“I’m really into formulas,” says Choteau Area Port Authority board member Blair Patton. “People who are successful know the formula. You do not have a successful small community accidentally. There is a focused, purposeful action that leads into that.” The downward population trend and the loss of school-age children and jobs that support families are forcing Choteau and other rural Montana communities to think strategically about confronting and reversing these declines.The Choteau community has been proactive through the years. [node:read-more:link]

This story is the first installment of a three-part series focusing on the challenges and solutions for affordable housing in Boulder, Montana.rom that work came ten goals and strategies for implementing those goals. [node:read-more:link]

As the holiday season gets its start on a clear morning in late November, Main Street here looks like something out of a Hallmark movie. A window washer cleans down storefronts along blocks of historic brick buildings — a candy store, a microbrewery, coffee shops, restaurants, antique stores. Wreaths hang off ornate light posts. The surrounding hills are scattered with snow. Banners hung from windows and balconies celebrate the high school football team, the Titans, which has won a state 8-man class championship the previous weekend. This was a much different scene a quarter century ago. [node:read-more:link]

Iowa taxpayers will pay a $50,000 settlement to end a lawsuit filed by anti-GMO activists who claim state officials violated their First Amendment rights. [node:read-more:link]

The synthetic pesticide ban recently approved by the Portland City Council may create an “organic” city, but it won’t create a green city or a beautiful city. The people of Portland may like ticks, mosquitoes and flies. They are excellent food for birds and fish. Rather than tidy green lawns and colorful gardens, yards can be paved or gravel. They won’t need synthetic pesticides, but you can’t paint them green because you’ll need synthetic paint!As a scientist, I find it disappointing that the City Council voted based upon emotion and scare tactics by activists rather than scientific data. [node:read-more:link]

The outcomes possible with different types of precision breeding today might have seemed impossible just a few decades ago and these new opportunities have strong implications for both producers and consumers. [node:read-more:link]

The short-term dairy outlook for 2018 appears grim as prices are expected to drop during the first quarter before rebounding in the second half of the year.Mark Stephenson, said “The (low) 2018 milk price is going to feel a whole lot like 2016 was,” he said. “It’s one of the longest price cycles we’ve ever had. It’s not brutal in its depth, but brutal in its length.” Stephenson described the situation as a “long scrape” as opposed to a deep cut. [node:read-more:link]

Over the last several years, Wisconsin has seen thousands of dairy farmers leave the industry. New statistics show the state lost more than 500 farms in 2017. Remaining farmers are trying to attract college students to continue the tradition of being America’s Dairyland.“As an industry, we have to figure out how we’re going to be able to have farms of all sizes and allow those farms to be profitable and how we can get the next generation of farmers on our farms,” said Mystic Valley farmer Mitch Breunig. [node:read-more:link]

he rising popularity of trendy raw meat diets for pets is putting owners at risk of serious diseases such as E.coli, experts have warned. A new investigation revealed 86 per cent of sampled products carried the potentially deadly pathogen, while Salmonella was detected on 20 per cent, as well as various parasites. Scientists say dogs and cats fed on raw meat-based diets (RMBD) can pass on the bugs by licking their human companions or simply by brushing up against them. [node:read-more:link]

 class-action lawsuit has been filed against Walmart and Cal-Maine Foods, with the plaintiffs claiming the two companies misled consumers about the conditions in which hens that laid Walmart store brand Organic Marketside eggs were raised. [node:read-more:link]