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Yahoo
10-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Funding shortfalls hamper North Carolina's program to buy out hog farms in or near floodplains
A hog CAFO in eastern North Carolina. (Photo: Rick Dove) This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. As soon as the skies clear after a hurricane hits eastern North Carolina, Larry Baldwin climbs in the passenger seat of a single-engine plane, usually with his friend and pilot Rick Dove, and surveys the industrialized swine farms inundated with flood water. 'It's almost indescribable. You look down and see that they're either flooded or sides of a lagoon—we call them cesspools—are completely blown out,' said Baldwin, the Waterkeeper Alliance's coordinator for Pure Farms Pure Waters, a nonprofit that advocates for stronger regulations over factory farms. Meteorologists are predicting an above-average hurricane season, which began June 1. If a storm hits eastern North Carolina this year, flooding could jeopardize the structural integrity of hundreds of industrialized hog farms, whose massive open-air waste lagoons are vulnerable to hurricanes and heavy rain, an Inside Climate News analysis of publicly available flood maps and a state permit database shows. As of March, there were 8.1 million hogs in North Carolina concentrated animal feeding operations, also known as CAFOs. Of the 129 permitted swine operations in Bladen County, about 20 percent lie less than 1,000 feet from flood-prone areas. Closer to the coast, in Pender and Craven counties, the figure is 40 percent. Removing farms from the 100-year floodplain is critical for the environment and public health. If lagoons overtop, millions of gallons of urine and feces can contaminate residents' yards, private drinking water wells, rivers, creeks and wetlands with E. coli and other harmful bacteria. But complex USDA requirements, delays related to the COVID pandemic and underfunding have hampered the state in finishing its voluntary swine farm buyout program. The program receives funding from the USDA's National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and the state legislature. President Trump has proposed cutting the NRCS budget by 88 percent, from $916 million to $112 million, part of his plan to shrink the federal government. The state Department of Agriculture uses the money to purchase permanent conservation easements on properties within the 100-year floodplain that are currently used for swine production. Farmers bid on an amount they would accept to relinquish their permit to operate a concentrated animal feeding operation, known as a CAFO, in the 100-year floodplain and to allow the state to establish a conservation easement on the property. Applications are ranked based on several criteria: the facility's history of flooding, distance to a water supply or high-quality waters, structural condition of the lagoons and the elevation of the hog barns and lagoon dikes in the 100-year flood plain. If accepted into the program, farmers can still use the land for other agriculture, such as pasture-based beef, row crops, hay and vegetable farming, but it would prohibit using the easement area as a spray field for swine waste. This disposal system sprays liquid waste from the lagoons onto nearby farm fields as fertilizer. The lagoons are also closed when the conservation easements are put in place. Demand for the program has exceeded funding. A total of 149 swine operations have bid in at least one of the five buyout rounds. The state has purchased easements on 45, at a cost of nearly $20 million, according to Department of Agriculture figures. Of that amount, USDA has contributed over $1 million. The purchases total 1,288 acres of easements and represent the removal of 62,300 hogs and 108 lagoons from the floodplain. Will Summer is executive director of the state's Land and Water Fund, which awards grants to the state Agriculture Department for the buyout program. He said 'the timing and availability of federal matching funds have further delayed project implementation.' The USDA did not respond to repeated requests for comment. David Williams, director of the state's Soil and Water Division, who has run the program since its inception, said the USDA has been cooperative, but 'it's been challenging' to make specific conditions at the farms fit with federal requirements. For example, USDA limits the percentage of concrete or asphalt—impervious surface—on a farm that has applied for a buyout. It was difficult for a smaller operation to meet that requirement because it had less acreage, Williams said, so that farm's easement was purchased solely with state funds. The state legislature funded the first round of buyouts in 1999, after North Carolina was hit by a trifecta of strong hurricanes within two months. Hurricane Floyd dropped 17 inches of rain on the eastern part of the state, where floods overtopped waste lagoons and killed at least 100,000 hogs. After four successful buyout rounds, the legislature stopped funding its share of the program in 2007. That stranded dozens of CAFOs in the flood plains and left a backlog of roughly 100 farmers who had applied for a buyout. The value of the program became apparent during the 2016 storm Hurricane Matthew. State agriculture officials reported that 32 farms, accounting for 103 lagoons, would have been inundated had they not been removed from the flood plain. Then came Hurricane Florence in 2018, which inundated eastern North Carolina. Six lagoons were damaged, another 32 overtopped and nine were flooded, state