Vilsack: $4 million in grants for business in rural areas
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Friday the selection of 44 recipients for more than $4 million in grants to create jobs by starting or expanding businesses in rural communities.

Through funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the USDA stated businesses will be able to access critical capital that will help with startup and working capital loans, building and plant renovations, transportation improvements, project planning and other business needs.

“These Recovery Act grants are part of the Obama administration’s ongoing effort to promote job development by ensuring that strategic investments are made in rural America,” said Vilsack.
“Small businesses drive community revitalization by providing products and services to local residents. This funding will help spur important economic development and strengthen communities around the country.”

The Cleveland Bradley Business Incubator in Cleveland, Tenn., for example, has been selected to receive a $99,000 grant to construct the Cleveland Bradley Energy Center, which will serve start-up businesses specializing in the fields of alternative energy, conservation, innovative “green” businesses and businesses developing “green” technologies.

In addition to the grants that USDA Rural Development is providing, fund recipients have raised an additional $6.9 million from other sources to dedicate to the projects.

Funding of individual recipients is contingent upon their meeting the terms of their grant agreement. More information about USDA Rural Development can be found at www.rurdev.usda.gov
Other Farm World area grants include the following:
Illinois: city of LaHarpe, $33,750, NIU Foundation, $99,500; Iowa: Parkersburg Economic Development, $199,900, Iowa Western Community College, $112,000; Michigan: Yates Township, $50,000; Ohio: Heritage Ohio, Inc., $99,873; and Tennessee: McNairy County Board of Education, $50,000.

Tennessee counties eligible for disaster help from USDA

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The USDA has designated five counties in Tennessee as primary natural disaster areas due to heavy rainfall that began Sept. 1, 2009, and continues. They are Claiborne, Cocke, Rutherford, Sevier and Union.

Farmers and ranchers in 16 contiguous counties also qualify for federal assistance: Anderson, Cannon, Greene, Knox, Bedford, Coffee, Hamblen, Marshall, Blount, Davidson, Hancock, Williamson, Campbell, Grainger, Jefferson and Wilson.

Qualified farm operators in the counties become eligible for low-interest emergency loans from USDA’s Farm Service Agency.

Texas company plans central Illinois wind farm in 2011

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) — A Texas company plans to start building a new wind farm in central Illinois next year, after local officials signed off on the project.

McLean County officials on Jan. 19 approved Texas-based Horizon Wind Energy’s plans to start building the 400-megawatt Black Prairie Wind Farm, north of Illinois Highway 9 east of Bloomington.
The company plans to start building in April 2011. It could eventually have more than 200 turbines. Horizon already operates the 240-turbine Twin Groves Wind Farm south of the area.

Agriculture groups defending atrazine to EPA’s Jackson
GARNETT, Kan. (PRWEB) — A broad coalition of 53 agriculture groups representing the Triazine Network have written to Lisa Jackson, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in defense of the herbicide atrazine, which they say has become the target of a coordinated attack by environmental groups seeking to eliminate its use.

The coalition stated that Atrazine, a critical tool in growing crops as diverse as corn, sorghum, sugar cane, and citrus, has been used safely in over 60 countries for 50 years. The EPA will conduct a reevaluation of atrazine as part of a series of Scientific Advisory Panels, which will begin on Feb. 2.

Recent media events by organizations such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, Land Stewardship Project and Pesticide Action Network North America suggest a coordinated campaign to call atrazine’s safety into question and politicize what should be a scientific process, according to the ag coalition.

“We want to set the record straight on the agriculture community’s broad support of this very effective herbicide that has been used by farmers for more than 50 years,” said Jere White, executive director of the Kansas corn and grain sorghum growers associations. “Atrazine is used on more than one-half of all U.S. corn and two-thirds of sorghum. It is one of the primary elements that make American agriculture so phenomenally productive.

“Every EPA administration since the EPA was founded – Republican and Democrat – has endorsed atrazine’s safety and that is why we join together to pledge our support and confidence in this product.”
“Atrazine is the foundation for weed control programs in Florida sugarcane and has withstood thorough scientific testing in the U.S. and around the world,” said James M. Shine Jr., Agriculture Division vice president for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida.
“The use of atrazine and the triazine family herbicides in citrus production have dramatically reduced the need for cultivation and water applications, provided protection against freeze damage and created a better quality product,” said Joel Nelsen, president of California Citrus Mutual. “Their loss would have a devastating impact on our growers.”

The coalition of ag groups stated it will be actively involved in the EPA reevaluation of atrazine and will insist that transparent, peer-reviewed science utilizing accepted practices govern regulatory decision-making.