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On February 3rd, a train carrying 20 cars with poisonous, flammable chemicals derailed in East Palestine, OH. In this episode, we're going to get some answers. Using testimony from four Congressional hearings, community meeting footage, National Transportation Safety Board preliminary reports, and lots of articles from local and mainstream press, you will learn what Congress is being told as they write the Rail Safety Act, which both parts of Congress are working on in response to the East Palestine train derailment. Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links Contribute monthly or a lump sum via PayPal Support Congressional Dish via Patreon (donations per episode) Send Zelle payments to: Donation@congressionaldish.com Send Venmo payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send Cash App payments to: $CongressionalDish or Donation@congressionaldish.com Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: 5753 Hwy 85 North, Number 4576, Crestview, FL 32536. Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! View the show notes on our website at https://congressionaldish.com/cd274-norfolk-southern-train-derailment-in-east-palestine Background Sources Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes CD247: BIF: The Growth of US Railroads East Palestine Derailment Overview “It's been more than a month since a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed in Ohio. Here's what's happened since.” Alisha Ebrahimji and Holly Yan. Mar 23, 2023. CNN. “Residents can return home after crews burned chemicals in derailed tanker cars.” Associated Press. Feb 8, 2023. NPR. “WATCH: Smoke billows over East Palestine after controlled burn at train derailment site.” Feb 8, 2023. Cleveland 19 News. Vinyl Chloride and Dioxins “East Palestine Train Derailment: What is vinyl chloride and what happens when it burns?” Associated Press. Feb 8, 2023. CBS News Pittsburgh. “Dioxins and their effects on human health.” Oct 4, 2016. World Health Organization. “Medical Management Guidelines for Vinyl Chloride.” Last reviewed Oct 21, 2014. Centers for Disease Control Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. National Transportation Safety Board Findings “Norfolk Southern Railway Train Derailment with Subsequent Hazardous Material Release and Fires: Investigation Details.” Last updated Mar 21, 2023. National Transportation Safety Board. “What appears to be an overheated wheel bearing seen moments before East Palestine train derailment, NTSB says.” Ian Cross. Feb 14, 2023. ABC News 5 Cleveland. “Vent and Burn” Decision “Ex-EPA Administrator Doubts Agency's East Palestine Claims: 'Hard to Believe They Were Silent' Before Norfolk Southern Detonated Toxic Vinyl Chloride Cars.” Jordan Chariton. May 25, 2023. Status Coup News. “East Palestine emails reveal insight into decision to vent and burn toxic rail cars.” Tara Morgan. May 15, 2023. ABC News 5 Cleveland. “EXCLUSIVE: 'I truly feel defeated and useless.' Emails and texts reveal anguish of East Palestine fire chief over lack of adequate health advice after he was told to treat chemical disaster 'like a normal house fire.'” Daniel Bates. May 15, 2023. The Daily Mail. EPA failures “East Palestine Bombshell: EPA Official Admits It May Be Missing Toxic Chemicals in Air Testing, Admits Some of Its Decision Making Has Been to Prevent Lawsuits.” Louis DeAngelis. Mar 29, 2023. Status Coup News. East Palestine Resident Health Problems “No one has accepted real responsibility for the East Palestine disaster.” Zsuzsa Gyenes. May 16, 2023. The Guardian. “East Palestine survey reveals residents experienced headaches and anxiety after train derailment.” Nicki Brown, Artemis Moshtaghian and Travis Caldwell. Mar 4, 2023. CNN. “People in East Palestine showing breakdown product of vinyl chloride in urine tests.” Tara Morgan. Apr 28, 2023. ABC News 5 Cleveland. Norfolk Southern “Making it Right.” Norfolk Southern. “Norfolk Southern unveils compensation plans for homeowners near derailment site.” Andrea Cambron, Jason Carroll and Chris Isidore. May 11, 2023. CNN Business. “‘32 Nasty:' Rail Workers Say They Knew the Train That Derailed in East Palestine Was Dangerous.” Aaron Gordon. Feb 15, 2023. Vice. “Wall Street says Norfolk Southern profits won't suffer from derailment.” Rachel Premack. Feb 14, 2023. Freight Waves. “US rail industry defends safety record amid staffing cuts.” Josh Funk. May 16, 2021. AP News. Lobbying Against Regulations “Rail Companies Blocked Safety Rules Before Ohio Derailment.” David Sirota et al. Feb 8, 2023. The Lever. ECP Brake Deregulation “USDOT repeals ECP brake rule.” William C. Vantuono. Dec 5, 2017. Railway Age. Railway Safety Act “Railway Safety Act passes committee, moves to Senate floor for full vote.” Abigail Bottar. May 10, 2023. Ideastream Public Media. Staffing Cuts “Railroads are slashing workers, cheered on by Wall Street to stay profitable amid Trump's trade war.” Heather Long. Jan 3, 2020. The Washington Post. Long Trains “The True Dangers of Long Trains.” Dan Schwartz and Topher Sanders. Apr 3, 2023. Propublica. Bills S.576: Railway Safety Act of 2023 Audio Sources Senate Executive Session May 10, 2023 Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Clips 36:30 Sen. JD Vance (R-OH): This bill has changed a lot from what I introduced just a few short months ago. We've made a number of concessions to industry; a number of concessions to the rail industry, a number of concessions to various interest groups, which is why we have so much bipartisan support in this body but also why we have a lot of support from industry. East Palestine Community Meeting March 28, 2023 Status Coup News Government Response to East Palestine: Ensuring Safety and Transparency for the Community March 28, 2023 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment, Manufacturing, & Critical Materials Watch on YouTube Witnesses: Debra Shore, Regional Administrator, U.S Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5 Wesley Vins, Health Commissioner, Columbiana County General Health District Anne M. Vogel, Director, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Clips 30:40 Debra Shore: Since the derailment, EPA has been leading robust, multi-layered air quality testing, using state of the art technology in and around East Palestine, and that extensive monitoring has continued daily at 23 stations throughout the community. Since the fire was extinguished on February 8, EPA monitors have not detected any volatile organic compounds above established levels of health concerns. EPA has also been assisting with indoor air screenings in homes through a voluntary program to keep residents informed. As of March 21, more than 600 homes have been screened, and no sustained or elevated detections of chemicals have been identified. 33:00 Debra Shore: Here's how EPA is holding Norfolk Southern accountable. On February 21, EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order to Norfolk Southern, including a number of directives to identify and clean up contaminated soil and water resources, to attend and participate in public meetings at EPA's request, and to post information online, and ordering the company to pay EPA's costs for work performed under the order. All Norfolk Southern work plans must be reviewed and approved by EPA. It must outline all steps necessary to address the environmental damage caused by the derailment. If the company fails to complete any of the EPAs ordered actions, the agency will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work, and then seek punitive damages at up to three times the cost. 46:30 Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH): In one case, trucks were actually turned around at the gate of a proper, certified disposal facility and sent back to East Palestine to sit practically in my constituents backyard. Why did the EPA believe that it needed to send those letters? Debra Shore: Chairman Johnson, the instance you cite occurred before EPA assumed responsibility under the Unilateral Administrative Order for the cleanup. We don't know who told those trucks to turn around, whether it was the disposal facility itself or someone else. 48:50 Rep. Bill Johnson (R-OH): Why were they turned around? Debra Shore: This occurred during the transition period between Ohio EPA and US EPA assuming the lead for the emergency response. As such, under the Unilateral Administrative Order, all disposal facilities are required to be on the CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) approved off-site disposal list. So, we needed a few days to review what had occurred and ensure that those facilities that Norfolk Southern had contracts with were on that approved list. Once we determined which ones were on the approved list, it's up to Norfolk Southern to ship waste off the site. 1:03:30 Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO): Is the EPA intending to use the Unilateral Administrative Order to ensure that Norfolk Southern establishes a health and environmental screening program beyond this initial cleanup period? Debra Shore: Right now, the focus of the Unilateral Order and our work with Norfolk Southern is to make sure the site is cleaned up. I think the responsibility for that longer term health effort, I support what Dr. Vins recommended, and that may have to be negotiat[ed] with Norfolk Southern going forward. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO): Obviously, that hasn't started yet. Debra Shore: Not to my knowledge. 1:09:05 Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA): What will take place in the remediation phase, what happens then? Debra Shore: Then there'll be restoration of stream banks and the places where the soil was removed from along the railroad sites and I think a larger vision for the community that they're already beginning to work on, such as parks and streetscapes. Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA): Right. Any idea of what kind of timeframe we're talking about here? I mean, are we talking like in my district, decades? Debra Shore: No. We believe the core of the removal of the contaminated site and the restoration of the tracks will be several months. 1:11:35 Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ): When did clean up responsibility shift from EPA to Norfolk Southern, and what protections were put in place to ensure the health and safety of the community during that shift? Debra Shore: Thank you, Congressman Pallone. The transition from the State agency, which has the delegated authority in every state, has an emergency response capability, and so Ohio was on the ground working with the local firemen and other agencies as EPA arrived shortly after the derailment. It is typical in these kinds of emergency responses for the state agency to take the lead in the early days and Norfolk Southern was complying with the directives from the state. They continued to comply, but we've found over time that it's important to have all the authority to hold the principal responsible party in this case Norfolk Southern accountable, which is why on February 21, several weeks after the derailment, EPA issued its Unilateral Administrative Order. 1:19:55 Debra Shore: In the subsequent soil sampling that's been conducted, we looked at the information about the direction of the plume from the vent and burn event and focused that primarily where there might have been aerial deposition of soot or particulate matter, and that those soil samples have been collected in Pennsylvania. Rep. John Joyce (R-PA): And today, what soil, air, and water tests are continuing to occur in Pennsylvania? Debra Shore: Additional soil samples will be collected in collaboration, principally, with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, the local Farm Bureau, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. 1:28:36 Anne M. Vogel: The reason that we have been able to say that the municipal drinking water is safe is based on an Ohio EPA map that pre-exists the derailment. This is the source water protection map. So the municipal wellfield is right here, if folks can see that, that big well in the blue. So the derailment happened way over here, a mile and a half away from the wellfield. And we know how the water flows, down this way, down this way, down the creeks. So the derailment would not have affected the municipal water source and we knew that very quickly after the derailment. 1:49:05 Debra Shore: Norfolk Southern has encountered some difficulties in finding and establishing contracts with sites to accept both liquid and solid waste. And I think we could accelerate the cleanup if they were able to fulfill that obligation more expeditiously. 1:51:20 Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA): What are some of the long term health concerns that residents and your providers have? Wesley Vins: We've heard a whole wide range of concerns long term. Certainly, cancer is first and foremost, because of much of the information that the residents see online and here, as well as reproductive concerns, growth concerns, hormonal concerns Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA): Do you think there's a potential with the carcinogens or any of the toxins that it could lead to ailments for five years from now? Wesley Vins: Yeah, I understand your question. So the some of the constituents that we have related to this response, obviously are carcinogenic, however, we're seeing low levels, is really the initial response. So I think the long question is, we don't know. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA): We don't know. 2:04:50 Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA): Administrator Shore, one concern my office has heard is that relocation costs are not being covered by Norfolk Southern for everyone in East Palestine. How is it determined whether a resident is eligible to have their relocation costs paid for? Debra Shore: I'm sorry to hear that. My understanding was that Norfolk Southern was covering temporary relocation costs for any resident who sought that, and I would direct you to Norfolk Southern to ask why they are being turned down. Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-CA): Can the EPA require that Norfolk Southern cover relocation costs for anyone in East Palestine? Debra Shore: I'll find out. 2:11:45 Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA): I guess my concern is, if the EPA is website says that the sampling data hasn't been quality assured, how did the EPA make the determination that the air is safe to breathe when it appears that the sampling data has not been quality assured? Debra Shore: Congresswoman, I'm going to ask our staff to get back to you with an answer for that. Executive Session and Improving Rail Safety in Response to the East Palestine Derailment March 22, 2023 Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation View on Senate website Introduction Panel: U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown U.S. Senator J.D. Vance Mike DeWine, Governor of Ohio Misti Allison, Resident of East Palestine Witnesses: Jennifer Homendy, Chair, National Transportation Safety Board David Comstock, Chief, Ohio Western Reserve Joint Fire District Clyde Whitaker, Legislative Director, Ohio State SMART-TD Alan Shaw, CEO, Norfolk Southern Ian Jefferies, CEO, Association of American Railroads Clips 1:35:00 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Is there any relief being offered now to say, if you make the decision to move your home and move your family somewhere else, there is an avenue for you to sell your home and get a fair market price for it? Misti Allison: The short answer is, as of today, no. There is not a clear cut explanation or parameters of how you would do that. We've heard time and time again from Norfolk Southern that they're going to make it right and that they're looking into some long term health care monitoring and assistance and home value protection, but details of that plan have not been disclosed to residents as of today. 1:42:05 Jennifer Homendy: This derailment, as all accidents we investigate, was 100% preventable. 1:43:20 Jennifer Homendy: First, the definition of high hazard flammable train should be expanded to a broader array of hazmats and the definition's threshold of 20 loaded tank cars in a continuous block or 35 tank cars dispersed throughout a train should be eliminated. Second, DOT 111 should be phased out of all hazmat service. They're not as protected as DOT 117 tank cars. Third, people deserve to know what chemicals are moving through their communities and how to stay safe in an emergency. That includes responders who risk their lives for each of us every single day. They deserve to be prepared. That means access to real time information, obtaining the right training and gear, and having the right communications and planning tools. Fourth, light cockpit voice recorders in the aviation, audio and video recorders in the locomotive cab are essential for helping investigators determine the cause of an accident and make more precise safety recommendations. Recorders also help operators proactively improve their safety policies and practices. In the East Palestine derailment, the locomotive was equipped with an inward facing camera. However, since the locomotive was put immediately back into service following the accident, the data was overwritten. That means the recorder only provided about 15 minutes of data before the derailment, and five minutes after. The FAST Act, following terrible tragedies in Chatsworth and in Philadelphia, required Amtrak and commuter railroads to maintain crash and fire hardened inward and outward facing image recorders in all controlling locomotives that have a minimum of a 12 hour continuous recording capability. This was extremely helpful in our DuPont Washington investigation. Now is the time to expand that requirement to audio, and include the Class One freight railroads in that mandate. In fact, now is the time to address all of the NTSB's open rail safety recommendations, many of which are on our most wanted list. Fifth and finally, as the committee works on enhancing rail safety, I trust that you'll consider the resources that we desperately need to carry out our critical safety mission. Investments in the NTSB are investments in safety across all modes of transportation. 1:52:05 Clyde Whitaker: This derailment did not have to happen. And it makes it so much more frustrating for us to know that it was very predictable. And yet our warnings and cries for help over the last seven years have fallen on deaf ears and the outcome was exactly as we feared. Now the result is a town that doesn't feel safe in their own homes, businesses failing to survive and a railroad that prioritized its own movement of trains, before the people in the community, as well as its workers. It truly is a shame that operational changes in place prior to that incident are still in place today and the possibility for a similar disaster is just as possible. My entire railroad career I've listened to the railroads portray a message and image of safety first, but I have never witnessed or experienced that truth, one single day on the property. For years I've handled complaint after complaint regarding unsafe practices and unsafe environments, and for almost every single one I've been fought every step of the way. The truth is, ask any railroad worker and they will tell you, that their carriers are masters of checking the boxes and saying the right things, without ever doing anything meaningful toward improving safety. They're only focus is on the operating ratios and bottom lines, which is evidenced by the fact that their bonus structures are set up to reward timely movements of freight rather than reaching destinations safely, as they once were. Actions do speak louder than words. And I assure you that what you have heard, and will hear, from the railroads today are nothing more than words. Their actions are what's experienced by men and women I represent as well as what the people of East Palestine have been through. This is the reality of what happens when railroads are primarily left to govern and regulate themselves. 1:54:05 Clyde Whitaker: On July 11, 2022, I filed a complaint with the FRA (Freight Railroad Administration) regarding an unsafe practice that was occurring on Norfolk Southern (NS), despite existing operating rules to the contrary. NS was giving instructions to crews to disregard wayside detector failures and to keep the trains moving. This meant the trains were not being inspected as intended, and that the crews were not able to ascertain the integrity of such trains. This practice remained in place even after East Palestine. 