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See - Sada Elbalad
10 hours ago
- Business
- See - Sada Elbalad
Reports: No G7 Summit Invite for India Yet
Rana Atef Canada didn't invite India so far for the upcoming G7 summit scheduled to take place between June 15 and June 17 in Canada, according to The Tribune after citing official sources. The sources told the Indian website: 'No advance preparations have been made ahead of a high-level dignitary visit such as that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making it clear that India will not participate in this year's G7 summit in Canada. PM Modi has attended the summit for the past six consecutive years, making this the first time India will be absent from the event." Traditionally, the host country moderates guest invitations, agenda organization and the overall tone of the summit. This allows the host to align the event with its priorities and foreign policy objectives. The G7 comprises the world's most industrialised economies: the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada. The European Union (EU), the IMF, the World Bank and the UN are also invited to attend. This year's summit will be hosted by Canada. The relationships between Canada and India have deteriorated following the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada in June 2023. Tensions escalated after then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused India of involvement in the incident, a claim India strongly rejected as 'baseless'. Last month, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on at least two occasions during briefings that there was 'no information' regarding PM Modi's visit to Canada for the G7 summit. read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Sports Neymar Announced for Brazil's Preliminary List for 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers News Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly Inaugurates Two Indian Companies Arts & Culture New Archaeological Discovery from 26th Dynasty Uncovered in Karnak Temple Business Fear & Greed Index Plummets to Lowest Level Ever Recorded amid Global Trade War Arts & Culture Zahi Hawass: Claims of Columns Beneath the Pyramid of Khafre Are Lies News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks News Shell Unveils Cost-Cutting, LNG Growth Plan
Yahoo
2 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Remember when: Take a look into SLO County's past with these 7 stories
Stories by The Tribune journalists, with AI summarization San Luis Obispo County's past comes alive through photos, films, and oral accounts. The story of the Andrews Building shows how fires and changing building codes shaped downtown architecture. A rare 1938 travel film tours prewar landscapes and lost landmarks, such as Morro Bay's old hotel and undeveloped coastline. Stories like Photos From the Vault use newspaper archives and community memories to spotlight moments, from notorious red-light districts to historic heatwaves when entire towns relied on water hoses to cool off. These images and stories capture how people, places, and traditions have evolved across generations. Parts of the historic downtown building are more than 130 years old. | Published May 18, 2024 | Read Full Story by David Middlecamp In any era, water is the classic way to cool off, from the hose, a giant swamp cooler at the Mid-State Fair or a spray bottle. | Published July 6, 2024 | Read Full Story by David Middlecamp 'They were already laid to rest for the first time, and now we have to do it again,' a tribal officer for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians told The Tribune. | Published October 27, 2024 | Read Full Story by Ania Keenan Kaytlyn Leslie Photojournalist David Middlecamp reflects back on the founding of Photos from the Vault and what he's learned. | Published December 28, 2024 | Read Full Story by David Middlecamp 'One of my girlhood ambitions was to get right into the heart of the whistling demons,' one said. | Published January 11, 2025 | Read Full Story by David Middlecamp The 55-minute film includes visits to various landmarks and a circle flight over San Luis Obispo County. | Published March 29, 2025 | Read Full Story by David Middlecamp The photos show Morro Bay, Port San Luis and even Diablo Canyon ahead of its first official year of operation. | Published April 5, 2025 | Read Full Story by David Middlecamp The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Who owns most of the farmland in Illinois? Not farmers.
Surrounded by rows of soybeans and corn, Hans Bishop's farm in central Illinois was an anomaly. He grew kale, peppers, eggplants and radishes, selling to Whole Foods from June through October and to local restaurants, grocers and families year-round. The vegetable farm was born in 2009 on a quarter acre rented to him by his father, a row crop farmer. After spending a decade in the corporate world, Bishop was inspired by documentaries such as 'Fresh' and 'Food, Inc.' that scrutinized conventional farming. He returned to the fields with aspirations to farm differently. The fresh produce Bishop grew landed directly on chopping boards and dinner plates. It wasn't being funneled into gasoline tanks, ultra-processed foods or livestock feed troughs — the most common destinations for Illinois' leading agricultural products, soybeans and corn. In less than a decade, his operation in Logan County had expanded to 80 acres. It was becoming what progressive food movements celebrate as 'sustainable.' But he couldn't keep it going. Bishop and his wife Katie spent countless hours on marketing, had to rely on hired labor and couldn't access the federally subsidized safety nets available to commodity now 41, phased out his flourishing vegetable enterprise after his father abruptly retired in 2019, leaving him to take over the family bean and grain operation. Part of the land — 120 of the nearly 700 acres — is rented from a family who owns multiple farm properties and wants their fields weed-free with perfectly straight grids of crops, a deep-rooted tradition among Midwestern farming communities. 