The United States is losing its best farmland to development, even as the country’s population booms, according to a new report from the nonprofit conservation organization American Farmland Trust.  It’s a familiar sight for anyone who grew up in many Bay Area suburbs: The rolling pastureland or local fruit farms that once were on the outskirts of town have been replaced by a housing development or strip mall.According to the American Farmland Trust, the United States lost almost 31 million acres, or 3.2 percent of its total farmland, from [node:read-more:link]

Yet there's enough happening here for farmers to worry about the future level of demand for their products from China and ethanol. I will write about China in a future post. Today, a few words about ethanol. Let's start with the court case that the small refiners cite in their defense of the EPA's exemptions, Sinclair v. EPA. In it, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit said the EPA had misinterpreted the law in denying exemptions to the Renewable Fuels Standard to two small refineries in Wyoming. [node:read-more:link]

Although the GOP repeal-and-replace mantra seems to have quieted, some Republican lawmakers continue efforts to get around the sweeping federal health law's requirements. Sometimes that happens in surprising places. Like the farm bill.Tucked deep inside the House version of the massive bill — amid crop subsidies and food assistance programs — is a provision that supporters say could help provide farmers with cheaper (and likely less comprehensive) health insurance than plans offered through the Affordable Care Act. [node:read-more:link]

Some farmers and lawmakers across rural America are getting serious about preventing nitrogen and phosphorous pollution. Will it be enough to avert a catastrophe in our rivers and oceans? [node:read-more:link]

The only place Democrats rack up big wins is in the core counties of the nation’s largest cities. Everywhere else, it’s either a close race or a runaway victory for Republicans. The trend is pronounced and has been accelerating since 2010. [node:read-more:link]

With the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in the news because of proposed cuts, we took another look at the data. The bottom line: Rural areas cluster near the top of counties that are most reliant on SNAP. [node:read-more:link]

The counties that are most reliant on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program tend to be rural. Here’s a list of the top 100 counties ranked by percent of population enrolled in SNAP. In the highest-ranked counties, more than half the population receives nutrition assistance. At the bottom of the list, about a third of a county’s population receives SNAP. Eighty-five of the top 100 counties are rural. [node:read-more:link]

Communities should consider the needs of both long-term and acute medical care as they create networks for telemedicine. Whether it’s providing lifesaving stroke treatment or caring for chronic conditions like addiction or wound management, different treatments require different tools. [node:read-more:link]

Tyson Foods Inc. announced the launch of several initiatives -- including a Contract Poultry Farmers’ Bill of Rights -- aimed at enhancing communications and transparency with the thousands of independent farmers who grow its chickens. Tyson will also form an advisory council of poultry farmers and invest in technology for additional communications. [node:read-more:link]

When they introduced genetic modifications, the marketing mavens at Monsanto first told farmers that Roundup Ready soybeans would dramatically increase their crop yields by making the soybean plants immune to the Monsanto herbicide, Roundup, while it effectively killed the weeds in the farmers’ fields.  What they didn’t do was thoroughly explain how this would benefit consumers.  As a result, there was a consumer backlash that helped spawn the anti-GMO movement and lent credence to the nascent organic effort.Now, with their purchase of the licensing rights to the technology of Crispr-Cas9 s [node:read-more:link]