1:54:40 Clyde Whitaker: It is a virus that has plagued the industry for some time, with the exception of precision scheduled railroading. Across America, inspections and maintenance is being deferred to expedite the movement of trains. No longer is identifying defects and unsafe conditions the goal of inspections, but rather minimiz[ing] the time it takes to perform them, or the elimination of them all together. 2:17:40 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): Why did Norfolk Southern not stop the train then and examine the bearing to make sure that it didn't melt the axle and that you didn't have a derailment? If you'd stop then it would have prevented the derailment. So my question is, why did the second hotbox reading not trigger action? Alan Shaw: Senator, my understanding is that that second reading was still below our alarm threshold, which is amongst the lowest in the industry. In response to this, the industry has agreed to work together to share best practices with respect to hotbox detectors, trending technology, and thresholds. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX): So when you and I visited my office yesterday, you said your threshold is now 170 degrees above ambient temperature. As I understand it, at the time of the derailment, your threshold was 200 degrees above ambient temperature. 2:20:15 Clyde Whitaker: Make note that trending defect detector technology from being in the cab of a locomotive, when we pass a defect detector, it trends to an office like Norfolk Southern in Atlanta, Georgia. It doesn't convey to the railroad crews, which is a problem in this incident as well as many others that still continue to this day. What we need as a train crew -- which they say they listen, they haven't been listening for quite a while -- we need to be notified whenever these trending detectors are seeing this car trend hotter. That way we can keep a better eye on it. 2:22:35 Clyde Whitaker: It is feasible. The technology is there. Several days after East Palestine, we almost had a similar incident in the Cleveland area on Norfolk Southern. The defect detector said no defects to the crew. The train dispatcher came on and said, "Hey, we have a report of a trending defect detector on the train. We need you to stop and inspect it." Immediately after that the chief dispatcher, which is the person that controls the whole railroad, told them to keep going. If it were not for an eastbound train passing them and instructing them, "Hey, your train is on fire, stop your train." And we set that car out. They had to walking speed this car five miles. So the technology is there. They're just raising and lowering their thresholds to move freight. 2:25:15 Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): His testimony is loud and clear: it would have been worse if there was only one person as a crew on that train. Do you disagree with him? Alan Shaw: Senator, I believe that we have operations infrastructure on the ground to respond to derailments. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): I think you're not answering the question, okay? It's almost like the last hearing all over again. Because I think the evidence is very clear that these trains can be absolutely safer, but that technology is no replacement for human beings. For example, it can't provide the cognitive functions of a conductor and can't collect visual cues during an emergency. Two-person crews make our trains safer and I wish that you would commit to that today, because I think it's pretty obvious that is the correct answer. I just get sick of industry executives talking about supporting the principles of regulation, while they lobby against common sense regulations like this one behind the scenes. 2:38:50 Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT): I understand that the business plan of Norfolk Southern includes a $7.5 billion stock buyback that is ongoing. Do you believe it would be appropriate to suspend that buyback program until all of the assurances that you are making to this committee and also to the people of East Palestine, about "making this right," that that stock back buyback program should be suspended until you have accomplished what you've assured us and what you've assured that people of East Palestine that you would do? Alan Shaw: Senator, we think about safety every day. We spend a billion dollars a year in capital on safety. And we have ongoing expenses of about a billion dollars a year in safety and as a result over time, derailments are down, hazardous material releases are down and injuries are down. We can always get better. Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT): Right, so you won't answer my question about suspending the buyback program. Alan Shaw: Senator, stock buybacks never come at the expense of safety Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT): I take that is that you will continue with your plan on the buyback. 2:51:30 Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): I know that high hazardous flammable trains have more safety regulations. Why would this not have been characterized as a high hazard flammable train if it had th ese hazardous materials on it as part of the 149 car train? Alan Shaw: Senator, thank you for your question. I'm not familiar with the entire makeup of the train. I know that a highly hazardous train is defined by a certain number of highly hazardous cars in it or a certain number of cars in a block. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): Miss Homendy, maybe you can help me with that question. Jennifer Homendy: Yes, the definition of a high hazard flammable train involves class three flammable liquids only, 20 car loads in a continuous block, which would be a unit train, or 35 car loads of class three flammable liquids in a mixed freight train. That was not what was on this train. There were some that were class three defined flammable liquids, but this train was not a high hazard flammable train. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): Right. It wasn't a high hazard train, but it had high hazardous materials that are very flammable that just lit up the sky. So is that something that you would consider that should be looked at as a safety improvement? Jennifer Homendy: Yes, Senator. We think that the thresholds of the 20 and 35 should be eliminated and we think a broader array of hazmat should be in the definition of high hazard flammable train. Protecting Public Health and the Environment in the Wake of the Norfolk Southern Train Derailment and Chemical Release in East Palestine, Ohio March 9, 2023 Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works View on Senate website Witnesses: Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) Alan Shaw, President and CEO, Norfolk Southern Corporation Debra Shore, Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region V Anne Vogel, Director, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Richard Harrison, Executive Director and Chief Engineer, Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission Eric Brewer, Director and Chief of Hazardous Materials Response, Beaver County Department of Emergency Services Clips 26:50 Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH): The company followed the Wall Street business model: boost profits by cutting costs at all costs, the consequences for places like East Palestine be damned. In 10 years, Norfolk Southern eliminated 38% of its workforce. Think of that. In a decade they cut more than a third of their jobs. We see what the company did with their massive profits. Norfolk Southern spent $3.4 billion on stock buybacks last year and were planning to do even more this year. That's money that could have gone to hiring inspectors, to putting more hotbox detectors along its rail lines, to having more workers available to repair cars and repair tracks. Norfolk Southern's profits have gone up and up and up and look what happened. 33:35 Sen. JD Vance (R-OH): It is ridiculous that firefighters and local officials don't know that hazardous chemicals are in their community, coming through their community. In East Palestine you had a community of largely volunteer firefighters responding to a terrible crisis, toxic burning chemicals, without knowing what was on them. 34:50 Sen. JD Vance (R-OH): I've talked to a number of my Republican colleagues and nearly everybody has dealt in complete good faith, whether they like the bill or have some concerns about it, and these comments are not directed at them. Who they are directed at is a particular slice of people who seem to think that any public safety enhancements for the rail industry is somehow a violation of the free market. Well, if you look at this industry and what's happened in the last 30 years, that argument is a farce. This is an industry that enjoys special subsidies that almost no industry enjoys. This is an industry that is enjoys special legal carve outs that almost no industry enjoys. This is an industry that just three months ago had the federal government come in and save them from a labor dispute. It was effectively a bailout. And now they're claiming before the Senate and the House that our reasonable legislation is somehow a violation of the free market. Well, pot, meet the kettle, because that doesn't make an ounce of sense. You cannot claim special government privileges, you cannot ask the government to bail you out, and then resist basic public safety. 40:10 Alan Shaw: Air and water monitoring have been in place continuously since the accident and to date it consistently indicated that the air is safe to breathe and the water is safe to drink. 47:20 Debra Shore: Since the fire was extinguished on February 8, EPA monitors have not detected any volatile organic compounds above levels of health concerns. 47:45 Debra Shore: EPA has been assisting with indoor air screenings for homes through a voluntary program offered to residents to provide them with information and help restore their peace of mind. As of March 4, approximately 600 homes had been screened through this program and no detections of vinyl chloride or hydrogen chloride have been identified. 48:40 Debra Shore: On February 21, we issued a unilateral administrative order to Norfolk Southern which includes a number of directives to identify and clean up contaminated soil and water resources, to attend and participate in public meetings at EPA's request, and to post information online, to pay for EPA's costs for work performed under this order. EPA is overseeing Norfolk Southern's cleanup work to ensure it's done to EPA specifications. The work plans will outline all steps necessary to clean up the environmental damage caused by the derailment. And most importantly, if the company fails to complete any of the EPA ordered actions, the agency will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work, and then force Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost. 1:04:30 Eric Brewer: Norfolk Southern hazmat personnel and contractors arrived on scene shortly after 11pm. At around midnight, after research of the contents, it was decided to shut down fire operations and move firefighters out of the immediate area and to let the tank cars burn. This is not an unusual decision. This decision was made primarily by Norfolk Southern's hazmat coordinator, as well as their contractor. 1:05:15 Eric Brewer: There was a possibility of explosion and we should consider a one mile evacuation. Ohio officials notified us that the one mile radius would now be from the leaked oil address. This would add additional residents from Beaver County in the one mile evacuation zone. Donington township officials went door to door, as well as using a mass notification system to advise the residents of the one mile recommended evacuation. It was stressed that this was a recommendation as we cannot force residents from their homes. Social media posts began to circulate stating that arrest would be made if people refused to leave during the evacuation. Let me be clear that was not the case in Pennsylvania, as this was not a mandatory evacuation. Monday morning, we assembled at the Emergency Operations Center in East Palestine. We learned Norfolk Southern wanted to do a controlled detonation of the tank car in question. We were assured this was the safest way to mitigate the problem. During one of those planning meetings, we learned from Norfolk Southern that they now wanted to do the controlled detonation on five of the tank cars rather than just the one. This changed the entire plan, as it would now impact a much larger area. 1:21:25 Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV): Why did you wait a month before you started to order the dioxin testing when the community was asking for this? Was that a decision that you made early on that it wasn't critical? Or how was this decision made? Debra Shore: Senator Capito, our air monitoring was searching for primary indicators, such as phosgene and hydrogen chloride, immediately during and after the burn. We detected very low levels which very quickly went even down to non detectable. Without those primary indicators, it was a very low probability that dioxins would have been created. They are secondary byproducts of the burning of vinyl chloride. 1:25:40 Alan Shaw: As you saw just this week, a six point safety plan that included a number of issues which we're implementing immediately to improve safety, including installing more wayside detectors. The first one was installed yesterday outside of East Palestine. 1:30:20 Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK): Mr. Shaw, when the vent and burn process was being made, who who made those decisions? And what was other considerations other than just burning it and letting the material burn off? Alan Shaw: Thank you for that question. The only consideration, Senator, was the safety and health of the community. And that decision was made by Unified Command under the direction of the Incident Commander? Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK): Who's that? Alan Shaw: The Incident Commander was Fire Chief Drabick. Norfolk Southern was a part of Unified Command. 2:07:25 Alan Shaw: Senator, the NTSB report indicated that all of the hotbox detectors were working as designed. And earlier this week, we announced that we are adding approximately 200 hotbox detectors to our network. We already have amongst the lowest spacing between hotbox detectors in the industry. And we already have amongst the lowest thresholds. 2:15:35 Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): Will you commit to compensating affected homeowners for their diminished property values? Alan Shaw: Senator, I'm committing to do what's right. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): Well, what's right is a family that had a home worth $100,000 that is now worth $50,000 will probably never be able to sell that home for 100,000 again. Will you compensate that family for that loss? Alan Shaw: Senator, I'm committed to do what's right. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): That is the right thing to do. These are the people who are innocent victims, Mr. Shaw. These people were just there at home and all of a sudden their small businesses, their homes are forever going to have been diminished in value. Norfolk Southern owes these people. It's an accident that is basically under the responsibility of Norfolk Southern, not these families. When you say do the right thing, will you again, compensate these families for their diminished lost property value for homes and small businesses? Alan Shaw: Senator, we've already committed $21 million and that's a downpayment Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): That is a down payment. Will you commit to ensuring that these families, these innocent families, do not lose their life savings in their homes and small businesses? The right thing to do is to say, "Yes, we will." Alan Shaw: Senator, I'm committed to doing what's right for the community and we're going to be there as long -- Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA): What's right for the community will then be balanced -- which is what we can see from your stock buybacks -- by what's right for Norfolk Southern. C-SPAN: Washington Post Live March 6, 2023 Speakers: Heather Long, Columnist and Editorial Writer, Washington Post Jennifer Homendy, Chair, National Transportation Safety Board Clips 5:14 Jennifer Homendy: Hazardous materials are transported on all modes of transportation. Our aviation system is the safest, but they're limited in what they can transport for dangerous materials. Pipelines can also be safe as well. They have a generally good safety record until one big rupture occurs. But then our railroads also have a good safety record. Train accidents in general, per million trains miles, are going up. So it's trending upwards, accidents. With that said, going on our nation's roads with these materials is not something we want to see. You know, we have 43,000 people that are dying on our nation's roads annually. We have a public health crisis on our roads. Millions of crashes are occurring, so transporting hazmat on our roads would be more dangerous than on our railways. 6:50 Jennifer Homendy: The numbers are trending upward on accidents overall and also for Norfolk Southern 8:20 Jennifer Homendy: That is a role that's very important for the NTSB and why we are independent of the Department of Transportation. We are not part of the Department of Transportation because we do conduct federal oversight to see if DoT's oversight of the freight railroads is adequate or inadequate and we may make recommendations on that. 10:20 Jennifer Homendy: Once it hit well over 250 degrees, it was time for the train crew to stop to inspect the axle, to inspect the wheel bearing and to possibly, in this case, set out the car. But it was too late because as they were slowing and stopping, the train derailed, the wheel bearing failed. And so there might need to be more conservative temperature thresholdss o that started earlier. Also, something the Transportation Safety Board of Canada has looked at is real time monitoring of temperatures and data trending from the control center so that they can see the temperatures increase over a period of time. In this derailment, or what we saw of this train and its operations, is the temperature of that wheel bearing was going up pretty significantly over the course of the three different wayside detectors, but you know, the crew doesn't see that. So that real time monitoring and data trending so that there's some communication with the crew to stop the train and take immediate action is definitely needed. We'll look at that as part of our investigation as well. 12:30 Jennifer Homendy: One thing I will mention is that these decisions about the placement of these hot bearing detectors and the thresholds really vary railroad by railroad and so there needs to be good decision making, some policies and practices put in place. 18:00 Jennifer Homendy: Electronically controlled pneumatic (ECP) brakes don't prevent a derailment. It could lessen damage. So let me explain that. So in this one, car 23 still would have derailed because a wheel bearing failed. So car 23 still would have derailed. Still would have been a derailment, still would have been a fire, and the responders, and Norfolk Southern, and the state and locals would have had to still make a decision on whether to vent and burn the five vinyl chloride tank cars. There could have been a possibility of less damage, meaning a few cars could have remained on the track later in the train. But as for most of the damage, that still would have occurred whether we had ECP brakes on this train or not. 19:50 Heather Long: There's a lot fewer people working on rail, especially freight rail. Does the number of people make any difference here? Jennifer Homendy: Well for this one, as you said, we had two crew members and a trainee. They all stay, as with every train, in the cab of the head locomotive. So I do not see where that would have made a difference in this particular train and this derailment. One thing we are going to look at is whether any changes in staffing lead to any differences in how these cars are maintained or how they're inspected. That is something we will look at. 21:05 Jennifer Homendy: Yeah, so the fire chief, upon arrival at the command center following the derailment, had electronic access to the train consist, which is the list of cars and the materials or liquids that the train is carrying, but none of the responders had the Ask Rail app. You could look up a UN number for a particular car and get the whole consist of the train. It's in an app that the railroads developed for helping emergency responders to get information following an accident. 25:05 Jennifer Homendy: And we have over 250 recommendations that we've issued on rail safety generally that have not been acted upon yet. Music Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio) Editing Pro Podcast Solutions Production Assistance Clare Kuntz Balcer

