Like Albertans who see an overheating economy with their oil boom, Iowans worry about the huge increase of trucks on their roads, about the refineries' voracious appetite for water leading to the depletion of ground water, about an influx of out-of-state workers, and about the overall upheaval in their traditional farm economies. As he does every year, he plans to rotate his crop this spring, planting half corn and half soybeans, resisting the trend to increase corn production. To a lesser...

Bruce Babcock, professor of economics and director of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, thinks meat will increase 2 percent to 7 percent, with beef at the lower end of the spectrum since cattle can graze and eat dried distillers' grains --- a byproduct of ethanol production --- and pork on the top end. Products in which corn is the largest input cost will go up in price the most, experts said. But the booming ethanol industry is expected to gobble up 50 percent more corn...

The former Heather Mills, whose divorce battle is being fought out in the courts, also claimed that she was the victim of "huge powers" trying to destroy her. The campaign also saw the release of a film in which Lady McCartney and activists from the vegetarian group Viva enter a pig farm at night to record the housing of the animals in narrow pens known as farrowing crates. There are huge powers that create these things for reasons of their own. Her comments came as she spoke out for a...

Maple Cure-All Published: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 By Melissa Pasanen Free Press Correspondent SOUTH BARRE -- Gas stations are not normally known for their fine aromas, but the Shell station at the bottom of the hill where Vermont 63 and 14 meet is an exception. Maple Cure-All Published: Tuesday, April 3, 2007 By Melissa Pasanen Free Press Correspondent SOUTH BARRE -- Gas stations are not normally known for their fine aromas, but the Shell station at the bottom of the hill where Vermont 63...

With the current market prices for hogs and production costs, pork producers average profit margin is only $2. The GRT would reduce the already slim profit margins for producers by 25 percent! Farms that are structured as Sole Proprietorships, Limited Liability Corporations or Subchapter S Corporations will be taxed again on any profit that they might have left at the state tax rate of 3 percent. JG-TC.com > Opinion > Gross Receipts Tax unfair to farmers. Who will ultimately pay these...