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Agriculture

Goat farmer uses YouTube to document herd

By Will Geschke The News-Review MELROSE, Ore. — Sylvia Smith has been around goats for a long time. Her parents started raising goats when she was just 5 years old. At a young age, she started raising sheep, but found her true passion in goats, first at the age of 12. “I felt like sheep were kind of dumb,” Sylvia said. “They didn’t have as fun of personalities as the goats, and I decided I really, really liked them.” Over the past four and a half years, Sylvia, now 16, has grown her herd into a group of ten Kiko goats — on top of working a job, taking school ...

Juniata County 4-H Horse and Pony Club meets

By Lilyann Shelley McALISTERVILLE — The Juniata County 4-H Horse and Pony Club met July 18 at the Double B Ranch in McAlisterville. The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. The president was not present so the vice-president led the meeting. Old news was discussed before a presentation on hot-blooded and cold-blooded horses and a working horse. Members celebrated during a horse show at the Mifflin County Youth Park on July 15 by eating hotdogs, cheeseburgers, and other delicious food. Afterward, members went swimming in the pool and took a lap around the pond. The ...

HARRISBURG — PA Farm Link, in collaboration with Sustainable Agricultural Research and Education Program and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, are offering a hybrid continued education program on Medicaid 5-Year Look-back. The program will be offered Oct. 25, 2023 from 1- 3 p.m. with in-person and online options available. Educator for the program is MacGregor Brillhart, attorney at Stock and Leader. Ag professionals will learn about long-term care expenses and related asset planning strategies to ensure farms are not encumbered by Medicaid liens. Through increased ...

Agriculture Counts: USDA monthly report

by King Whetstone USDA conducts Pennsylvania custom rates survey for first time since 2016 We have contacted Pennsylvanian farmers and agri-businesses for the 2022 Custom Rates Survey. The survey is a comprehensive assessment of custom crop and livestock service work offered in the state during 2022. The most recent crop and livestock custom rates data available are from 2016. This year, persons involved in agriculture in Pennsylvania can show how hiring custom services on farms has changed. We have contacted about 4,000 farmers and agri-businesses in Pennsylvania starting in early ...

USDA invests nearly millions to boost school nutrition

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As part of a cooperative agreement to develop and implement the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Action for Healthy Kids recently announced that it is awarding nearly $30 million in subgrants to 264 school districts across 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching students in some of our nation’s highest need schools. These funds are being provided by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “Students in every community deserve access to healthy and nutritious meals,” USDA Deputy Secretary Xochitl Torres Small, said. ...

Just add water: how the gardens of the future are transforming food today

Wealth of Geeks It’s projected that humans must increase worldwide food production by roughly 70% by 2050 to meet the caloric needs of 10 billion people. Through traditional agricultural practices, this would require people to convert 593 hectares of land for new food production, about double the size of India. Traditional agriculture’s resource expenditure is astronomical when accounting for land, water, fertilizer, and pesticides. Currently, 38% of the earth’s non-frozen land is used for growing food. Worldwide, 70% of freshwater goes towards agricultural production, mainly ...