If you've ever thought about starting (or adding) a pet bakery, then you'll 100% want to sit, stay, and take notes during this episode!  Candace sat down to chat with a friend, one-on-one client, Pet Boss Club® member, and Pet Boss All-Star, Jennifer Thomas, owner of Lucky Dog Pet Grocery and Bakery.  And by “sat down to chat” we really mean– together they unlocked a smorgasbord of pet bakery knowledge that is so specific it'll kick your pet bakery ideas into HIGH gear and get you to take action!  In this episode, you'll learn: 

Douglas G. Duncan is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae where he is responsible for forecasts and analyses of the economy and the housing and mortgage markets. Duncan also oversees strategic research regarding the potential impact of external factors on the housing industry. He leads the House Price Forecast Working Group reporting to the Finance Committee. Under his leadership, Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group (ESR) won the NABE Outlook Award, presented annually for the most accurate GDP and Treasury note yield forecasts, in both 2015 and 2016 – the first recipient in the award's history to capture the honor two years in a row. In addition, ESR was awarded by Pulsenomics for best home price forecast. Named one of Bloomberg/BusinessWeek's 50 Most Powerful People in Real Estate, Duncan is Fannie Mae's source for information and analyses on demographics and the external business and economic environment; the implications of changes in economic activity on the company's strategy and execution; and for forecasting overall housing, economic, and mortgage market activity. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Duncan was Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. His experience also includes work on the Financial Institutions Project at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and service as a LEGIS Fellow and staff member with the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs for Congressman Bill McCollum in the U.S. House of Representatives. Duncan received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University and his B.S. and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from North Dakota State University.The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669.  For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.Video LinkRadio Show

Josh Hawley wants to be a man | Rural health clinic in Kentucky making a difference with federal funds | $11B for clean energy projects in rural areas | Conservatives worry they're ruining their own schools | Sean and Adam talk about the role of public schools in rural AmericaSean: Welcome back to flyover view, heartland news and views from the gateway arch to the rocky mountains and the stories impacting folks in the heartland, my name is Sean Diller and I'm here subbing for our regular host Kevin Smith, and with me is Adam Sommer, whaddya say, ready to start the show? Adam: Is Ron DeSantis wishing he'd never picked a fight with a mouse? Josh Hawley (name drop) Is A Man, Bro. In his new book, Josh Hawley, the Sr. Sen. for Missouri, not from, is ready to transform America by calling on men and boys to lead.HOW? Great question - it seems, mostly, that Hawley is fixated on sex. Men should stop masturbating and porn should basically be illegal. Oh, he must be super concerned for the women being exploited then..NOPE… just with Men being weakened by lust. Hawley is up for reelection in 2024 against Lucas Kunce. You may recall Kunce from his 2022 campaign for the Democratic nomination and a particular video in which Kunce climbs a very tall poll in his shoes and using his hands. Based on Hawley's book and his assertion of being the arbiter of manliness, we have to assume the 2024 Missouri senate race will be a series of feats of strength culminating in a caber toss right out of the scottish highland games in which the candidate who throws a tree the farthest will win the seat. No word yet from the Hawley campaign on if Josh's incredibly soft hands can handle the splinters, we will monitor this one closely. In more useful news… The federal Rural Health Clinic program started as a way to provide safety-net care to underserved populations. https://dailyyonder.com/rural-health-clinic-program-offering-head-to-toe-womb-to-tomb-care/2023/05/17/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Center%20for%20Rural%20Strategies&utm_campaign=17d1501c13-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_05_17_03_36&utm_term=0_-17d1501c13-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&mc_cid=17d1501c13&mc_eid=33f9e891eeWaylon Williams (great name) was born in Eastern Kentucky and at just 5 weeks old is already doing his name proud. Waylon is the first child born at a new facility in rural eastern Kentucky called “Beacons of Hope” a temporary housing facility for women facing substance abuse problems., part of the primary care centers of eastern Kentucky.Beacons of Hope is an extension of PCCEK's Pregnancy & Beyond, an addiction-treatment program that offers obstetrical services, medication for substance use disorder, prenatal education, pediatrics, and counseling – services that in so many rural communities nationwide are in critically short supply or entirely absent. The town of Hazard, where the largest of PCCEK's four clinics is located, is in Perry County. Perry County ranks 117th among Kentucky's 120 counties in health outcomes. Life expectancy is 67, as compared with 78.5 for the country. Great to see some blue solutions helping out in the blue grass stateMoney and Power, as usual, go hand in handhttps://missouriindependent.com/briefs/rural-electric-co-ops-to-get-10-7b-in-usda-funds-for-clean-energy-grants-loans/The U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areasRural areas can have more difficulty than more urban ones in attracting private sector investment, White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said. The programs are intended to allow those rural areas to take advantage of an industry-wide trend to invest in clean energy production.“There's a favorable wind blowing here,” he said. “This allows rural communities to put up a sail.”The programs are meant to put rural electric cooperatives on equal footing with larger privately owned companies that have already put major funding into clean energy deployment, Vilsack said.The programs represent the largest single funding effort for rural electrification since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936, a USDA press release said.The money is meant not only to address the climate impacts of fossil fuel energy and reduce home energy costs, but to act as an economic engine for rural areas, Zaidi said.So get ready folks, because that leftist liberal woke power is gonna be indoctrinating your meter before you know it. Conservatives concerned about right wing extremists impact on schoolshttps://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woodland-park-colorado-school-board-conservatives-rcna83311?fbclid=IwAR2ernEIIXvA4Vgdw4sD106umXpcK6cjzAGItWm9m4QtUe1TzQipAU4GIvA&mibextid=Zxz2cZIn a story that comes as no surprise to people who live in reality, a school board in Woodland Park, Colorado is now home to a cadre of hard core right wing extremists and folks are not pleasedChief among those concerned? Conservatives (whaaat?)That's right, it seems actual conservative folks have finally figured out that the MAGA members of their party might not be the best people to put in charge. Lose Your School, You Lose Your Town - is the headlineContrary to Lobbyist Social Media Postings, Rural Schools Are At Major Risk, and educators in rural states are not sitting this out. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/school-vouchers-and-rural-schoolsRural schools are also hubs for community engagement through concerts, theatrical productions, and sports. Often, they are a town's largest employer.  “At our school, we offer a lot, because our community expects a lot,” says Steve Peterson, a teacher in Decorah, a town in northeastern Iowa. “They want good programs—academic, but also extra-curricular opportunities.” Sean and Adam talk about the rural public school we went to

