job when he was attacked outside an Armour bar. The other patrons came to his aid and helped him subdue the suspect. Roger Knutson, a police officer in Beresford, a town of 2,000, said that "building a rapport and reputation for common sense within the community is important for keeping the peace and for an officer’s protection." Knutson told Hult, “For every bar fight I’ve ever been in, I had a local behind me." It also helps to build professional relationships with other officers, troopers and deputies in the area. Barlett told Hult, “You don’t have to like everyone, but you have to be professional. If I treat someone unprofessionally, is he going to come running when I call for help?” (Read more)

GOP sponsor says key Democrats back his measure to block state laws on inhumane agriculture

Steve King

Rep. Steve King of Iowa, the third-ranking Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, said key Democratic support makes him expect the final Farm Bill will include his legislation to "prohibit states from enacting laws that place conditions on the means of production for agricultural goods sold within its own borders but produced in other states," reports Agri-Pulse, a Washington newsletter. "The language is not included in the Senate-passed farm bill."

King said he has the support of the House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Okla.), ranking Democrat Collin Peterson of Minnesota and four Democratic members of the conference committee that will resolve differences in the House and Senate versions.

The Humane Society of the United States opposes King's legislation, "saying it would annul several state bans on 'inhumane factory farming practices' and rules regulating agricultural practices," Agri-Pulse notes. The Humane Society said the amendment "includes a definition of agriculture so broad it would override any state law regulating agricultural products and end-products."

King argues that "the Constitution reserves the regulation of interstate commerce to the Congress, not the states," Agri-Pulse reports. King told the newsletter, “The (amendment) prohibits states from entering into trade protectionism by forcing cost prohibitive production methods on farmers in other states." King explained his act in an editorial in National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Agri-Pulse is subscription-only but is available for a free trial by clicking here.

Researcher says required buffer between gas drilling sites and homes needs to be increased

West Virginia needs to re-think its Natural Gas Horizontal Well Control Act of 2011, which prohibits drilling sites withing 625 feet of an occupied dwelling. Other states have similar laws, with varying distances. The law only requires measurements be made from "the center point of drilling permits, wrongly assuming that emissions all come from sources at that center point," Michael McCawley, interim chairman of West Virginia University's Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, told state lawmakers Monday, Ken Ward Jr. reports for the Charleston Gazette.

"As an example, McCawley noted that at one location where he found the highest pollutant levels, both his monitors and a drilling company, used to burn off excess flammable gases, were located 625 feet from the center of the well pad," Ward writes. McCawley told lawmakers, "You could have a flare literally right outside somebody's bedroom window under the setback. I don't know that any company would do that on purpose. But it would be legal."

McCawley "noted that the setback provision treats all locations equally, not taking into account the potential for some gas drilling sites in narrow hollows to be subject to weather inversions that trap pollutants near the ground," Ward writes. "McCawley recommended instead that more air-quality monitoring be done at drilling sites and that the data be used, along with public health guidelines, to require the best pollution control systems be used by industry." (Read more)

Graduate student uses photography to capture Hispanic culture in rural East Tennessee

The Hispanic population in Tennessee rose from 34,077 in the 1980 census to 228,846 in 2010, and the state's Hispanic share of the population rose from 2.2 percent in 2000 to 4.6 percent in 2010, an increase of 134 percent, the third-highest growth rate in the country, according to a study by the University of Tennessee. Ten percent of all Tennessee births are Hispanic, and it's expected that within the next three to five years, 10 percent of the state's kindergarten students will be Hispanic.

Photographer Megan King, who will graduate from East Tennessee State University in December with a BFA in photography and a BA in Spanish, received a grant in 2012 to work on a project called "Hispanic Appalachia," to capture visual images of Hispanics in East Tennessee. She writes on her website: "By photographing businesses, people, churches, homes and other aspects of the community, I am attempting to show the importance of diversity in this historically conservative region of the United States. In the photographs Hispanic culture is represented by vibrant colors, food, clothes and often decorations. These qualities create a visual juxtaposition to this region's cultural heritage; however, it is important to see that the Hispanic and Appalachian cultures can blend in a nearly indiscernible manner." To see King's photos click here.

Rising real-estate prices, falling crop prices raise more fears of a farmland bubble in Corn Belt

Years of continually rising farmland prices have led some to fear a real-estate bubble is buiding, and now that some crop prices have dropped, those worries have increased, William Watts reports for The Wall Street Journal. In Iowa, farmland value has risen 20 percent in the past four years, from an average price of $3,850 an acre in 2009 to $8,400 in 2013. Similar gains have been reported across the rest of the Corn Belt and Northern Plains.

