rural economy
Worker shortage brings big changes to California fields
As farmworkers become harder to find, California growers are providing better pay and benefits, attracting some U.S.-born workers. Still, experts say, mechanization will be the long-term answer.
Farmers more optimistic than a year ago
A post-harvest survey of growers found they were more optimistic at the end of 2017 than they were during the post-election “Trump Bump” of a year earlier, said DTN/Progressive Farmer.
Tax bill’s benefits for agriculture will be mostly temporary
The tax bill written by the Republican-controlled Congress would deliver “near-term benefits to many ag producers, but rate reductions and estate tax changes beneficial to ag are temporary” and bring the risk of higher taxes in the future, says the accounting firm K-Coe Isom.
Iowa farmland values rebound after three-year decline
An Iowa State University survey said the average acre of Iowa farmland rose in value by 2 percent in 2017, to $7,326, ending the first three-year decline in values since the agricultural crisis of the mid-1980s.
Farmland values edge downward in Midwest and Plains
The Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank says the prolonged decline in farm income pushed farmland values lower in the central and northern Plains, "but at a modest pace" of 3 percent for non-irrigated land during the summer. The Chicago Federal Reserve Bank said land values, although relatively stable for the past year, fell 1 percent during the summer.
Tax breaks for wind power mean little new revenue for rural schools
Wind turbine companies "have lobbied for low or non-existent property taxes and steep depreciation schedules," meaning little new revenue for rural school districts from the giant windmills that dot the Midwest and Plains, says the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and Flatland, a part of Kansas City PBS. In an introduction to four stories about wind power, the MCIR and Flatland say their multi-state collaboration uncovered "how states like Kansas have given away the wind farm."
Rural America has 770,000 fewer jobs than a decade ago
In rural America, “two-thirds of counties had fewer jobs in October than in 2007,” says the Daily Yonder after examining data from the U.S. Labor Department.
More farmers expect bad times in the year ahead
The Ag Economy Barometer dropped to its second-lowest reading of 2017, pulled down by pessimism about conditions in the coming year, says Purdue University.
Does rising rural poverty signal a longer-term decline?
One-third of rural counties have a poverty rate above 20 percent, a dramatic increase since 2000 that is unlikely to cured by the slow, post-recession economic recovery, says a report by the Carsey School of Public Policy. "The consistent increases in poverty rates in rural counties suggest that rural areas are facing a longer-term decline in economic conditions."
Drug-abuse deaths contribute to shrinking rural population
Rural mortality rates are up, spurred by drug abuse, and it's dragging down the rural population and draining rural America of its workforce, according to a USDA report that listed grim conditions in a portion of the country perennially coping with lower wages and higher poverty rates than in cities. "Long-term population loss continued in counties dependent on agriculture, in the Great Plains, Midwest and southern Coastal Plains," said the annual "Rural America at a Glance."
Farm bill could be used to double forest-restoration work
The national forests are frequently judged on two criteria: How many board feet of timber they produce and how much the government spends to fight wildfires, says the Center for American Progress, a nonpartisan policy institute. In a report, it says the 2018 farm bill could create rural jobs, protect drinking water and wildlife, and reduce fire risks by doubling forest restoration work.
Indiana mega-farmer is face of Trump’s drive to repeal estate tax
The most hated tax in agriculture, the estate tax, would be repealed as part of the tax reform package unveiled by President Trump in Indianapolis on Wednesday. Mega-farmer Kip Tom, who operates more than 20,000 acres in Indiana and Brazil, was chosen by the White House to attend the speech and to serve as a living example of the peril of the “death tax.”
Rural job growth is one-tenth of big-city total
The largest U.S. urban areas, with populations of 1 million or more, enjoyed a 2-percent expansion in the number of jobs since last June, while in rural counties "job growth was a bit more than a tenth of that rate, or 0.29 percent, or about 60,000 jobs," reports the Daily Yonder. In the 924 counties that are not adjacent to any metropolitan area, the number of jobs declined by just over 1,000.
Internet is familiar tool for farmers, but not quite as common as in town
Farmers, especially big operators, may be slightly more wired into the internet than rural Americans overall, and the urban-rural digital divide is narrowing, says a USDA report that provides a comparison with other measurements of the United States online. Based on a biennial survey of farmers, the USDA said 71 percent of U.S. farms have internet access.
Lamenting the loss of Iowa’s midsized farms
In an editorial, The Des Moines Register lamented the decline of midsized farms, which it said are vital to local economies, small towns, and school districts all over rural Iowa. Although these farms still account for 52.6 percent of the state’s agricultural sales, they’re getting squeezed. Their net on-farm income has fallen 44 percent from the farm economy’s peak in 2012 to 2015, and debt levels are rising, the paper said.
Rural poor more likely to use food stamps than urban counterparts
SNAP Maps, a new interactive tool from the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), shows that, over a five-year period, "an average of 16% of rural and small-town households participated in SNAP, compared to 13% of households in metro areas," says Feedstuffs.
Worst broadband in the country? Try southwestern Colorado.
Thinly populated Saguache County in southwestern Colorado finished at the bottom of a FiveThirtyEight analysis of national broadband usage. According to the report, in Saguache County, “only 5.6 percent of adults were estimated to have broadband.”
‘A Better Deal’ includes rural America, says Democratic leader Schumer
Aiming toward the 2018 mid-term elections, Democratic leaders in the Senate and House unveiled an economic agenda that includes a large tax credit for job training — an idea intended to resonate in rural areas and small cities, said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. The package, called "A Better Deal," puts a priority on bringing broadband to all parts of the country and promises stricter antitrust laws to preserve competition in agriculture.
Second year of lower returns on corn and soybeans
The continued decline in season-average corn and soybean prices since the peaks of 2022 will pinch farmer returns from the crops for the second year in a row, said three analysts writing at the farmdoc daily blog. They estimated that operator and land returns would fall below $300 an acre, levels last seen from 2014 to 2019.