We have to dive into the finale of Farmer Wants a Wife this episode. If you hate that show then you'll be glad to know it has ended so we won't be covering it much now. We share some suspicions about the share as well. Then we find ourselves discussing classic equipment and the need for cheaper horsepower on the farm. Should you take a chance on a high hour machine? We discuss it. If you enjoy this episode then please leave us a review and share this episode with your friends! If you leave us a review let us know and we will send you some swag when we get it!  Submit your questions of all calibers at our contact page on our website: https://www.talkdirtpodcast.com/contact Follow us on social media: Bobby Lee: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=hurricane%20creek%20farms Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/hurricanecreekfarm/ YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/HurricaneCreekFarms Logan: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/LHFarmsTN Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/lo.hanks/ YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqYpTjKQtOMABFOc2Aw3_Ow/featured   

Agriculture equipment-maker Deere is betting big on space. The company is seeking to expand into satellite services, with CTO Jahmy Hindman leading the charge. Morgan sits down with Hindman to discuss why the company finding ways to offer more value and services to a global customer base through space.

The health of a grapevine starts at ground level – literally in the soil. The California Department of Food and Agriculture is helping farmers improve the quality of their soils through the Healthy Soils Initiative. Taylor Jones, Ph.D., Director of Viticulture at Star Lane and Dierberg Vineyards used his funding as an opportunity to study the effects of compost. After completing two three-year trials in six different soil types in two American Viticulture Areas, Taylor found that compost additions significantly increased organic matter, Reduced Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium usage by 35 percent, and decreased water use dramatically. Listen in to hear the only downside to increasing the use of compost on your vineyard. References: 149: Fair Market Trade: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi and Grapevines 151: The Role of the Soil Microbiome in Soil Health 163: Onsite Compost Production Using Vineyard Waste   165: Become a Microbe Farmer: Make Compost   167: Use Biochar to Combat Climate Change California Department of Food and Agriculture's Healthy Soils Initiative Compost Benefits and Quality for Viticultural Soils Compost use in premium vineyard development Dierberg Vineyard Taylor Jones LinkedIn  Tyler Jones: taylor@dierbergvineyard.com Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - DONATE SIP Certified Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript Craig Macmillan  0:00  Here with me today is Taylor Jones. He's Director of Viticulture at Star Lane in Dierberg Vineyards. And we're gonna talk about some soil health projects that he's got going. Thanks for being on the podcast.   Taylor Jones  0:10  Yeah. Thanks for having me.   Craig Macmillan  0:12  I just learned about this recently, and you talked about a little bit in the vineyard team tailgate meeting that got me interested, you have more than one thing going on? Is that right? Yeah, yeah, we do. And these projects are funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture Healthy Soils program. Is that right?   Taylor Jones  0:25  Yes, that's correct.   Craig Macmillan  0:27  We'd love to chat about that part of it a little bit later. But right now, I really want to know what you're doing. How many projects, what are they about? What are you trying to find out?   Taylor Jones  0:33  We have two projects, we were awarded two different grants, one for each of our vineyard properties that we have. So we have one healthy soils project over in Santa Rita Hills that started in 2018. And it's a three year program. And then we have another project that's healthy soils program at our Star Lane Vineyard in Happy Canyon, AVA and over their three year project also. And that one started in 2020, I believe. So we just hit our final year, this this last year. So yeah, to two different projects. And essentially, we're the states paying us to put compost down and improve our soil health. So we're jumping on that and trying to see what actually happens in the vineyard after compost has been applied. Since we're getting all of this compost from CDFA. It's we're going to use the money that we're saving on the compost to kind of do some some studies and see what's actually being impacted in our vineyard soils.   Craig Macmillan  1:30  So talking about the Star Rita AVA, project.   Taylor Jones  1:33  Over at Santa Rita hills, we have Drum Canyon vineyard, and over there we were awarded, it was 35 acres of compost applications, we had six tons per acre. For three years, over the three year span, we had 18 tons per acre put down down over there what we did, we tried to, as best we could make an experiment, you know, it's kind of hard to make a proper randomized trial. In a field when you're doing compost applications with your normal operations, we try to apply compost in all the areas that we could in our vineyard and while leaving a few barrier rows that we could do tests. And so we had, for example, we'd have 10 rows applied with compost, and then a few rows, no compost so that we could test those rows separately see what's going on. Are there changes in organic matter? Are we seeing changes in compaction, all the good stuff that comes with soil, so testing soils for nutrition, microbial populations, and then also water, I think water is the big thing. So that's how we set everything up on the property, we have five or six different soil types that we apply conference to and in each soil type, we did our own measurements there. And we were able to have soil moisture probes in most areas so that we could utilize those to help with some data. We really saw a lot of benefits from putting the compost down. I mean, we're in you're entering our sixth year after application, the state's requiring us to send a final numbers and we have to do one more test of organic matter. So that's coming up soon for our final dataset. Overall, we saw some great really good impacts from from the healthy soil program at that site.   Craig Macmillan  3:11  Before we go farther, are we talking about banding under the vine we're talking about broadcasting?   Taylor Jones  3:14  Whenever you do your grant, you have to specify what you're going to do. And in our case, we went with banding the spreader that we have is a bander you know we'd have six foot rows and we have a ag soil works hydraulic gripper, the wings move. So we're in an area where we have a lot of compaction. Typically we like to rip every three years every other row. And so that kind of led to the decision of banding. We're getting the compost close to the vine. Since we're in a six foot row, our rippers going right down the vine row right next to the root zone. So we're trying to get everything incorporated and move down lower in the soil profile. That was our target what we did we since we had three different years, and we didn't want to rip every single year, we did well alternating rows. One year we did every other row with a compost band and rip. The following year we did the even numbered rows with the compost band and rip and then the final year, our desire was to go no till so at the final year, we banded and we just did a light disk and seed on top of that, that we didn't unnecessarily rip over again. So it was technically a combo of riping and broadcast.   Craig Macmillan  4:22  Unrelated just further conversation that I've had weed control under the vine using some kind of cold federal weed knife or using herbicides?   Taylor Jones  4:31  For the extent of this trial. We use it herbicides, trying to keep all the weeds down as much as possible so that we're not seeing any funky results coming from having weeds all over the place. So we try to keep the berms clean as possible.   Craig Macmillan  4:42  And this one has been going for a little while now. What kind of preliminary results do you think you're seeing?   Taylor Jones  4:47  We're seeing some some great preliminary results. The most impactful result that we're seeing is water. Our water usage has declined dramatically. I mean, we went from irrigating every two weeks historically, this will be my eighth vintage here at the company, we used to always pretty religiously we'd water every two weeks, if not more over on that property. And every year, we were kind of able to spread that out, we were seeing water holding capacity almost increase. So last year, we ended up waiting 79 days from basically from bloom until we harvested, we were able to not water at all. Pretty amazing, we were able to heat stress, we have totally sensors in the field that help us tailor our irrigation strategies, but that 79 days of no water being used was significant for our operation in terms of water savings, you know, propane costs, even the irrigator had more time to do other things besides troubleshoot the irrigation system. I think all of that kind of stemmed from the organic matter increase. We saw, on average over a three year timespan, the average was about point 2% increase in organic matter per year for those three years. And you know, 1% organic matter is more or less 20,000 gallons of water per acre that you can hold. That's our goal. Let's try to increase organic matter by 1% and try to achieve that extra water holding capacity. Let's see how high we can get and so we had different different soil types reacted differently in terms of how well they held water.   What kind of soils do you have out there? We're talking about the Santa Ynez River Valley, we're talking about being relatively close to Lompoc, for those of you who are interested, there is tremendous will type variability all through that area. And Drum Canyon is relatively on the west side of that area. I would describe it as that what kind of sils do you have out there?   So we have top of the hill pure sandbox, as you go down the hill, we have some nice Shaylee loans. As we continue down, we get more and more loamy but a little bit more clay and silt as you kind of go to the flats. We're getting a lot more water holding capacity there in the flat zone. And then we have another corner of the vineyard that is the lowest coldest spot and that's mostly sand like a kind of like a sandy clay. So huge variability in soils, we kind of have almost all the types on our property, which is well fun for me.   Craig Macmillan  7:12  Fun for you. Tremendous variation in water holding capacity.   Taylor Jones  7:15  Oh yeah, we had a block we tried to establish our sandy soils, and that was watering twice a week with four gallons per vine, like just trying to get those vines. I mean, it's windy there, we have a lot of struggles and sand is sands an issue trying to get vines established. And to get that taproot down, otherwise, our loams on the hillsides, they tend to have good drainage, they're maybe two feet deep before you hit a layer of sandstone. So our soils are fairly shallow. So we get good water infiltration and penetration, good ability to stress the vines out quickly, but not really holding water. Well, as you get to the flood zone, we've always been able to irrigate a little bit less often those soils kind of have more of clay particles, they're holding on to water a little bit more, until you hit the sandy zone and there are definitely watering twice as much as we do in other areas.   Craig Macmillan  8:02  But you're seeing improvement in all these areas?   Taylor Jones  8:05  Definitely every single area of all in line with each other and what what we're seeing in in our sandy soil series, we saw the higher increase in organic matter than the other soil series. And we were able to irrigate slightly less in those zones than the other ones, which then in previous years percentage wise, which was surprising, but also I'm so glad water is the same you know, in our sandy soils, we saw almost it was point eight 5% organic matter increase total over a final timespan. So that's the equivalent of 16,600 gallons per acre that of water that was used, On the lower end some of the, our loamy silty soils, we ended up getting about a point seven 2.45% increase over five years. So a little bit different there. But you know, we didn't need as much help with holding water in those soils of the sandy soils. So it kind of balanced out percentage wise in terms of how much water we were using.   Craig Macmillan  9:06  What about above ground? Did you see changes in the vines, the fruit crop load, wine quality?   Taylor Jones  9:11  Not so much crop load tons tons per acre, we're pretty spot on throughout the vineyard with seasonal variability. For better or for worse. Some areas we had too much vigor, some areas are vigor was improved overall vigor was higher than than previous years, even with reduced water and reduced and reduced fertilizer inputs as well. So yeah, above ground pruning weights increased a little bit. But that was that was kind of expected. We're having a lot more vigor. But yeah, fruit load was not impacted, which is fine. We're not like trying to pump out as much fruit as possible.   Craig Macmillan  9:43  We've made wines out of these?   Taylor Jones  9:45  Yes. So why is not really a lot of changes in wine. Our winemaking team. They make a couple different wines. A lot of its blended from different areas of our flat zones. And in our other ranch we saw some Yans increasing Other than Yans, that's about it in terms of wine quality was still on point with with every previous year, so no changes in wine quality and no changes in Brix or pH, anything like that phenologically ripening, everything seemed to be pretty, pretty standard for our ranch.   Craig Macmillan  10:18  And that's a good transition. So what about the Happy Canyon?   