John Taylor, national farm and ranch executive for U.S. Trust, a private bank that is part of Bank of America, told Watts, “In general, if you ask, is farmland in a bubble, I’ll say, no. But if you ask, are some people paying bubble prices, I’ll say, yes.” Brent Gloy, an agricultural economics professor at Purdue University, said if prices continue to surge in the face of intensifying headwinds, it would then be a troubling sign that a bubble was building in farmland. He told Watts, “This is the moment of truth, I think." (Iowa State University graphic)

Low interest rates "have affected farmland prices in more ways than one, noted Jim Farrell, president and chief executive of Omaha-based Farmers National Co., a farm-management and land sales firm," Watts writes. "Low rates make it cheaper to finance land purchases, but they’ve also fueled a hunt for yield that’s helped boost demand for farmland. At the same time, worries that there will be nowhere to park the proceeds from a farm sale have helped limit the supply of farmland on the market, he noted." (Read more) 

Lack of recycling in rural areas is a big reason 14 percent of Americans still don't have it

"Industry experts agree that rural areas, which make up 16 percent of the population, are a big reason why 14 percent of all Americans still lack access to recycling, according to Environmental Protection Agency estimates," writes Brian Eason for the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press.

In some rural areas, people would need to drive over 100 miles just to recycle paper and plastic. In Mississippi, only half the citizens have access to a recycling program. Mark Williams, an administrator for the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, says the problem stems mainly from spread-out populations and long distances. "It is difficult for a rural state," he told Eason. "And I tell people we have to work harder to be successful."

Fewer than 20 percent of Mississippians participate in a local recycling program," Eason writes. "Wyoming, the second-least-densely populated state in the country, diverts only 15 percent of its waste to recycling or compost, half of the national average of 30 percent," Eason writes.

The reluctance to participate in drop-off programs may be a result of its inconvenience, but curbside programs haven't been much more successful. In Columbus and West Point, Ga., only 354 households out of 14,000 signed up for the service. The route would have been 571 miles long, Philip Crossley, a district manager for Waste Pro USA, told Eason. The program ended in September, after two years.

One strategy to encourage rural people to participate in recycling programs is showing that "recycling and jobs go hand in hand," Eason writes. "Recycling generates four to five times as many jobs as landfills does because you're using the materials over and over again," Williams said.

Study finds huge language gap between children from wealthy families and those with low incomes

In rural areas, 26.2 percent of children live in poverty, according to the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire, while the majority of public school students in 17 states, including most of the rural South, are considered low-income by the Southern Education Foundation.  A study conducted 20 years ago found a direct connection between low-income parents and the early development of children's language skills, finding that by age 3, children from wealthier families had heard three million more words than children of low-income families. A follow-up study by Stanford University not only confirmed the earlier data but also found that by age 2, wealthier children have learned 30 percent more words than low-income children, with the language gap between wealthy and poor children evident in some cases as early as 18 months of age, Motoko Rich reports for The New York Times. (NYT photo by Ramin Rahimian: Reading from a transitional kindergarten student's journal in Freemont, Calif.)

The study compared children from homes where the median income was $69,000 to homes where it was $23,900. "Since oral language and vocabulary are so connected to reading comprehension, the most disadvantaged children face increased challenges once they enter school and start learning to read," Rich writes. Kris Perry, executive director of the First Five Years Fund, an advocate of early education for low-income children, told Rich, “That gap just gets bigger and bigger. That gap is very real and very hard to undo.”

Trying to get low-income children caught up hasn't been easy, Rich writes. "President Obama has called for the federal government to match state money to provide preschool for all 4-year-olds from low and moderate income families, a proposal in the budget that Congress voted to postpone negotiating until later this year. The administration is also offering state grants through its Race to the Top Program to support early childhood education. Critics argue, however, that with so few programs offering high-quality instruction, expanding the system will prove a waste of money and that the limited funds should be reserved for elementary and secondary education."

During the 2010-11 school year, 28 percent of all 4-year-olds in the country were in state-financed preschools, and only 3 percent of 3-year-olds were, Rich writes. "The National Governors Association, in a report this month calling on states to ensure that all children can read proficiently by third grade, urges lawmakers to increase access to high-quality child care and prekindergarten classes and to invest in programs for children from birth through age 5. Currently, 17 states and the District of Columbia have policies requiring that third graders be held back if they do not meet state reading proficiency standards, according to the Education Commission of the States." (Read more) (Census Bureau map)

Despite intraparty opposition, Ohio's GOP governor finds a way to get Medicaid to 275,000 people

John Kasich

Low-income residents in states that are not expanding Medicaid have been left in an insurance gap by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court ruling that allowed states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion. However, low-income residents in Ohio no longer need to worry about being uninsured, a status that is more common in rural areas. After nine months of battling GOP members who control the legislature and oppose health reform, Republican Gov. John Kasich has found a way to expand Medicaid, paving the way for more than thousands low-income residents to get insured.

