skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

MN Farmers Speak Out on Farm Bill Conservation Funding

play audio
Play

Thursday, July 12, 2018   

ST. PAUL, Minn. — With debate over the farm bill expected to resume soon, more than 150 Minnesota farmers and ranchers have asked Rep. Collin Peterson to defend sustainable-agriculture efforts during its final drafting.

The letter to Peterson, the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, was initiated by Minnesota's Land Stewardship Project to defend the nationwide Conservation Stewardship Program. The program helps farmers take steps to preserve water and soil, and maintain wildlife habitat.

According to Ben Anderson, policy program organizer for federal farm policy reform with Minnesota's Stewardship Project, the program encourages farming practices such as conservation tillage, multi-species cover cropping, mob grazing and frequent rotations.

"It's the only, and largest, program in the farm bill that really looks at a comprehensive conservation approach to working lands in ways that improves their soil, limits erosion,” Anderson said.

He noted that Minnesota farmers and ranchers are recognized as leaders in the number of contracts held and acres enrolled in the conservation program. Continued funding is included in the Senate version of the bill but not in the House version.

Anderson said conservation practices encouraged by the program, such as cover cropping, help keep soils resilient, especially after exposure to extreme weather conditions such as drought or flooding. He said the program has been successful because farmers and ranchers can produce on their land, while at the same time instituting conservation practices that make the most sense for their operation.

"You farm, and it helps you farm in the right ways,” he said. ”And that benefits all of the community as well."

A final version of the farm bill must be voted on by both the House and Senate and signed by the president to become law. The current farm bill expires on September 30.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021