Taylor Jones  10:21  We're just getting some, I'm finally organizing some data for Happy Canyon. And they're we're seeing similar results. And if anything this year more so or we have had some pretty significant rains. But our cover crop took off a lot quicker than any previous year, this last November, November, December is when we put our final load of compost in from healthy soils. So we were in year three, and we're finally seeing cover crops just taking off. Unfortunately, I think the only downside of these projects has been a lot of increase in in inter row weeds, we've had a lot more weeds creeping up. And that's just I think, some of the compost we're getting this now the seed beds in there just stuck there. And you can see the Malvo just coming up right where we planted and ripped, which is frustrating, but I'll take the soil benefits and deal with the weeds later, you know. Happy Canyon, we're seeing very similar results, we're starting to be able to use less water on a per annual basis, we have a little bit less soil diversity over at Happy Canyon a lot more silty clay silty on the hillsides, clays towards the bottom and the flats. That grant there was 95 acres of compost and give that reference over over a three year timespan that ends up being it was 58 $59,000 worth of compost that we got to not to have from the state which which was phenomenal. And then at the Star Lane project, we're only doing four times an acre, not six tons an acre, the grants kind of based off of what compost you're buying and your carbon nitrogen ratio of your compost, so four tons an acre and Happy Canyon still with the goal of trying to go no till over there. And we're seeing similar increases in organic matter where we're getting that point 2.25% increase year after a year. So there were targeting hopefully, my goal is to find one block, maybe that we can get a full 1% increase in that would be amazing. But it's good to see similarity over two different ADAs two different ranches. It's nice to see the similarities kind of confirming what we're seeing at one ranch versus the other ranch.   Craig Macmillan  12:24  And I want to come back to that. But before I forget, again, we're talking about this is four tons per acre banded, you are not tilling the middle right now.   Taylor Jones  12:32  Correct.   Craig Macmillan  12:33  But you are tilling with that piece of equipment over at the Santa Rita ranch when you have to occasionally yes in terms of no tilled you for see Star Lane being able to farm with a no till system indefinitely? Or do you have plans that you'll have to reset the system every so often? And if so, how would you go about it?   Taylor Jones  12:53  That's that's a good question. I think that I would love to go no tilling indefinitely, unfortunately, with the rate of compaction all of our soils have and then the heavy equipment we're using it's it's inevitable that we're going to have to rip and till but I don't think that we'll ever have to do like every single year full plowed down kind of stuff. I'm totally fine with instead of ripping every three years, let's double that to rip every six years or even further down the road, see how far we can push it. I think with our compaction results that we're seeing in both ranches, our rate of compaction has reduced by about 80% We should be able to go for about five and a half years without ripping instead of every three years. So we can probably push that to six years and rip and then you know, maybe future copost applications will help reduce that even more. We're doing some no till trials where we planted a vineyard and started it no till and comparing it to the same block that's being tilled annually every year. And so far, we're five or six years in now and seeing no differences in yield or plant growth which is promising because I think that for our soil future we kind of need to go the the no till route and you know show that it can be done. And let's see what happens.   Craig Macmillan  14:06  Something that we didn't touch on that. I think if our listeners are not familiar, this is in Santa Barbara County, Santa Yenz Valley. Happy Canyon and the Star Rita AVAs are about as different as you could possibly get in my opinion. So fill us in a little bit about what's going on soil and climate between those two branches.   Taylor Jones  14:24  Both are similar in terms of frost. I mean we had we always have the same amount of frost days I feel like but yeah, so So Santa Rita hills a lot closer to the ocean. You've got the Santa Ynez mountain range, they're going east to west kind of funneling in all the morning fog so we get Santa Rita Hills morning fog usually burning out towards the end of the day, high winds and that that kind of leads to some nice distressed plants are really big fluxes in temperatures with daytime highs versus nighttime colds very similar toHappy Canyon Aava like stuff over there, we get a lot warmer during the day, we're seeing a lot more 90 degree plus days than what we would see in Santa Rita Hills. And with with the way the climates moving, both ranches seem to be trending towards more and more and more high heat days. And we're seeing more cold days as well. And out at Happy Canyon, we're kind of on the far edge of Happy Canyon where Star Lane is and we have morning fog kind of creeps in and it will kind of tickle the edge of our ranch almost kind of recedes a lot more back into Santa Ynez. So at Star Lane, we get a lot more a lot less foggy mornings, kind of ocean mist, and we have a lot more beautiful sunny mornings out. But over there, we also have a lot of wind as well, the significant amount of wind. So AVA wise, they are, you know, they're fairly, fairly similar, I would say only because you have some of that marine influence. High winds with soil types are completely different. And just like the amount of the day that you're getting sunlight in different areas, and wind is fairly different as well.   Craig Macmillan  16:05  Tell me a little bit about the Healthy Soils program. I think this is a really fascinating thing. I remember when it started, and how did you find out about it? How did you get led to it? What was the process like for getting into it?   Taylor Jones  16:17  Trying to think I found it, I really liked looking for grant money, I came from an academic background. And if there's free money to be had, why not apply for it, we use all the tractor replacement grants, we're trying to get electrification grants, you know, find money where we can find it to help our help our company out. Pretty sure we just stumbled upon this program being available. And we basically talked to CDFA. And we're like, Hey, we're interested in applying and said, Here's the process. And it ended up being kind of ridiculously easy. I'm surprised that more people don't apply for Healthy Soils programs, there's just an an online application that you fill out, not only while you're filling out this application, they make you use the Comet Planner tool online, which is a really fun tool, if nobody's used it before, just to estimate greenhouse gas emission reductions based on you know, that's, that's kind of the core of the program is reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing organic matter in your soils. And comet planner can kind of help you look at that. So there's some criteria you have to meet, you cannot have applied compost on these fields within I forget what it was in the last five years or something like that. If you've been applying compost, you can't get the Healthy Soils program. So we used some areas, we had put compost down so we couldn't use those zones, which is why in our Drum Canyon Ranch is 69 acres, but we could only put compost down on 35 of that. So that's one One limitation of the program. But overall, you pick your blocks that you want to do you set out a sampling protocol for them. And they'll usually accept it. And it's essentially you sample your soils every year during the program prior to compost application. And they'll reimburse you for those soil samples as well. So that you can track your organic matter. That's that's all they require. We submit our soils for more testing than just organic matter. Yeah, overall, it's a really simple end of the year, you have to send them proof of your project. And that's generally photos of the compost arriving pictures of the team implementing the compost, actually putting it into the ground, receipts, invoices that you had for just everything to prove that you've done what you do. And then yeah, it's three years. And then in year five, you have one last soil sample to send to the state. So overall, it's a simple application process. I found it one of the easier grants to actually apply for.   Craig Macmillan  18:38  You mentioned that you were doing soil analysis beyond just the soil organic matter what what variables are you looking at?   Taylor Jones  18:44  We just submitted for a full a full soil health panel looking back on it, I wish I would have added bulk density on that, because I think that would have been interesting to see how it changed. But you know, hindsight is 2020 but we looked at you know, NPK, calcium, magnesium cation exchange capacity. Any differences in pH, soil moisture, sodium, just kind of the whatever you send to us soil lab, whatever they'll give you for those tests. I think the biggest thing was we reduced our NPK usage by about 35%. At both ranches after this soil results showed you know we had some NPK increases, but not really as much. I think what we're seeing more so is our vines, roots, finding new areas where they haven't been before. And they're kind of being able to utilize resources that previously weren't available to them. So that's leading to our decrease in fertilizer usage, which is great. We're trying to go towards organic and getting away from a lot of inorganic fertilizer usages would be spectacular.   Craig Macmillan  19:47  That reminds me of something so have you been applying either synthetic organic NPK formulations on top of the compost as the compost been it for the fertility program?   Taylor Jones  19:56  We still do add a little bit, a little bit of NPK but more so calcium, we will have more calcium applications. Especially out in Happy Canyon, we have really high serpentine soils and really bad magnesium problems. So we're always trying to add in gypsum and calcium whenever we can. The Drum Canyon Ranch, not too much of a problem over there we have a problem with potassium uptake. Um, so we do increase our potassium usage they're coming into this year, I think we're really going to reduce based on what we saw last year in terms of vigor and vine health. I mean, our nitrogen applications are going to be really low. Phosphorus, we're always pretty fine on we don't need to use much will probably continue with potassium, but we'll see what petioles looked like this year.   Craig Macmillan  20:40  Well, we're running out of time. Is there one thing that you would tell a grower one piece of advice you'd give to a grower regarding what you've learned from this project?   Taylor Jones  20:49  I mean, the advice is use compost, I think we're we're seeing root zones reaching areas they haven't before where we're using significantly less water, which is just key to farming in California and really in the world going forward. You know, you're you're increasing your CEC or your cation exchange capacity so less nutrients down I mean, you're getting compost is kind of like a win win scenario. The only downside is weeds. Our soils are seem to be returned to normal. We had earthworms returned for the first time since I've been at this ranch. Five different soil pits we found earthworms in which they've never been in before. They're kind of creeping in from the edges, which is awesome. I think we're gonna maybe transition to worm farming.   Craig Macmillan  21:33  (laughs). Where can people find out more about you and what you do?   Speaker 2  21:39  you could always find out. Dierberg and  Star Lane Vineyards, we have Dierbergvineyard.com. Starlanevineyard.com. Otherwise, I kind of just bounced around the Santa Barbara County. I think it always...   Craig Macmillan  21:50  Just like if you're looking if you're looking for him. Just go to Santa Barbara County and drive around a little bit. Yeah. Probably near a vineyard.   Taylor Jones  21:58  Yeah, exactly.   Craig Macmillan  22:00  He has a lot of friends.   Taylor Jones  22:02  But no, yeah, you know, I'm happy if people want to reach out to me. You know, my emails, Taylor taylor@Dierbervineyard.com. Yeah, happy to help people out with applying for grants or if they want to chat or look at some data. I'm always down to see what other people are seeing and compare what we're seeing in our AVA versus another AVA or different grower strategies for compost applications. You know, I think information sharing is the way to go.   Craig Macmillan  22:28  Yeah, totally. Fantastic. Well, Taylor, I just am so happy you could be on the on the podcast, this has really been fun for me.   Taylor Jones  22:35  Thanks for having me.   Craig Macmillan  22:36  This is a topic. It's obviously a hot topic, continuing topic. And I think that the longer that we as an industry have been doing this, because this isn't something that people were doing in the 70s for instance, you know, is this you know, we've all had to learn we've had a compost is not just compost, you need look, the analyses and this rate is not the same as that rate and on the soil does that and the fact that you guys are doing that work along with everybody else and that you're sharing information. I think it's really fantastic. So, thank you so much for your contribution.   Taylor Jones  23:03  Yeah. Thank you.   Craig Macmillan  23:04  So our guest has been Taylor Jones. He is director of viticulture at Star Lane and Dierberg Vineyards in Santa Barbara County.   Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Find out how Calgary is leading the agribusiness revolution: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comFyto: https://www.fyto.us/It's not every day that we get to feature a promising new crop on this show. Especially one uniquely suited to convert dairy manure into a high quality protein-rich and palatable feed. Jason Prapas is the founder and CEO of Fyto, which is pioneering the commercial production of aquatic plants that are not only nutritious for animal feed, but also highly productive. But to truly make their mark on agriculture, Fyto will need to scale. Are aquatic plants the answer for converting waste into animal feed? Fyto's Jason Prapas has the answer on today's Future of Agriculture podcast. Jason and I are going to discuss the systems they are developing to commercially grow aquatic plants. Now, we are not talking about algae here. As Jason will explain, their focus right now is growing a very small plant that's commonly referred to as duckweed. Fyto is in the process of setting up their systems on dairy farms to grow this crop in the effluent from the cows and have it immediately readily available as a high protein feed. He'll explain what makes these types of plants so important and promising for the future of agriculture. I learned a ton in this episode, and I think you might learn a thing or two as well. It's super interesting. Jason has a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and Prior to Fyto, he was the Director of Translational Research at the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design. There, he led the Center's efforts to select, shape, and position projects for large scale deployment, and helped develop 8 spinout companies in 18-months across the energy, health, agriculture, and water sectors. He was also an instructor of entrepreneurship courses at MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to that role at MIT, Jason was the Co-Founder and CTO of Factor[e] Ventures, a venture development and investment firm.Years ago he also worked as Process Engineer for the world's first algae-to-biofuel company, GreenFuel Technologies.