"State figures suggest that 275,000 Ohioans will become eligible for Medicaid for the first time," Amy Goldstein reports for The Washington Post. "The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 330,000 people in Ohio would have fallen into a coverage gap without the expansion." Ohio is the 25th state state to expand Medicaid, and the eighth with a Republican governor.

Kasich "turned to a relatively obscure state board with power over certain budget decisions," Goldstein writes. The board voted 5-2 to accept $2.55 billion in federal money to cover the cost of expanding Medicaid in Ohio through July 2015. "It does not spell out whether Ohio will provide money to keep Medicaid more generous in future years, when the state would need to chip in a small portion of the expense. And even before the board acted, some conservative Republican lawmakers were threatening to go to court, alleging the governor illegally bypassed the legislature." (Read more)

Jim Siegel and Catherine Candisky report for The Columbus Dispatch: "Starting Jan. 1, mostly childless adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $16,000 for a one-person household, can begin receiving health care coverage under the state-federal program. The childless adults who would gain health coverage include many long-time unemployed, mentally ill, veterans and prison inmates." (Read more)

Farm to School program served 21 million, spent more than $350 million on local food in 2011-12

Schools that participated during the 2011-12 school year in the Farm to School program purchased and served more than $350 million in local food, according to the U.S. Deprtment of Agriculture, which Tuesday released its first-ever Farm to School census. The program served 38,000 schools and 21 students, with 43 percent of public school districts using the program, and another 13 percent having committed to launching one in the near future. (USDA photo)

The program "is part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which authorized USDA to assist eligible entities, through grants and technical assistance, to improve access to local foods in schools," according to the USDA. "It is also a core element of the USDA's Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Initiative, which coordinates the department's work on local food systems. In mid-November, USDA will announce approximately $5 million in Fiscal Year 2014 Farm to School grants to help school districts across the country further develop their farm-to-school programming." (Read more) To view state-by-state information on the program click here.

35 million in U.S. don't use Internet, and many who do have trouble getting broadband in rural areas

In the United States 35 million adults (15 percent of the total) don't use the Internet, and 20 percent of those people are from rural areas, though rural areas have only 16 percent of the total population, according to a study conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Why don't these people use the Internet? Some may think that it isn't relevant to them, it's too difficult to use, or it's too expensive. Many people simply do not have access to it, Keith Darnay reports for The Bismarck Tribune.

Ben Bajarin, director of consumer technology at Creative Strategies Inc., lives in what he calls "the last mile." He and his wife live just south of San Jose, Calif., and Silicon Valley, but don't have access to decent broadband. "I am part of the 30 percent of Americans who don't have real broadband access at home," he writes for Time Tech. He gets 3 to 5 megabits per second (Mbps) and pays more than $100 per month for it. "It's not true broadband, but it's the best I can get," he writes.

Bajarin gets 50-60 Mbps at work, so he knows what good broadband is like. "Internet access is often taken for granted. When you don't have the same access, you quickly realize how valuable it is." The solution to the problem is wireless technology, but we're six or seven years from the next evolution of wireless broadband, "and we're even further from the next evolution being widely adopted," he writes.

Bajarin sees value in working to provide broadband (or faster broadband) for as many people as possible—in rural areas, throughout America and around the world. "I live in the last mile, and it's a challenge for me, given my line of work. But the important thing to remember is that there are still billions of people who have no access at all."

Public libraries are 'lifelines for rural communities'

Whatever the changes in rural American communities, the public library remains one constant that has something for everybody. There are 8,956 public libraries in the U.S., with 77.1 percent considered small (populations less than 25,000) and 46.8 percent in areas categorized as rural, according a report by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Only 16 percent of the U.S. population is rural. In fiscal year 2011, there were 167.6 million recorded visits to rural public libraries, a 4.2 percent increase since 2008, and 301.2 million visits to small libraries, a 4.6 percent increase since 2008.

One reason for the success of rural libraries, which we have noted before, is access to the Internet. Perhaps the bigger reason for the success of rural libraries is something that is rarely offered by anyone else in our consumer-drive society, a public meeting place with free access to a multitude of items, with no demand to purchase something and move along. In fact, most libraries encourage people to spend as much time as needed enjoying the services.