'They want that land to be clean corn and soybeans,' Bishop said. Before the restrictions, his father was growing organic corn and soybeans on part of the field and letting Bishop grow vegetables on the rest. Now, to keep the fields to the owner's standards, Bishop has had to forgo vegetables and use pesticides and fertilizers, which can pollute nearby water sources and degrade soil health over time. Less than a fourth of Illinois farmland is owned by the farmer who works the land, according to data from the Illinois Farm Business Farm Management, a nonprofit association that helps farmers make management decisions. The rest is leased to farmers by individuals, family trusts and, increasingly, businesses. The Tribune is launching a series of special reports analyzing the hurdles many farmers face in trying to be good stewards of the land as climate change intensifies. Among the challenges are fewer opportunities for farmers — and would-be farmers — to own their land. Neither the state nor the federal government maintains a centralized database of farmland ownership. The data is recorded by counties, with varying levels of detail. Some — such as Sangamon and Edgar counties — do not keep digital copies of older records. The Tribune analyzed over 3.7 million acres of farmland in 10 counties with the most fertile soils, highest cash rents in 2024 and available historical data. It found that over 1 in 5 acres are owned by business entities — organizations with LLC, Inc, LTD, Co., Corp, LP and LLP tags. This is an almost 170% increase since 2005. In the same 20-year window, farmland owned by businesses with out-of-state mailing addresses increased by nearly 250%. These acres are not necessarily owned by large conglomerates and investment firms. Corporate structures are also attractive vehicles for family businesses because they offer tax benefits and externalize losses. But, farmland is becoming a more attractive investment option as the historically fertile ground in the American West dries up. 'Water availability threatens farmland in the Central Valley (of California) far more than what the next 20 years of climate change will bring to Illinois,' said Illinois State Climatologist Trent Ford. Average farmland rents in Illinois have already outstripped the inflation rate, more than doubling from $129 to $269 per acre per year from 2005 to 2024. '(The rising price of land) just makes it really hard for anyone who's not a corporation or doesn't have that capital on hand to actually invest in that farmland,' said University of Illinois agricultural economist Brittney Kay Goodrich. There are few guardrails to abate a corporate takeover. Illinois is one of the only states in the Corn Belt that doesn't place restrictions on corporate purchases of farmland. Short-term leases also disincentivize farmers from growing anything but corn and soybeans the traditional way, according to Goodrich's colleague Gary Schnitkey. The market for fruits and vegetables is small in Illinois' grain- and bean-dominated agricultural sector. And it often takes a few years of additional expenses and reduced yields to realize the benefits of soil health practices, such as planting cover crops, reducing tillage and limiting fertilizer use. Farmers reported being more likely to adopt conservation practices on land they owned. While land management was once about safeguarding an inheritance for the next generation, it's now a matter of paying rent in a market where farmland has become an increasingly competitive asset to secure. Concerns over simply holding on to land from one year to the next eclipse long-term thinking about the stability of the nation's food supply. Over 80% of Illinois' 26.3 million acres of farmland is dedicated to corn and soybeans. Meanwhile, climate change is accelerating water scarcity in the Central Valley and Southwest, the two regions responsible for most domestically grown fruits and vegetables. 'I don't like the fact that there's so much corn and soybeans in the Midwest,' said Bishop. 'But, to some degree, I was just like, why make it harder on myself and fight the system?' Illinois' nutrient-rich soil — colloquially called 'black dirt' — and relative abundance of water have been catching the attention of investors. At the moment, no one person or business has a dominant stake in the state's millions of acres of farmland. The top 10 landowners collectively hold just under 1% of it, according to a 2024 analysis by Michael Lauher, the president of the Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. Three of the largest owners are real estate investment firms: Farmland Reserve, an investment vehicle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Farmland Partners, a publicly traded company based in Denver; and Ceres Partners, a pooled fund based in Indiana. The University of Illinois is No. 5 with 36 endowed farms. Those who donate the land can choose to direct farm income to research, scholarships or other university initiatives, according to the director of the university's agricultural property services, Anita Million. The rest of the top 10 are families and business tycoons, including Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Gaylon Lawrence Jr., who also owns a string of Napa Valley wineries, and Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan. Representatives for Gates, Lawrence and Khan did not respond to requests for comment. The entity through which Gates owns his farmland, Cascade Investment LLC, is separate from the billionaire's philanthropic efforts in the climate and environment space. Farmland Reserve is the largest farmland owner in Illinois. The private Salt Lake City-based investment firm affiliated with the Mormon Church declined to share how many acres it owns, but Lauher's analysis estimates it has nearly 54,000. The Midwest's farmland is poised to become an even more attractive investment as it becomes a lynchpin for national food security. Warming temperatures and water shortages are shifting growing zones from Central America and California north. 'Illinois is incredibly strong,' said Paul Pittman, founder and executive chairman of Farmland Partners, the second-largest farmland owner in Illinois, during a 2024 fourth-quarter earnings call in February. The firm, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, states on its homepage that its 'core business is purchasing high-quality farmland then leasing that land back to farmers at the highest possible rents — thus deriving returns for company investors through income revenue and asset appreciation.' The grandson of Illinois farmers, Pittman began buying farmland in Illinois, Colorado and Nebraska in the late 1990s after success as an investment banker and entrepreneur. He included several of his own properties in Farmland Partners' portfolio when the company, which was valued at over $520 million in late May, went public in 2014. Almost half of the nearly 92,500 acres the company owns are in Illinois. Pittman, who lives in Colorado, said the company is continuing to invest in the Midwest but limiting its footprint in California — which produces nearly half of U.S.