Progressives back Mike Johnston in Denver mayor's race | Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs slate of clean energy bills | $11B in federal funds allocated for rural clean energy projects | Missing and Murdered Indigenous Peoples crisis commission meets in Flagstaff, AZ (WARNING: contains graphic descriptions of violence) | Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signs nation's first Right-to-Repair law | Violent Femmes perform their self-titled debut in Denver, Austin and Houston this week.  Song playsIntro by hostWelcome to High Country - politics in the American West. My name is Sean Diller; regular listeners might know me from Heartland Pod's Talking Politics, every Monday.Support this show and all the work in the Heartland POD universe by going to heartlandpod.com and clicking the link for Patreon, or go to Patreon.com/HeartlandPod to sign up. Membership starts at $1/month, with even more extra shows and special access at the higher levels. No matter the level you choose, your membership helps us create these independent shows as we work together to change the conversation.Alright! Let's get into it: COLORADO NEWSLINE: Progressives back Mike Johnston in Denver mayor's raceBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 15, 2023 4:00 AMAs ballots begin to hit mailboxes for Denver's June 6th runoff election, Johnston and Kelly Brough, the other top-two finisher in April's first round of voting - have rolled out a veritable smorgasbord of endorsement announcements.Former mayoral candidates Ean Thomas Tafoya, Terrance Roberts, Jim Walsh, Al Gardner and Leslie Herod all endorsed Mike Johnston. Rep Herod (who was my preferred choice for mayor) said “Having shared countless debate and forum stages with Mike over the past months, I know that he has the passion, commitment, and vision to tackle Denver's toughest problems. Mike and I share the value of public service, hard work, and doing right by our communities, and I am excited to work with him to deliver on our progressive vision for Denver.”Meanwhile, Brough, the former Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce head who secured her spot in the runoff with just over 20% of the first-round vote, has picked up endorsements from Democratic state Sen. Chris Hansen as well as Thomas Wolf, an investment banker who campaigned on harsh anti-homelessness policies and received 1% of the vote for Mayor in April.Sen. Hansen said “Denver needs a proven executive — Kelly Brough is the leader we can trust to deliver results. It's going to take all of us to tackle Denver's biggest challenges, and I'm proud to join Kelly's team.”Brough also picked up endorsements from Democratic state Rep. Alex Valdez and former Tattered Cover CEO Kwame Spearman, both of whom entered the mayor's race but later withdrew. Brough and Johnston emerged from the crowded field of mayoral candidates after becoming by far the race's two best-funded candidates, each raising about $1MM in direct contributions and benefiting from millions more in outside super PAC expenditures from billionaires and real-estate interests.After a first round that featured a wide range of perspectives and ideologies, the runoff campaign has featured few stark disagreements on policy between the two candidates, both of whom are veteran figures in Colorado's centrist political establishment.Brough served as then-Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's chief of staff from 2006 to 2009, then led the conservative-leaning Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce for 12 years before stepping down ahead of her mayoral run. Some of her top endorsers include former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, both Democrats.On Friday, she touted the endorsement of the Greater Metro Denver Ministerial Alliance, a coalition of clergy and civil rights leaders in the city's Black community. Pastor Paul Burleson, the Alliance's vice president of political affairs, said that Brough's experience is key to her appeal.Brough has also picked up endorsements from the Denver Police Protective Association and other unions representing law enforcement officers and firefighters. She was one of the only candidates in the mayor's race to endorse a return of “qualified immunity,” a legal doctrine that bars people from suing law enforcement officers in their individual capacity. Colorado lawmakers, led by Herod, passed a landmark police reform bill that abolished qualified immunity in the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020. - Just one reason I love Leslie Herod.During his time in the state Senate, Mike Johnston became one of the state's leading champions of education reform, a movement that has galled teachers' unions and progressives who've accused him of undermining public education. From 2020 to 2022 he was the CEO of Gary Community Ventures, a Denver-based philanthropic organization founded by oil tycoon Sam Gary.Though hardly a progressive firebrand himself, Johnston spoke at Wednesday's event of the coalition he hopes to build as mayor. Along with former mayoral rivals, he received endorsements from Democratic state Sens. Julie Gonzales (another legislator I have tremendous respect for) and James Coleman (who is my state senator but someone whom I don't know much about), adding to a list of supporters that also includes former Mayor Federico Peña and former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll.Rep. Leslie Herod said “Make no mistake: We are the progressives in this race, and we have chosen to back Mike. We are the candidates who have consistently spoken about putting people over structures, putting people over businesses — people always first.”So for my part I'll be following State Sen. Julie Gonzales and Rep. Leslie Herod, voting for Mike Johnston.Final thought: Johnston might not be seen as progressive, but if he wins this election assembling a progressive coalition to bear a developer/business-backed candidate in Kelly Brough, then progressives should absolutely have a strong voice in the Johnston administration if he wants to keep his job. But first he's got to win.COLORADO NEWSLINE: Gov. Jared Polis signs slate of clean energy measures, utility regulation billBY: CHASE WOODRUFF - MAY 11, 2023 5:36 PMGov. Jared Polis has signed into law a bill that commits Colorado for the first time to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions target, along with other measures to address spiking utility rates and the state's long-term energy future.Flanked by Democratic lawmakers and state energy officials, Polis signed Senate Bill 23-16 at an event at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The bill, a wide-ranging package of reforms aimed at boosting clean energy efforts in a variety of industries, was approved on party-line votes by Democratic majorities in the General Assembly just before its adjournment on May 8.SB-16 sets a statutory goal of a 100% reduction in Colorado's greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, revising that target upwards from a 90% goal set by the Legislature in 2019. It's the first time the state has formally established the net-zero goal that scientists with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have said is necessary to avert the most catastrophic impacts of global warming.To get there, the bill contains what sponsors called a “potpourri” of measures to accelerate the transition to clean energy, including sections that streamline the process for the installation of electric transmission lines and rooftop solar panels; stricter requirements on large insurance companies to assess climate risk; tax credits for the purchase of electric-powered lawn equipment; and more authority for the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission to regulate carbon capture projects.COGCC chair Jeff Robbins applauded the bill's efforts to encourage carbon capture, which he called “critical as a tool in addressing climate change.”“The COGCC is well poised with its resources and regulatory understanding to now help carbon storage be deployed safely and responsibly in Colorado,” Robbins said in a press release.Gov. Polis also signed House Bill 23-1252, which establishes a new state grant program for geothermal energy projects and requires large natural-gas utilities to develop emissions-reducing “clean heat plans.”Senate Bill 23-291, a package of reforms to state utility regulations, and House Bill 23-1234, a bipartisan measure aimed at streamlining permitting and inspection processes for solar projects were also both signed into law. SB-291 emerged from hearings held earlier this year by the Joint Select Committee on Rising Utility Rates, a special panel of lawmakers convened by Democratic leaders following sharp increases in many Coloradans' utility bills in 2022.It directs the state's Public Utilities Commission to more closely scrutinize how privately-owned utilities manage volatility in natural-gas prices, the main culprit in rate increases that caused the average monthly payment for customers of Xcel Energy, Colorado's largest utility, to rise by more than 50% last year. Other provisions in the bill are aimed at assessing the long-term future of natural gas infrastructure as more homes and businesses transition to all-electric heating and cooking appliances.In a press release, Advanced Energy United, an industry group representing clean energy companies, said the legislation creates a “national model” for dealing with volatility in the natural gas market.“This bill will help make Colorado's energy system more affordable long-term, and should be seen as a model for states across the country on how to manage high gas prices and a transition to cost-saving alternatives to gas, like high-efficiency heat pumps, rooftop solar and battery storage,” said Emilie Olson, a senior principal at Advanced Energy United.House Bill 23-1272, creates or extends a variety of clean energy tax credits, including incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles, e-bikes, electric heat pumps, industrial decarbonization technologies and more.Gov. Polis said “These exciting money-saving changes for Coloradans mean reliable, lower energy costs and good-paying jobs, as we continue to fuel the innovation that makes Colorado a national leader in clean energy. We are cutting red tape, creating good paying jobs and improving air quality as we continue to make bold progress towards achieving 100% renewable energy by 2040.”ARIZONA MIRROR: Rural electric co-ops to get $10.7B in USDA funds for clean energy grants, loansBY: JACOB FISCHLER - MAY 16, 2023 7:11 AMThe U.S. Department of Agriculture will begin to administer two loan and grant programs worth nearly $11 billion to boost clean energy systems in rural areas, administration officials said Tuesday. The programs are the New ERA program for rural electric cooperatives, and the PACE program for other energy providers. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the funding “continues an ongoing effort to ensure that rural America is a full participant in this clean energy economy.”White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi said, “Rural areas can have more difficulty than more urban ones in attracting private sector investment. The programs are intended to allow those rural areas to take advantage of an industry-wide trend to invest in clean energy production.He said, “There's a favorable wind blowing here. This allows rural communities to put up a sail.”The programs are meant to put rural electric cooperatives on equal footing with larger privately owned companies that have already put major funding into clean energy deployment.The programs represent the largest single funding effort for rural electrification since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Rural Electrification Act in 1936.The money is meant not only to address the climate impacts of fossil fuel energy and reduce home energy costs, but to act as an economic engine for rural areas.Rural electric cooperatives are eligible for the New ERA program, and up to 25% of the funding in that program can be in the form of direct grants. Utilities can use the money to build renewable energy systems, zero-emission systems and carbon capture facilities.The USDA will begin to accept initial applications for funding on July 31. Applicants are expected to write more detailed proposals for funding after the USDA accepts their initial applications.The PACE program provides loans to renewable energy developers and electric service providers “to help finance large-scale solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, hydropower projects and energy storage in support of renewable energy systems,” the release said. The program is targeted to “vulnerable, disadvantaged, Tribal and energy communities,” the release said. It's in line with a Biden administration goal to allocate at least 40% of the overall benefits of certain federal spending to disadvantaged communities.The USDA can forgive up to 40% of most of the loans in the program. Up to 60% of loans to applicants in some U.S. territories and tribal communities can be forgiven.Initial applications for that program will open June 30.ARIZONA MIRROR:National commission on the MMIP crisis meets in Arizona to hear testimony, recommendationsBY: SHONDIIN SILVERSMITH - MAY 15, 2023 1:50 PMFive empty chairs sat at the front of the Not Invisible Act Commission hearing, each wrapped in a shawl, blanket or quilt representing a different group of individuals impacted by human trafficking or with a loved one who is missing or murdered.“We want to allow space for representing our relatives,” commission member Grace Bulltail said, noting the traditions in many Indigenous families to always preserve a space for absent loved ones. “We're doing that to honor our loved ones,” Bulltail said, explaining that, by putting the chairs there, the commission hearing was holding space for them.The chair wrapped in a red shawl with white and yellow handprints honored the missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. The chair wrapped in a red, orange, bridge, and white Native design shawl with a black blazer draped over it was to honor the missing and murdered Indigenous men and boys. Another chair was wrapped in a light blue, white and purple quilt. Pinned to the quilt was a picture of 11-year-old Ashlynne Mike, a Navajo girl who was abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation in 2016. This chair honored Indigenous children.The chair wrapped in a maroon shawl with floral designs honored the LGBTQI and two-spirit Indigenous community. The chair wrapped in a brown Pendleton honored Indigenous veterans.The Not Invisible Act Commission, organized by the U.S. Department of the Interior,  held a public hearing at the Twin Arrows Casino near Flagstaff to hear testimony and recommendations from victims and families impacted by human trafficking and the missing and murdered Indigenous peoples crisis. The commission also heard from local tribal leaders and advocates. The Not Invisible Act was passed into law in October 2020, establishing the commission as a cross-jurisdictional advisory committee of federal and non-federal members, including law enforcement, tribal leaders, federal partners, service providers, family members of missing and murdered individuals, and survivors.The meeting at Twin Arrows was the commission's third public hearing. This summer, it has four more planned in Minnesota, northern California, New Mexico and Montana. The hearings are being held in communities impacted most by the MMIP crisis.Commissioners heard emotional testimony from Seraphine Warren and Pamela Foster as they shared their experiences of losing a loved one and advocated for change.Ms. Warren is the niece of Ella Mae Begay, a Navajo woman who went missing from her home in Sweetwater, Arizona, on the Navajo Nation on June 15, 2021. Warren continued to advocate for not only her aunt but all Indigenous people.Speaking through tears, she told her aunt's story. “I know it wasn't her legacy to be stolen or to be murdered,” Warren said. “Just because she isn't here doesn't mean she can't be part of change.”Begay is still missing, but there have been developments in her case. In March, Preston Henry Tolth, 23, of New Mexico, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix for assault and carjacking.The indictment alleges that, on June 15, 2021, Tolth assaulted Begay, resulting in serious bodily injury, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Tolth then took her Ford F-150 pickup truck and drove it from Arizona to New Mexico with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury to Begay.Warren said during Tolth's arraignment hearing on April 7 in Flagstaff that she heard details about the night her aunt went missing that she was not ready for.Warren, in tears, told the commission that Tolth told federal agents that he “snapped” and struck her in the face multiple times, causing her to bleed from the nose and mouth. Tolth told authorities that he wasn't sure if she was dead, Warren said, and when he drove away, he said he regretted hitting her, since all he wanted was the truck.Tolth is being held in custody and is expected to go to trial later in May.Pamela Foster is the mother of Ashlynne Mike, the 11-year-old Navajo girl abducted and killed on the Navajo Nation in 2016. Foster has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts for Indigenous children and people since she lost her daughter. On the afternoon of May 2, 2016, Ashlynne Mike and her 9-year-old brother, Ian Mike, didn't make it home from school. When they got off the school bus in Shiprock, New Mexico, on the Navajo Nation, a predator tricked them into getting into his van by promising them a ride home.Hours later, passersby found Ian Mike wandering alone in the area. Police located Ashlynne Mike's body on May 3, 2016, and discovered she had been sexually assaulted, strangled, and bludgeoned repeatedly with a tire iron.She said, “I miss my daughter every single day. I became a voice for my daughter the moment I received word that her life was taken from her.”She talked about how the system failed when her children were missing in 2016. She said that May 1 to May 6 is a nightmare for her every year, because she relives what happened to her children.Foster talked about the hours from when her children disappeared to when they found her daughter's body; she ran into countless obstacles that left her without support.“It was very hard to sit there and know that there were no resources available for my children,” Foster said. “I absolutely had nothing.”She said local law enforcement was not adequately trained to handle child abductions. There was no clear communication between local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. Instead of searching for her children, Foster said they were trying to figure out exactly what protocols were needed to start looking.“Time was lost,” Foster said, and they did not send out an AMBER Alert until the following day. Foster recalled the alert went out at 2 a.m., and she said that helped no one because not many people were awake then. She remembers hearing officers from the neighboring jurisdictions tell her they couldn't go out to look for her daughter until they were given the clearance to do so by the Navajo Nation Police Department. Foster said it frustrated her how long it took for that to happen. She said the anger and hurt about what happened to Ashlynne led her to be a voice for her daughter.“I promised her I would do something for all of our other Indigenous children. To give them the protection that they need so they don't go through the same thing.”Foster has led many grassroots efforts to support Indigenous children, including advocating and petitioning for the AMBER Alert system to include Indian Country.Foster said she wanted to change, and she knew the justice system in Indian Country needed to be updated, so she focused her efforts on the AMBER Alert system. Her advocacy resulted in the Ashlynne Mike AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act of 2018, which makes tribes eligible for AMBER Alert grants to integrate into state and regional AMBER Alert communication plans.“I always say that I've never received justice for what happened to my daughter because nothing can bring her back,” Foster said. “There will never be justice, but we can learn how to move forward in changing laws to make things better for our people.”The goal of the hearing was for the federal commissioners to listen and hear recommendations on the best course of action for the MMIP crisis. Commissioners will use the suggestions to develop their final report for the Department of Interior.Foster's big recommendation was not only geared at the commissioners, but other attendees of the hearing. She encouraged them to tell their tribal leaders to receive the AMBER Alert in Indian Country Act training. “It is free,” she said, adding that it is a vital program for Indigenous communities because it will train police officers and social workers from the tribe. Because tribes are sovereign nations, the Department of Justice has to receive a request in order to run the training on tribal land: “Have your tribal leaders request this training for your community because the children are our next generation,” Foster said. “There's still a lot of tribes that need to be trained.”When Seraphine Warren was finished sharing her aunt's story, she laid out her recommendations. “Transparency and swift action is key,” she said, “which means that when a person is missing, law enforcement should immediately inform all jurisdictions and issue press releases to media channels to inform the public.”“Family members need to be regularly and constantly updated with the progress of the investigation, and families should be prioritized if any remains are found in any jurisdiction.” Some of the other recommendations included allowing families to hire private investigators, providing them access to case files, supporting families in organizing their task force, providing families with constant and reliable access to grief counseling services, medical attention, financial and legal assistance, and safe housing for families of missing or murdered loved ones. ASSOCIATED PRESS: If you're not first, you're last. DENVER (AP) — Sitting in front of a hulking red tractor, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a bill Tuesday making Colorado the first state to ensure farmers can fix their own tractors and combines with a “right to repair” law — which compels manufacturers to provide the necessary manuals, tools, parts and software farmers would need.Colorado, home to high desert ranches and sweeping farms on the plains, took the lead on the issue following a nationwide outcry from farmers that manufacturers blocked them from making fixes and forced them to wait precious days or even weeks for an official servicer to arrive — delays that hurt profits.While farmers wait and their increasingly high-tech tractors or combines sit idle, a hailstorm could decimate an entire crop. Or, a farmer could miss the ideal planting window for their crops to grow.Lawmakers in at least 10 other states have introduced similar legislation, including in Florida, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, Texas and Vermont. But Colorado has taken the lead. At the signing ceremony Tuesday afternoon, under a light drizzle of rain, Gov. Polis said: “This bill will save farmers and ranchers time and money and support the free market in repair” before exclaiming, “first in the nation!”Behind the governor and arrayed farmers and lawmakers sat a red Steiger 370 tractor owned by a farmer named Danny Wood. Wood's tractor has flown an American flag reading “Farmers First,” and it has been one of two of his machines to break down, requiring long waits before servicers arrived to enter a few lines of computer code, or make a fix that Wood could have made himself.As the signing ceremony ended, Gov. Polis and Rep. Brianna Titone, who ran the bill in the state House, climbed inside the tractor for a photo as the ceremony ended.Great job, Rep. Titone! Huge win for this up-and-coming legislator. When I first saw her speak announcing her initial candidacy in 2017, I didn't know what to expect. Honestly, I didn't expect a lot, and I didn't particularly expect her to even win. And then, winning that seat was just the first of many instances where I've seen her demonstrate a level of depth, grit, and smarts that rival any of her peers. Great job Rep. Titone, you rock. CONCERT PICK OF THE WEEK: Violent Femmes - performing their self-titled album - Levitt Pavilion in Denver on Sunday May 21. The cult favorite folk punk band from Milwaukee is celebrating 40 years since the release of their first album in 1983. More info at vfemmes.comWelp, that's it for me! From Denver I'm Sean Diller. Original reporting for the stories in today's show comes from Colorado Newsline, Arizona Mirror, Denver Post, Associated Press and Denver's Westword.Thank you for listening! See you next time.