records show. Without a dedicated funding source, the state Department of Agriculture cobbled together $5 million to restart the program. The legislature later kicked in another $5 million. Recently, the state Agriculture Department received two more grants to purchase easements: $2.5 million from USDA and an additional $719,000 from the state's Land and Water Fund. That's only a small portion of the $20 million it would cost to purchase easements on the remaining swine farms that have applied for the program, Williams said. That doesn't include the hundreds more farms located next to the flood zones. Some barns and lagoons are as close to a floodway as the distance between home plate and first base on a Major League Baseball field. The risks also don't account for the enormous poultry operations and the millions of birds that farmers co-locate with their swine operations. 'You see a poultry farm, and right across the field there's a swine farm, and sometimes there are cattle grazing in the same fields,' Baldwin said. With a few exceptions, the location of those poultry farms and their waste disposal sites aren't public record under state law. The only way to locate the poultry CAFOs is to fly over them, consult aerial maps or plow through building permits. 'The poultry issue has become as big, if not a bigger, problem,' Baldwin said. In flood-prone Robeson County, one poultry farm has 48 barns, holding a total of nearly 1.7 million birds. Baldwin said post-storm flooding is significantly problematic. 'Millions of gallons of hog waste, plus poultry waste and in some cases, waste from treatment plants. The water quality is just horrendous,' he said. 'I like to use the term 'petri dish,' because that's what it is.'
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Montana snowpack near normal for most regions
The Jefferson River near Cardwell, Montana, on June 19, 2024. (Photo by Blair Miller, Daily Montanan) As Montana moves towards warmer weather, scientists with the U.S. Department of Agriculture continue to monitor the status of the state's snowpack and forecast how the waterways will flow this summer. But, much of the state appears to be better shape than the same time last year. Most sites in Montana have passed their peak snow water equivalent accumulation for the season, with a majority of sites reaching near to below normal peak snowpack. That's according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), which released its May Water Supply Outlook Report last week. 'The shift to spring brought to a close the bulk of the snowpack accumulation season and started the snowmelt and runoff season,' said Florence Millers, a NRCS hydrologist, in a press release about the report. Weather in April was slightly warmer than normal for much of the state, while precipitation varied. Across the southwest and central Montana, precipitation for the year is near normal, while in the Northwest, an early water deficit has not been overcome, and the region is between 75-90% of median precipitation. 'Several April warm spells that brought periods of above normal temperatures and initiated snowmelt across many low-to mid-elevation SNOTEL sites,' Miller said. As of May 1, snowpack percentages in the southwest and central parts of the state range between 95-110% of median, while snowpack in the western portion of the state has decreased to between 75-90% of median. The Sun-Teton-Marias basis saw 'well below normal' snowpack throughout the winter and is at just 61% of median snow water equivalent. Snow-water equivalent, rather than snow depth, is the measurement used to gauge the amount of liquid water contained within snowpack, which will be released when the snowpack melts. The snowmelt plays a key role in agriculture, hydropower production, water storage, aquatic ecosystem health and recreation such as boating and fishing, as well as flood and drought forecasting. The May water supply report highlights that while some early season melt has already occurred at some monitoring sites across the state, 'there is still a lot of water stored within the higher elevation snowpacks' and weather in the coming weeks will shape the water supply for the summer. In April, the Beartooth and Bighorn mountains saw roughly double their normal precipitation for the month, much of it as snow, bolstering water supply in the regions. The Flathead and Kootenai basins also saw much more precipitation than average, which could benefit Flathead Lake in the early summer months. The Tongue River Basin in the Bighorn Mountains has the highest snowpack compared to the 20-year median, according to NRCS data, at 111%. Meanwhile the Sun-Teton-Marias basin measured just 61% of median as of May 1. Despite relatively good conditions throughout April, much of Montana is under drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Nearly three-quarters of the state is under some level of drought conditions, which range from 'abnormally dry' to 'exceptional drought.' More than 43% of the state is under 'moderate drought' conditions, while a portion of the Upper Clark Fork and Blackfoot basins are classified as 'severe to extreme drought.' The water supply forecast currently predicts much of state the will be near or below normal, ranging from 70-110% of median. At the low end of that prediction scale is the Powder River basin, currently forecast at between 60-70% of normal. The Flathead River Basin is at 86% of median snowpack, compared to 68% at this time last year. Streamflows on the main Flathead River are forecast around 80% of the 20-year average. The Upper Clark Fork Basin