The Natural Resources Conservation Service is likely to receive a decidedly mixed bag of comments on a rule it issued last month that seeks to clarify when producers have wetlands on their farms. Wetland advocates are concerned that NRCS is trying to weaken its highly erodible land protections by allowing faulty maps to be used to determine whether wetlands exist on the landscape. [node:read-more:link]

United States tariffs on steel and aluminum will cost the nation nearly $2 billion in agricultural exports each year -- even if a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada is ratified, according to a study from Purdue University. Purdue economists said the trade deal would increase food exports to those countries by about $454 million annually. But if the U.S. [node:read-more:link]

From an economic perspective, we call the effects illustrated in these stories negative externalities; the shutdown negatively affects people who are not direct parties to the dispute. The shutdown creates negative externalities for farmers, consumers, fliers, workers and all recipients of the services provided by the agencies affected. By way of contrast, the disputants, Congress and the President experience no direct effects in the short-term. You don’t quickly solve a dispute when the people who are party to the dispute don’t feel the immediate pain. [node:read-more:link]

Recent news analysis has asked - and tried to answer the question - of whether we can we save rural America. But our guest says that's the wrong question. He joins us to explore how rural America is saving itself and why rethinking what economic success looks like is key for the future of rural success. [node:read-more:link]

In fact, a commonly proposed cut to crop insurance is a cap on crop insurance subsidies per recipient per year. For example, the President’s budget proposal for 2019 includes a $500,000 adjusted gross income crop insurance subsidy cap. The implication of an effective premium cap would be to fully subsidize small farms while subsidizing larger farms up to a point, after which all premiums would be unsubsidized. Since subsidy is a function of risk, coverage levels, unit structure, and insurance plan chosen, subsidies per acre across all crops vary (Figure 2). [node:read-more:link]

Several policy changes from Washington, D.C., should accelerate urban and rural telehealth deployments. On November 1 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the body that manages these two healthcare programs, finalized new rules that include payment reimbursements for telehealth.   These changes are good news for communities that want broadband to help expand access to healthcare. [node:read-more:link]

Jobs in the renewable-energy sector are a bright spot in the rural economy, according to the report from an environmental advocacy group. Jobs are growing in the clean-energy sector more quickly than in any part of the rural economy.The deployment of clean energy is a major economic engine for the rural Midwest, eclipsing fossil fuel jobs in most states, according to a new report released by an environmental advocacy nonprofit.  [node:read-more:link]

Nearly half of Americans say people in the United States are being harmed by global warming "right now"—the highest point ever in a decade-long national survey called Climate Change in the American Mind. The climate communications researchers who conducted the survey believe the results mark a shift in perceptions on the urgency of the climate crisis, with far-reaching implications for the politics of what should be done to address the issue. [node:read-more:link]