In the 1940s the U.S. Department of Agriculture and A&P supermarkets teamed up to hold a contest to see who could breed the meatiest, most efficient, most visually appealing chicken.  Research: Audio Productions inc. “The Chicken of Tomorrow.” Documentary. (1948). Boyd, William. “Making Meat: Science, Technology, and American Poultry Production.” Technology and Culture , Oct., 2001, Vol. 42, No. 4 (Oct., 2001). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25147798 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Robert Bakewell". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Bakewell. Accessed 21 April 2023. Bugos, Glenn E. “Intellectual Property Protection in the American Chicken-Breeding Industry.” The Business History Review , Spring, 1992, Vol. 66, No. 1. Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3117055 Cook, Robert E. et al. “How Chicken on a Sunday Became an Anyday Treat.” USDA. 1975. https://naldc.nal.usda.gov/catalog/CAIN769013731 Cornell University. “Backyard Revival: American Heritage Poultry.” https://exhibits.library.cornell.edu/backyard-revival-american-heritage-poultry Elfick, Dominic. “A Brief History of Broiler Selection: How Chicken Became a Global Food Phenomenon in 50 Years.” Aviagen. http://en.aviagen.com/assets/Sustainability/50-Years-of-Selection-Article-final.pdf Horowitz, Roger. “Making the Chicken of Tomorrow: Reworking Poultry as Commodities and as Creatures, 1945-1990.” From “Industrializing Organisms.” Susan R. Schrepfer and Philip Scranton, editors. Routledge. 2003. Killgrove, Kristina. “Ancient DNA Explains How Chickens Got To The Americas.” Forbes. 11/23/2017. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kristinakillgrove/2017/11/23/ancient-dna-explains-how-chickens-got-to-the-americas/ Laatsch, David R. “The ‘Chicken of Tomorrow.'” University of Wisconsin-Madison. Livestock Division of Extension. https://livestock.extension.wisc.edu/articles/the-chicken-of-tomorrow/ Long, Tom. “Henry Saglio; his breeding knowhow changed poultry industry.” Boston.com. 12/26/2003. http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/obituaries/articles/2003/12/16/henry_saglio_his_breeding_knowhow_changed_poultry_industry/ McKenna, Maryn. “The Surprising Origin of Chicken as a Dietary Staple.” National Geographic. 5/1/2018. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/poultry-food-production-agriculture-mckenna Peters, Joris et al. “The biocultural origins and dispersal of domestic chickens.” PNAS. Vol. 119, No. 24. June 2022. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2121978119 Short, Michael. “Delmarva's $4.8 Billion Chicken Industry Was Accidentally Hatched 100 Years Ago.” Lancaster Farming. 2/19/2023. https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/poultry/delmarva-s-4-8-billion-chicken-industry-was-accidentally-hatched-100-years-ago/article_36af9702-f119-51d1-a122-aee4b78955ce.html Shrader H.L. “The Chicken-of-Tomorrow Program; Its Influence on ‘Meat-Type' Poultry Production.” Poultry Science. Volume 31, Issue 1, 1 January 1952, Pages 3-10. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119513013 Wiehoff, Dale. “How the Chicken of Tomorrow became the Chicken of the World.” Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. 3/26/2013. https://www.iatp.org/blog/201303/how-the-chicken-of-tomorrow-became-the-chicken-of-the-world See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tonight's Guest WeatherBrain works for OU as a Research Associate at the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations.  His primary role is connecting research to the needs of Emergency Management personnel.  He also volunteers with McClain County, Oklahoma EMA.  David Hogg, welcome!  Also joining us on tonight's episode is special guest and Kansas native Andrea Burns.  She's an Extension Agent for K-State Research and Extension.  Her background is in Agriculture and Natural Resources and she regularly works with local farmers and those in horticulture.  Thanks for joining us.  Last but certainly not least, joining us is a meteorologist at Kansas State University.  He runs the Kansas Mesonet and works in the State Climate Office.  He also works in predictive services for the Kansas Forest Service.  He was born and raised in Ohio.  Chip Redmond, welcome!

A conversation with Peter Byck, filmmaker and a wrangler of scientists, about regenerative vs conventional grazing and his new 4 part documentary series Roots So Deep (you can see the devil down there).---------------------------------------------------Join our Gumroad community, discover the tiers and benefits on www.gumroad.com/investinginregenag. Support our work:Share itGive a 5-star ratingBuy us a coffee… or a meal! www.Ko-fi.com/regenerativeagriculture----------------------------------------------------More about this episode on https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/peter-byck.Find our video course on https://investinginregenerativeagriculture.com/course.----------------------------------------------------The above references an opinion and is for information and educational purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice. Support the showFeedback, ideas, suggestions? - Twitter @KoenvanSeijen - Get in touch www.investinginregenerativeagriculture.comJoin our newsletter on www.eepurl.com/cxU33P! Support the showThanks for listening and sharing!