For places such as Myrtle, Mo., a town of 300 in the Ozarks that doesn't even have a bank or a restaurant, the one-room public library is a perfect place for residents to congregate. And new librarian Rachel Reynolds has taken to social media to get the library filled with goodies. With the library only getting $200 a month for books and supplies, Reynolds has used the Internet to seek donations, already garnering 1,000 books since taking over four months ago, Jennifer Davidson reports for NPR. (Davidson photo: Librarian Rachel Reynolds checks out a book to visitor Phyllis Smith)

Tena Hanson of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries told Davidson, "Often, the library is the only place in a small community that people can go to access technology, to fill out job applications, to continue their learning." Hanson said "libraries in remote places are lifelines for rural communities, because the Internet doesn't always reach towns with rugged terrain," Davidson reports.

Mississippi Delta's population keeps falling, dramatically in several counties

Last year the number of people living in non-metro counties, the most common definition of rural America, declined for the first time since the Census Bureau began estimating populations. Population losses aren't anything new in the Mississippi Delta, where demography and economics caused 16 counties to lose between 10 to 38 percent of their population from 2000 to 2010—and 12 lost 50 to 75 percent since 1940, The Economist reports in a recent post on its "The Economist Explains" blog. (Commercial Appeal photo by Alan Spearman: Greenville, Miss., lost more than 7,000 residents in 2000-10)

The unnamed blogger answers the question, "Why are so many people leaving the Mississippi Delta?" Where the region differs from many rural areas is its history of agriculture and slavery and the mass migration of African Americans, who fled the South for the North in the middle of the 20th Century. "The Delta was built not just on agriculture but on slave labour—and lots of it," says the British magazine. "Slaves cleared the brackish, heavily forested floodplain and turned it into arable land. Slaves planted and reaped the cotton fields. After America's civil war, ex-slaves and their descendants provided a vast pool of cheap labour. Railroads into the Delta opened up new markets, but they also carried away workers looking for more opportunity to Chicago during the Great Migration, to military and defence industries during the second world war and to the industrial Midwest and north-east when America's car and steel industries were thriving."

Agriculture is still a major commodity in the Delta, "but farms that once required hundreds of people have become mechanised," The Economist notes. As an example of struggling population, the news source cites Issaquena County, which in 1860 had a population of 7,224 slaves and 587 whites. The current population is 1,386, with 40 percent of those people living below the poverty line. In all, the county has 10 private non-farm business that employ only 99 people, which The Economist says is "a tax base that nightmares are made of and that functional schools and services are not." (Read more) Oddly shaped Issaquena County is the second southernmost county in the Delta (see map of Delta counties). 

Thursday webinar on health reform to look at state decisions on coverage and financing

The third in a series of informative webinars for journalists about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is scheduled from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. ET on Thursday. The Kaiser Family Foundation webinar will look at where states stand on implementation and the impact of state decisions on coverage and financing. The event will be hosted by Robin Rudowitz and Rachel Garfield, associate directors for the foundation’s Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, who will give a short presentation before answering questions.

Journalists who want to register can RSVP by clicking here. Shortly after registering, each participant will receive a confirmation email that contains information about how to join the webinar. If you are unable but would like to receive all future updates on the series, please email your name and media affiliation to acawebinars@kff.org. Video and transcripts are also available for the first two webinars, “What Do Consumers Need to Know About Health Reform’s Changes” and “Understanding Insurance Premiums Under the Affordable Care Act.”

Program promotes math and science among Alaska Natives, brings rural students to college campus

A University of Alaska program is trying to spark an early interest in math and science in Alaska Natives with the hope that the students will continue their education through college, earning degrees in math and science, Tim Bradner reports for Morris Communications, owner of several Alaska newspapers. Known as the Alaska Native Science and Engineering Program, the program, which only had one student in the university's science and engineering programs during its first year in 1995, now has 400 students. In 2012, 32 students graduated with degrees in math and science. (Alaska Public Media photo by Ellen Lockyer: An ANSEP instructor helping a student build a computer)

In order to reach rural Alaskans, many of whom live in very remote areas, ANSEP recently started a program to bring middle and high school students from 95 communities to the college's Anchorage campus for summer intensive programs that include an emphasis "on peer-taught study groups, with older ANSEP students teaching younger ones so that the older Native students are seen as role models," Bradner writes.

Professor Herb Schroeder, who founded ANSEP, told Radner that "more than 80 percent of the middle school students graduating from eighth grade who have been through ANSEP’s Middle School Academy have completed Algebra 1. Nationally, only 26 percent of students achieve this." One incentive to keep students interested is that the program gives every student a computer that they assemble—and get to keep—if they take and pass certain courses. (Read more)