is sitting at 91% of median snowpack, a significant improvement from last year when it has just 56% of normal. The Madison River Basin has a snowpack at 86% of normal, higher than at this point last year and is forecast to have streamflows around 85% of normal. The Upper Missouri River Basin had a May 1 snowpack of 74% of median, significantly higher than the 42% seen in 2024. For a complete look at each river basin's snowpack conditions and streamflow forecast, visit the NRCS May report here. Flathead Lake, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River, has become a contentious point for water policy debates following extreme drought in 2023 that saw the lake fill to less than two feet below normal. During the 2025 Legislative session, Montana lawmakers passed a resolution supporting recreational uses on Flathead Lake to be considered during management discussion by the myriad local, state, tribal and federal partners that coordinate the lake's water level. Energy Keepers Inc., the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes company that operates the Se̓liš Ksanka Qĺispe̓ Dam on the south end of the lake, published regular updates using the latest streamflow predictions to inform the public of where it expects the lake levels to be. According to a May 13 update, Energy Keepers expects the lake to reach its full-pool elevation of 2,893 feet by early to mid-June. So far, the SKQ project has not had to coordinate flood risk management changes to its operating plan, as it has done the last two years when streamflow forecasts were much lower than normal. The latest update from Energy Keepers states that while expectations are for the lake to fill to normal levels, 'both weather and streamflows are highly uncertain.' 'SKQ Project outflows and the Flathead Lake elevation are dependent on many variables including lake inflows, weather, the demand for electricity, and non-power constraints such as the downstream fishery and flood risk management needs.'
Broadcast Pro
02-05-2025
- Business
- Broadcast Pro
EditShare to unveil AI-powered workflows and NVMe storage at CABSAT
To further streamline operations, EditShare is also introducing FLOW CoreUnlimited, a new licensing model that eliminates seat restrictions. This innovation allows media organisations to scale user access instantly, offering unmatched flexibility for studios of all sizes — from independent creators to large global production houses. The company's CABSAT showcase will also feature a new newsroom integration with leading Newsroom Computer System (NRCS) provider Octopus, enabling faster, more collaborative workflows for modern journalism teams. Additionally, EditShare will present new capabilities across its EFS platform, including multi-channel Live NDI support for real-time, high-performance live production and the launch of the All-in-One 410 — a compact powerhouse offering up to 600TB of raw storage per node, suitable for environments where space and performance are critical. EditShare is also expanding storage capacities across its entire product line to meet the growing demands of high-volume, high-speed media operations. Tara Montford, Co-Founder and EVP of Sales at EditShare, said: 'At CABSAT 2025, we're bringing the full force of EditShare innovation. From blazing-fast performance to limitless scalability and smart automation, we're empowering creative teams to tell bigger, bolder stories faster and from anywhere.' Stand S1-D20
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Cox considers emergency declaration as drought worsens in southern Utah and Lake Powell levels drop
Boats can be seen at anchor at the Wahweap Marina in Lake Powell near Page, Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. With drought conditions worsening in southern Utah, Gov. Spencer Cox says he's working on issuing an emergency declaration. Despite northern Utah seeing average snow this year, counties in the south are exceptionally dry. Cox said he's currently working with local officials on the declaration, which could extend to a handful of counties in the southwestern corner of Utah that have seen a meager snowpack this winter. 'We feel really good about where we are,' Cox said about water conditions on Thursday during his monthly PBS Utah news conference, calling it a 'pretty normal year for most of the state.' 'However, I will say it wasn't a great year for all of the state. And southern Utah, especially southwestern Utah, was well below average and they are seeing some elevated drought conditions there. I would say, yes, there is a very real possibility; in fact, we're working on it right now, of an emergency declaration,' the governor said. Statewide, the snow water equivalent — which is basically the amount of water currently in the snowpack — is at about 78% of normal, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, or NRCS, which tracks the snowpack at sites around the state. Much of northern Utah is between that or higher, with Snowbird's site at 96%, and a site in Big Cottonwood Canyon at 115%. But many NRCS sites in southern Utah are below 50% of the median snow water equivalent, some with just 1%, even 0%. Much of Washington and Iron counties are currently in extreme drought, according to the Utah Division of Water Resources, while swaths of Beaver, Millard, Juab, Tooele, Uintah, Grand and San Juan counties are in severe drought. The rest of the state is either in moderate drought or abnormally dry, except for a sliver of northwestern Box Elder County and the high elevation portions of Salt Lake, Utah, Morgan, Wasatch and Summit counties. