Tag: The Rural Blog
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FIRED UP: The rural facts we used to know
The fact that hay can spontaneously combust when stored wet is something that was once common knowledge but is not any longer as people move away from agriculture.
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USPS decides to keep rural post offices open, but with reduced hours
The U.S. Postal Service says it will keep open the rural post offices it proposed closing earlier this year as part of a money-saving effort, The Associated Press reports. No post offices would be closed under the new plan, but more than 13,000 rural mail facilities could be forced to reduce operation hours.
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Savings from closing post offices ‘not even a drop in the bucket’ for USPS budget
Rural communities facing the loss of their post offices may be more greatly affected by the change than more urban communities would be, according to a February Reuters report, and a former postmaster general says the closings won’t provide any significant cost savings.
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FiredUp: GM seeds to go through a faster approval process under new USDA rules
Which is more important: Gaining fast approval for genetically modified seeds so they can better compete with foreign companies, or giving the public and interest groups time to learn about the planned release and possibly voice their objection to it? Under new rules soon to be put in place by the U.S. Department of Agriculture,…
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FiredUp Roundup: Farm life good for you, superbugs, Huron mail facility to close, education reform
A few items that might interest you today: Growing up on a farm is good for your immune system, according to a new study from the University of Bristol, as reported by The Rural Blog. It raises the number of T-cells a person has, which helps keep a person from developing allergies. However, your health…
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Canola is first genetically altered crop to go wild
About 80 percent of the canola growing in the ditches of North Dakota contains genes that have been modified to resist some weed killers, according to researchers from the University of Arkansas. This finding is adding fuel to the debate about “super weeds”: plants growing wild that have the characteristics of herbicide resistance, the result…