Author: staff

The Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Related Sciences (MANRRS) organization is offering several scholarships aimed at supporting the academic and professional development of its members, particularly those from underrepresented groups. MANRRS39 Gold Scholarship MANRRS39 Gold Scholarship, sponsored by American Farmland Trust, AGCO, Dairy Farmers of America, TEGMA, and Zinpro. This scholarship is available to 40 MANRRS students, providing them with a $500 award and financial support to attend the 39th Annual National Conference and Career Expo, which will take place from April 2 to 6, 2024, in Memphis, Tennessee. The scholarship covers a shared hotel room for three nights,…

As a graduate student at the University of Illinois in the early 1980s, I was introduced to the concept of anaerobic digestion of waste. This process greatly reduces the pollution liability of organic materials such as manure, sewage sludge and industrial wastes while producing biogas, a useful fuel. Because of that, I found myself working on the nexus of agriculture, environment and energy at a young age. I learned about the immense complexity of the climate riddle and how much farmers contribute to the solutions. I bristle when I read articles blaming American farmers for methane emissions from “cow farts,”…

Government agencies are struggling to monitor and respond to highly pathogenic avian influenza, which is echoing the early months of the COVID pandemic. It’s been about five months since the Texas Department of State Health Services announced that a worker on a dairy farm had tested positive for the highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus after being exposed to apparently infected cattle. Since then, the U.S. public health response has been slow and disjointed, bringing back memories of how the federal government responded during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite having a pandemic playbook in early 2020,…

March corn is unchanged this morning. March soybeans are up 7¢. March wheat contracts are lower this morning. CBOT wheat is down 8½¢. KC wheat is down 5¾¢. Minneapolis wheat is down 5½¢. This morning, USDA announced unknown destinations are buying 227,200 metric tons of soybeans — 152,200 metric tons for the 2024/2025 marketing year and 75,000 metric tons for the 2025/2026 marketing year. USDA also released the weekly U.S. Export Sales report this morning. The Brock Report offered this analysis: “Net U.S. corn export sales for the week ended Dec. 12 came in at 46.3 million bushels, in line…

In the Central Valley of California, Amazon warehouses have been popping up, seemingly overnight. California even tops the charts with the most warehouses of any state. However, this is highly strategic in such a populous state, as the online retail giant’s expansion has been occurring for years. For example, in 2022, Amazon purchased 60 acres of farmland in Gilroy, California, to build a delivery center and warehouse. While Gilroy falls within the “Silicon Valley” boundaries, and Google has a presence there, the purchase was met with pushback due to environmental impacts. For those unfamiliar with this area, it is known…

Urban sprawl is a growing issue in America. According to American Farmland Trust, we lose about three acres of farmland every minute. That’s a staggering statistic, especially when only 1.5 percent of the population in North America are farmers. The question we have to ask is, what happens when we lose more farmland? What happens when local food systems vanish? Today, people are already concerned about foreign products, citing distrust in quality and safety. But as it stands, we must preserve our farmland to safeguard not only local economies but also our food security. In small towns across America, issues…

My morning routine includes sitting on the porch — hair hopelessly tangled, caffeine in-hand — scrolling through recent findings in science. Call it a desperate attempt to jumpstart my brain early in the day. It usually takes a little while for my neurons to fire up. But, a couple of weeks ago, when I read that red meat consumption is associated with type 2 diabetes, based on an analysis of 1.97 million people? I sat up, bolt-straight. You see, it’s not just that I’m an avid meat-eater — I’m also a scientist … and that’s one hell of a clinical…

By Anya Petrone Slepyan On December 18, 2024, the Biden-Harris Administration honored 14 Rural Innovators during an event at the White House. The attendees had been nominated by the public for their service to their rural communities in a variety of areas including education, economic development, broadband infrastructure, and health services.  The event was headlined by three White House officials: Neera Tanden, a domestic policy advisor, Stephen Benjamin, the director of public engagement, and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.  “The Biden-Harris Administration is investing in rural America to create opportunity for farmers, small business owners, families, and communities,” according to a…

In late November, President-elect Donald Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on imported goods from Canada and Mexico. Despite in-person meetings between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the incoming president, the threats have not subsided, concerning many product and supply-chain industries, including horticulture. Tariffs on agricultural products are predicted to have two impacts: Canadian producers would face higher production and export costs, while American consumers would experience increased food prices. Farm and food leaders in both countries are raising alarms because the U.S. is the largest importer of horticultural goods from Canada, as well as from Mexico .…

Food deserts — areas where access to affordable, healthy food is limited — have become a symbol of the systemic inequality in our food systems. While the problem has persisted for decades, the USDA 1890 National Scholars Program is cultivating a new generation of leaders determined to address this issue and make nutritious food accessible to all. This program, launched by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, offers full scholarships to students at historically Black land-grant universities. Created under the Second Morrill Act of 1890, historically Black land-grant universities have played a significant role in educating Black Americans in agriculture, science,…