How can you create a purposeful farm culture in the middle of a city? On today's episode of the Thriving Farmer Podcast, Evan Marks is joining us from Orange County, California. He is the Founder and Executive Director of The Ecology Center, which is not only a farm but a nonprofit education center that is passionate about putting the culture back into agriculture.  Located on a historic agricultural property that is today surrounded by urban sprawl, The Ecology Center is a 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified™ farm and education center that serves as a hub for southern California's ecological movement. With over 100,000 visitors a year, their farm produces everything from CSA boxes, flowers, and ferments to farm experiences, including educational classes and camps, an apprenticeship program, and weekly community dinners with world-class chefs.  Tune in to this episode to hear all about how this thriving non-profit farm and education center conducts business!  In this episode, you'll hear: How Evan ended up back in Orange County 1:48 The history of the property where The Ecology Center is located 4:08 About the soil type and fertility on the farm 9:32 More about the different teams and roles at the center 14:12 About their Regenerative Organic Certification 17:33 How they grew from 1 acre to 28 acres 25:29 More about their educational programs 32:32 Evan's advice for a beginner farmer 33:33 The importance of pivoting your farm plans when things aren't working 37:00 What Evan's favorite tool is 47:05 About the Four Core Principles of The Ecology Center 50:55 About the Guest: From studying Agroecology to working in Indigenous and traditional agricultural systems around the world to founding The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano in 2008, Evan Marks has dedicated his life to finding creative solutions for the most urgent problems facing our food system.  Resources: Website: https://theecologycenter.org/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theecologycenter Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theecologycenter/       This podcast is sponsored by Small Farm University, THE go-to resource for gardeners, homesteaders, and farmers around the world. Small Farm University delivers classes online and on demand, with training on how to grow crops AND how to grow a profitable farm business that serves you, your family, and your community well.  Applying what you learn in SFU could save you countless hours and thousands of dollars. And, it can save you the agony of costly mistakes some make, just because they “don't know what they don't know.” Delivered by real farmers with hands-on experience and expertise, it is unique in its approach, using the RIPEN method for growing and building a farm or farm business. To learn more, visit:  GrowingFarmers.com today!

Episode 38: Our plant today is Fig and our guest is Dr. Lee Reich. Lee is a writer, horticultural consultant, and educator with graduate degrees in soil science and horticulture. Lee is a big fan of Figs (Ficus carica) and in this episode we learn how to successfully propagate, grow, and harvest this ancient plant. Lee explains why it's a challenge to know how many varieties of Figs there really are and shares his tips about how to keep your Fig trees healthy and happy. Figs are unique in the fruit world. Did you know that when you eat a Fig, you aren't eating a fruit? A fig is really a syconium (or synconium), a part of a stem that expands into a sac containing flowers. Luckily for us, Fig syconiums are so delicious! Although, Figs are a true Mediterranean plant, they are adaptable and resilient. Those who live in colder climates, rejoice! You can successfully grow Figs and enjoy your own delicious syconiums. :) Lee shares some of his many methods for Fig growing in cold regions, including growing them in pots, overwintering them in greenhouses and basements, and pruning them so their low growing arms are very close to the ground. Learn more about these techniques in depth in Lee's book Growing Figs in Cold Climates. A former plant and soil researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Cornell University, Lee's books include Weedless Gardening, Uncommon Fruits for Every Garden, and Growing Figs in Cold Climates. Lee wrote a syndicated gardening column for the Associated Press for nearly 30 years. Lee's farmden- his term for his more than a garden, less than a farm, piece of land, has been featured in many publications like the New York Times and Martha Stewart Living and has won awards from National Gardening and Organic Gardening magazines. Visit Lee's website at leereich.com to learn about Figs, fruit, gardening, soil, and more! Lee was a guest on my other podcast Sustainable World Radio. Click here to listen to the episode Gardening Like Nature, where Lee discusses the art and science of building soil from the ground up and why he believes it's important to pay attention to the top few inches of soil and let nature take care of the rest. Learn about mulch, the importance of compost, and why Lee loves to repurpose what others might call waste in his quest to improve soil fertility and grow vibrant and resilient plants.

Kit Barron is the Head of Data Science & Analytics at Farmer's Business Network, an independent agricultural tech and commerce platform and farmer-to-farmer network that helps its members make confident decisions to ensure the economic viability of their farms and work toward a sustainable future. FBN is an advocate for family farmers and ranchers, and does whatever it takes to help farmers become more prosperous - whether it's through data science-driven agronomic insights about their fields, providing farm inputs through its e-commerce store, helping farmers sell their crop more intelligently and independently, or providing them with health or crop insurance. FBN arms farmers with the tools they need to make the best decisions for their business, their families and the planet. Kit joins the pod to provide some updates on FBN and share more about their recent launch of Norm, their AI agronomy advisor. Tune in! Connect with FBN Website | Norm

This year, food prices are expected to rise more than six percent , according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We talk with a professor of nutrition science from UW-Milwaukee about how to balance your budget and your meals.

Agustin Luna is a sophomore at J.W. Nixon High School in Laredo, Texas, he is the chapter's reporter and he is responsible for cooking the pork ribs on the barbecue team.  That's right, the barbecue team. Until an article popped up on my news feed the other day, I was unaware that there was such a think as a high school barbecue competition.  However, Agustin goes to school in Texas, so I shouldn't have been surprised.  Agustin and his team have qualified to be in the state championship in may, just a few days before this episode is aired.  The championship is held in Round Rock, at the baseball field that was built there to honor Nolan Ryan.  How can you get more Texas than barbecue and Nolan Ryan. Agustin and each of his teammates are assigned an item to cook for the competition.  Each dish is scored individually by judges, the scores are compiled and a gross score is given to each team.  The top teams from each regional competition get to advance, and J.W. Nixon is one of those teams this year.  This is not an FFA competition, but at J.W. Nixon High School the team is from the FFA chapter.

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Stacy Carr is an Agricultural Consultant and Coach from Johnson City, Tennessee.  Hearing her story, it is obvious what it takes to be able to consult young and beginning farmers with no experience in the way that can - decades of work and experience in agriculture. Stacy has a fantastic, exciting and rewarding business, but it is not the type of business that you just choose and start.  This business takes a passion for all aspects of agriculture that has driven you to take your own risks, do your own work and spend your own money over a lifetime pursuing farming.  Stacy has done that, in multiple different states and in multiple different ways.  And today, she is reaping the rewards of all of that knowledge and experience by being able to share it with people from all walks of life, including young families who want a rural lifestyle, and help them to succeed in farming. In today's episode Stacy and I discuss all of that experience, and how her business works.  We will also talk about who the people are that want an agricultural lifestyle so much that they are willing to pay for somebody to guide them to that destination.

Douglas G. Duncan is Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at Fannie Mae where he is responsible for forecasts and analyses of the economy and the housing and mortgage markets. Duncan also oversees strategic research regarding the potential impact of external factors on the housing industry. He leads the House Price Forecast Working Group reporting to the Finance Committee. Under his leadership, Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group (ESR) won the NABE Outlook Award, presented annually for the most accurate GDP and Treasury note yield forecasts, in both 2015 and 2016 – the first recipient in the award's history to capture the honor two years in a row. In addition, ESR was awarded by Pulsenomics for best home price forecast. Named one of Bloomberg/BusinessWeek's 50 Most Powerful People in Real Estate, Duncan is Fannie Mae's source for information and analyses on demographics and the external business and economic environment; the implications of changes in economic activity on the company's strategy and execution; and for forecasting overall housing, economic, and mortgage market activity. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Duncan was Senior Vice President and Chief Economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. His experience also includes work on the Financial Institutions Project at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and service as a LEGIS Fellow and staff member with the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs for Congressman Bill McCollum in the U.S. House of Representatives. Duncan received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University and his B.S. and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from North Dakota State University.The Norris Group originates and services loans in California and Florida under California DRE License 01219911, Florida Mortgage Lender License 1577, and NMLS License 1623669.  For more information on hard money lending, go www.thenorrisgroup.com and click the Hard Money tab.Video LinkRadio Show

There's been another cattle swindle like the infamous ghost herd. This one ended up with a multi-suicide and leads us to ask what would we do if faced with potentially life in prison? We also discuss China cutting back on their US corn purchases and what that may mean for us.  If you enjoy this episode then please leave us a review and share this episode with your friends! If you leave us a review let us know and we will send you some swag when we get it!  Submit your questions of all calibers at our contact page on our website: https://www.talkdirtpodcast.com/contact Follow us on social media: Bobby Lee: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=hurricane%20creek%20farms Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/hurricanecreekfarm/ YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/c/HurricaneCreekFarms Logan: Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/LHFarmsTN Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/lo.hanks/ YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqYpTjKQtOMABFOc2Aw3_Ow/featured 

In this episode we talk with Jay Bost who helped found the Hawaii Seedgrowers Network, and ran a GoFarm site on Oahu. When we spoke with Jay we focus on his roles in the beginning and evolution of GoFarm, with a strong focus on the role and importance of local seed production.Brought to you by University of Hawaii College of Tropical Ag. and Human Resources (CTAHR), and the Seeds of Well-being (SOW) Project. This podcast is supported by the Farm and Ranch Stress Assistance Network (FRSAN) grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Hawaii Department of Agriculture.Resources:- “Shattering” by Pat Mooney and Cary Fowler- Hawaii Banana Source- Kohala Center Seed Initiative- Hawaii See Growers Network- Organic Seed Alliance- CTAHR Seed Program- GoFarm Hawaii training programs- UH Master Gardener ProgramMay is Mental Health Awareness Month:USDA Mental Health Workshop SeriesFind out more about us: Seeds Of Wellbeing website Seeds of Wellbeing Resource Hub All the SOW links

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Listen to the three big things happening in agriculture each morning from the editors of Successful Farming. Get the news, weather, and markets information that farmers and ranchers need to start the day. Successful Farming covers agriculture news on Agriculture.com and monthly in Successful Farming magazine.

Find out how Calgary is leading the agribusiness revolution: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.comFeedlot Health by TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods: https://www.feedlothealth.comTELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods: https://www.telus.com/agcg Over the past five years or so, a Canadian telecommunications company has established themselves as a major player in agtech. Telus Agriculture has acquired a number of agricultural technology companies including Feedlot Health Management Services. Tye Perrett is the general manager of services and pharmaceutical supply at what is now Feedlot Health by Telus Agriculture and Consumer Goods. They are one piece of an overall strategy to optimize the food value chain through connected data from farm to fork. This is an ambitious vision, but Telus likely has the resources and patience to see it come to fruition. Tye and I will talk about Feedlot Health specifically, both before and after the acquisition by Telus. We'll also learn a little bit more about Telus' overall approach to ag data. And we'll get some of Tye's thoughts on data, artificial intelligence, and the future of agtech. This a bit of a shorter episode because it was originally intended to be a 5-7 minute spotlight. But when it came down to it, I thought it would be worthwhile to share the whole thing, so I hope you enjoy. Dr. Tye Perrett is a veterinarian by training who joined Feedlot Health in 2004, where he currently manages the administrative and consultant teams.

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In this special Rage Talk episode, Rich and cohost Wendy Beck have a conversation with Leeann Bedsaul and Derek Hopkins.The Char Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization that helps adults in Maryland's agricultural community struggling with substance abuse. The organization aims to provide recovery support, promote life skills and create a sense of community through a Code of the West, emphasizing principles like courage, hard work, and responsibility. Char Hope Foundation provides sober living opportunities, financial aid, and supervised agricultural learning experiences to help those in recovery to gain new experiences and develop important skills. By creating a sense of belonging and fostering community, Char Hope Foundation helps those struggling with addiction feel less isolated. The organization's commitment to personal responsibility and accountability reflects its dedication to promoting a culture of integrity and hard work in the agricultural community. Char Hope Foundation's recovery support, life skill promotion, and community outreach programs make a positive difference in the lives of those it serves.Here are links for you to bookmark, save, follow, memorize, write down, and to share with others:Home | charhopefoundationChar

The Commstock Report: Wednesday, May 10th, 2023.  To get the full report, please sign up using the link below:   https://commstock.com/membership-account/membership-levels/Stay Connectedhttps://www.commstock.com/https://www.facebook.com/CommStockInvestments/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClP8BeFK278ZJ05NNoFk5Fghttps://www.linkedin.com/company/commstock-investments/

Joe Mag Raollaigh, Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Correspondent, reports as Retail Forum meets today to discuss concerns over high food prices.