On this we agree, You don’t like me (New York Times): Rural and urban Americans share similar concerns about poverty, jobs, drug addition and economic insecurity, says a Pew poll, which also found majorities in each group “believe that everyone else is looking down on them.”
Mapping the farm bill vote (farmdoc Daily): SNAP participation rates have declined with U.S. jobless and poverty rates but it “does not appear to have helped the debate over SNAP and the farm bill,” says an analysis that maps geographical opposition to the farm bill and says the fate of the farm bill “appears increasingly in doubt.”
Cotton surges in Kansas (DTN/Progressive Farmer): Growers planted a record 130,000 acres of cotton in often-arid Kansas this spring, up 40 percent from 2017. Cotton needs one-third as much water as corn to produce the same revenue.
Family-owned, but not family-farmed (New Food Economy): Although families own nearly all U.S. farm land, they rent out 355 million acres – 40 percent – to someone else to operate.
Swiss to vote on pesticides (BBC): More than 100,000 citizens signed a petition that will force a referendum in Switerzland over banning synthetic pesticides, but it will be at least three years before the vote is held.
Crop rotation reduces greenhouse gases (Science Daily): A long-term study by University of Illinois scientists finds that crop rotation, such as corn followed by soybeans, results in higher yields and lower greenhouse gas emissions compared to growing corn or soybeans year after year.
Culling 150,000 cows (AP): New Zealand plans to slaughter 1.5 percent – 150,000 head – of the 10 million cattle on the island nation to wipe out a bacteria that causes diseases ranging from arthritis and pneumonia to mastitis, which reduces milk production.
‘Farming ninjas’ in Indiana (Indianapolis Star): With two hurricane refugees tending the land, the largest urban farm in the country covers 32 acres on the northeastern fringe of Indianapolis.