Blog Posts & Stories

The Microenterprise and small business community in Nebraska recently lost a good friend. Rick Wallace passed away on January 4, 2016 after a prolonged illness.

Only two weeks ago (from this writing), friends were purchasing lottery tickets to hit the jackpot – close to $1.4 billion. “I will share some money with my family and friends, donate to charity, purchase a new home,” were a few reasons they gave for purchasing a ticket.

On Jan 22, the Nebraska legislature voted to advance LB 176 to the bill’s final reading. The vote on final passage could occur as early as next week. LB 176, introduced by Senator Ken Schilz last session, would rescind Nebraska’s statute prohibiting meatpacking companies from owning and feeding hogs prior to slaughter.

Nebraska LB 176 is a bill that will harm competition in Nebraska by weakening our state’s Competitive Livestock Markets Act. I am a fourth generation Nebraska cattle producer with young children.

On Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, concerned citizens and like-minded organizations, including the Center for Rural Affairs, were at the Nebraska State Capitol. They gathered to support the Transitional Health Care bill, which will ensure all Nebraskans are able to get the health coverage they need.

They’re at it again, big meatpacking companies want to drive independent farmers out of hog production. LB 176 would lift Nebraska’s prohibition on packer ownership of hogs. And you can bet your last dollar they’ll come after cattle next.

Last year, the Environmental Protection Agency released the final version of the Clean Power Plan. It sets ambitious but achievable goals to reduce carbon emissions from energy generators by 2030.

We were struck recently after reading a study by Anne Case and Angus Deaton of Princeton University. The authors show a concerning trend: the period between 1999 and 2013 saw an increase in mortality of middle-aged white men and women.

Thirteen years ago, Ana Gonzalez wanted to start her own bakery. She had been working from home making cakes for friends and family, but always wanted to have a set location for a shop. In 2008, Ana...

Sadly, for many of us the Holiday season is rife with shopping, travel, crowded airports or highways, and out here on the Great Plains enough cold, wind, snow and ice to make traveling that much more difficult. For many rural and small town Americans, the stress of travel and shopping, which probably involves more travel, is amplified by harsh weather and poor road conditions.

Lone Tree Foods is similar to a Food Hub, a producer-owned company that connects local farmers with wholesale buyers. Lone Tree Foods offers products from other local farms and currently works with 30 different farms. A one-stop shop for local items.

Since the Center for Rural Affairs began, we have been engaged in the debate over who will steward the land a generation hence. In the last two farm bills, we helped pass new policy to support beginners.

It is amazing how easy it is to explore the world right from the comfort of our living rooms. The internet and expanded access to technology make our small communities part of a global landscape.

As 2015 closes, the Clean Power Plan is filed in the Federal Register. The Paris Climate Change Summit has concluded. And a new year is about to begin. What a great time to look at the future of energy and take stock.

On Dec. 7 and 8, an historic meeting took place in Des Moines, Iowa. It wasn’t historic because there were thousands of people there. It wasn’t historic because the people there were famous. For the most part, there wasn’t anyone there who is much more famous (or notorious, depending on perspective) than I am.

On Dec. 17, 2015, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued their final rule to define what it means to be actively engaged in farming, and therefore eligible to receive federal farm payments. The final rule made no progress from the proposed rule issued last May.

We applaud the effort in the Clean Energy Incentive Program to reinforce the critical role of renewable energy in the Clean Power Plan and in our communities, especially by prioritizing low-income energy efficiency investments. The program incentivizes early investments and puts the well-being of people and communities first.

Have you heard about the Center for Rural Affairs’ Rural Food Business Growth Project aimed at five counties in northeast Nebraska? What exactly does it mean? We invite you to dream with us on a food...

Twyla Hansen grew up on a farm just outside of Lyons, and, for the first time since being appointed State Poet of Nebraska, she returned there to do a reading and presentation about the stories of her native place.

After 13 years of living in the same house, my family and I recently packed up all our belongings and moved a few miles down the road to the family farm where my husband was born and raised.