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'The Drought Response Committee has been meeting more regularly to address concerns in drought-impacted areas,' said Candice Hasenyager, Utah Division of Water Resources director, in a statement Friday. 'Many state agencies are coordinating their response to drought conditions that will likely intensify heading into summer.' Hasenyager reminded Utahns to hold off on irrigation until 'your landscape needs it.' 'Most of northern Utah can hold off on irrigating until Mother's Day or until temperatures are in the mid-70s for several days,' she said. The state's reservoirs somewhat mirror the snowpack, with northern Utah looking good and southern Utah falling behind. In the north, the larger lakes and reservoirs — Strawberry, Bear Lake, Jordanelle, Flaming Gorge, Utah Lake, Deer Creek, Starvation and Pineview — are all above 75% capacity, with some hovering just below 100%. But south of Price, all but five reservoirs — Huntington, Joes Valley, Otter Creek, Quail Creek and Sand Hollow — are above 75%. Some, like Yuba Reservoir or Panguitch Lake, are below 50%. The outlook is particularly bad for the country's second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell, which is federally controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. As of Friday, the reservoir was at about 32% capacity. According to the Utah Rivers Council, Lake Powell is about 70 feet above the minimum level for the Glen Canyon Dam to generate hydroelectric power. That level will continue to decline into the summer and fall, the council said, pointing to an 'increasingly dire runoff future.' 'The countdown can start on Utah having to cut its portion of Colorado River water,' said Zach Frankel, executive director of the Utah Rivers Council. 'Other states in the basin are putting odds on how soon that will happen and it's definitely coming, alongside the shutdown of Glen Canyon hydropower.' During the news conference on Thursday, Cox said he is 'always worried about Lake Powell,' and has been for years, with the Colorado River plagued by drought and decreased flows. 'The good news is that Lake Powell, that water going into Powell does not come from the southwest side of the state,' said Cox, referring to the source of the Colorado River, which is in alpine areas of Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. 'The water content in the mountains is a little bit better there.' The governor can declare a state of emergency in response to natural disasters or public health threats. However, after tension brewed between the Legislature and former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert over his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, lawmakers passed a law in 2021 limiting emergency declarations to 30 days. The Legislature could extend that emergency declaration if lawmakers pass a joint resolution. Cox hinted that lawmakers could convene in May for a special session — so if he issues an emergency declaration this month, he'll have the opportunity to work with legislators to extend the declaration, since it's likely drought conditions will worsen during the spring and summer months. Although he didn't elaborate on what the order will entail, Cox issued executive orders related to drought in 2021 and 2022. Both orders allowed drought-effected communities and agricultural producers access to state and federal emergency resources. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
South Dakota leads U.S. hemp industry, though USDA report shows Texas rapidly gaining ground
Hemp plant (NRCS photo, Brandon O'Connor) South Dakota continued to expand its industrial hemp footprint in 2024 as Texas quickly gained ground, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Hemp Report. As defined in the 2018 Farm Bill, the term 'hemp' is a cannabis plant with a no more than 0.3% concentration of the chemical that results in a high, known as THC. According to the report, which was released on Thursday, South Dakota farmers planted 3,900 acres of hemp – a 22% increase from 2023. They harvested 3,700 acres, up 27.6%. Most of that growth came from hemp grown for fiber, a product for which South Dakota reigns as the nation's top supplier. Texas farmers planted 4,900 acres, a 1,860% increase from last year. Only 1,500 acres of that was harvested, though. Former Democratic state lawmaker Oren Lesmeister, a rancher from Parade, championed the bills that created South Dakota's hemp industry. He now serves on the South Dakota Industrial Hemp Association's board of directors. He said Texas' numbers mean little if farmers do not have a place to process their hemp. 'We're kicking a– and taking names when it comes to production and processing,' Lesmeister said. South Dakota leads the nation in hemp processing and the production of hemp fiber, according to the report. There were 13.6 million pounds of hemp harvested for fiber in South Dakota last year. That's a 14% decrease, even as the number of acres harvested, 3,550, increased by 22%. Every harvested pound was processed, according to the report. About 23% of the 59 million pounds of hemp processed in the U.S. was processed in South Dakota. The mismatch between pounds harvested and acres planted is the result of lower per-acre yields for farmers. The average yield in the state dropped sharply by 30% in 2024, to 3,840 pounds per acre. Despite that, the value of South Dakota's fiber hemp climbed to $3.54 million, a 50% year-over-year increase, buoyed by a 73% rise in price per pound. 04-17-2025 SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
