The U.S. eastern corn belt is one of the most popular regions for solar energy companies to vie for land contracts. To convince farmers to negotiate leases, solar companies are offering increasingly high rental rates. Their high-dollar offers can add to land competition and local conflicts.
U.S. farmers have their hands full amid increased production demands, climate change management and working to use fewer environmentally harmful practices. In response to those needs, a new agricultural strategy known as "climate-smart agriculture" has evolved; however, the concept lacks a prescribed model. In their article for the Prairie Research Institute, Olivia Messerges and Trent Ford "call for developing a consistent, widely applicable, and standardized framework to assess what makes a specific agricultural system or practice 'climate-smart.'
As cases of bird flu increase in cattle, some experts believe the United States should follow Finland's example and offer vaccinations to workers who are likely to be exposed. "Veterinarians and researchers have taken note of Finland’s move to vaccinate farmworkers at risk of infection. They wonder why their government doesn’t do the same," report Amy Maxmen and Arthur Allen of KFF Health News.
When economic vision was paired with resource conservation in Morris, Minn., the small town accidentally went "green." Its success serves as a model for other rural places.
CNN reporters fact-checked several points from Trump's acceptance speech, a few of which are highlighted below. For CNN's complete fact-check story, click here. The Rural Blog will run a CNN fact-check story after the Democratic National Convention in August.
As Democrats look for ways to regain footing with working-class voters, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a Democrat from a previously red district in Oregon, is a living example of changes her party may need to embrace if it wants to gain votes from people who "work for a living," writes Jason Zengerle for The New York Times. "Before she was elected to Congress, in 2022, Gluesenkamp Perez ran an auto-repair shop with her husband."
As rural women have fewer babies, hospitals that once served more remote locations have closed their labor and delivery units, which leaves rural pregnant women facing maternity care deserts, reports Tony Leys of KFF Health News. In many areas, women leaving or not wanting to relocate to smaller towns with limited obstetric care has contributed to rural population loss.
Extreme weather is often associated with flooded, wind-flattened or burned-to-the-ground homes and businesses. Rural areas have an added exposure to big losses that other areas don't have -- crops, animals and farm equipment can be damaged or annihilated during weather events.
All creatures and plants, great and small --- The Rural Blog covers them all.