-grown fruit, nuts and vegetables. He cited the availability of water as the primary factor. 'We will frankly continue to lessen our exposure to California,' he said during the latest earnings call in early May. A recent study using satellite imaging showed that the Southwest has been getting drier while the rest of the country has been getting wetter over the last 40 years. Jay Famiglietti, an Arizona-based hydrologist and co-author of the study, attributes this trend to climate change. 'When these places run out of water — and it's when not if — there are opportunities for the wetter parts of the United States to fill that food gap. So, huge opportunities for Illinois,' Famiglietti said. Vegetables, melons and potatoes are a $1.4 billion market in Arizona, according to the latest federal agriculture census. Fruits, tree nuts and berries are a $23.1 billion market in California. In Illinois, vegetables, melons and potatoes account for less than $180 million in agricultural production. Fruits, tree nuts and berries only account for $34 million. Meanwhile, corn and soybeans account for over $21.2 billion. The investors and climatologists the Tribune spoke with predict the Midwest's agricultural sector will only become more lucrative as water strain causes the West's sector to contract. None of the investors, however, expressed interest in bringing fruits, vegetables and nuts from the West to the Midwest. Rather, they all expressed a strong belief in the continued profitability of a soybean- and corn-dominated agriculture system. 'One of the reasons we've focused on the Great Lakes region and the eastern Corn Belt is because of the fantastic soil quality and weather patterns. The cheapest form of irrigation is rain when you're growing a crop,' said Brandon Zick, chief investment officer of Ceres Partners, which is Illinois' seventh-largest landowner with over 22,000 acres. 'We view this as a great safety net.' Eight states in the Corn Belt — Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, South Dakota and Wisconsin — restrict the size, structure and purpose of corporations that can own farmland to limit ownership by large investment funds. A Minnesota statute reads: 'The legislature finds that it is in the interests of the state to encourage and protect the family farm as a basic economic unit, to insure it as the most socially desirable mode of agricultural production, and to enhance and promote the stability and well-being of rural society in Minnesota and the nuclear family.' Illinois has no such laws. More than 22% of the farmland in 12 Illinois counties with the highest rents is owned by a business entity, defined as an operation with an LLC, Inc, LTD, Co., Corp, LP or LLP tag. Sangamon and Edgar counties were included in this analysis because historical data was not one-fourth of this farmland owned by a business entity had out-of-state mailing addresses. Layered corporate structures often obfuscate who owns the land: Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II did not respond to requests for comment about farmland ownership. State legislators have yet to take up corporate ownership generally either. But Republicans in the Illinois House and Senate introduced separate bills in January to limit farmland ownership by foreign individuals and companies. Neither had progressed beyond a first reading. About 3% of Illinois farmland is foreign-held, according to federal data. 'It makes me nervous not knowing who these individuals or companies are,' said Sally Turner, a senator representing rural central Illinois who introduced one of the bills. 'I have a big nuclear power plant in my district, and I don't know who the landowners are around that area.' Rep. Chris Miller, a third-generation cattle farmer and grain operator in Coles County who introduced the other bill, did not respond to requests for comment. Similar bills barring foreign ownership of agricultural land have been unsuccessfully introduced in previous legislative sessions. While primarily worried about foreign parties, Turner also expressed concern that domestic companies could be driving up land prices. Farmland has traditionally been an heirloom passed from one generation to the next. Parents were motivated to ensure the long-term health of the soil and surrounding waterways so they had something valuable to pass down to their children. Investment firms prioritize profits. 'When you run a public company, even if it's an agricultural farming company, and somebody asks you, what do you grow? It's money. My ethical obligation is to make money for my shareholders,' Pittman, CEO of Farmland Partners, told the Tribune. During its May earnings call, Pittman said the real estate company had imposed 15% to 20% rent hikes on properties nationwide in recent years. Most of its lease contracts are three years, and tenants are required to pay at least half of their annual rent before the spring planting season. These terms allow Farmland Partners to raise rents often and mitigate the risk of a bad growing season getting in the way of its bottom line. Ceres Partners, the Indiana-based investment fund, has three- to five-year leases with tenant farmers. Zick, the chief financial officer, pitched it as a favorable alternative to the year-to-year leases many farmers find themselves tethered to. But there's a caveat. Ceres Partners' leases let it raise rents if the commodity markets are doing well. There's no room, however, to lower rents if the markets suffer. Despite largely unfavorable terms, farmers tend to renew their leases because land is hard to come by. Most tenant farmers with Farmland Reserve, Illinois' largest farmland owner, have renewed their leases for over a decade, said spokesman Dale Bills via email. The Mormon Church-affiliated investment firm declined an interview and wouldn't disclose how much land it owns or what it charges in rent. Zick said Ceres Partners only makes deals with farmers it intends to work with for years. And Pittman said Farmland Partners sees if its current tenants can pay their new asking price before putting the land up for auction to the highest bidder. 'We do not have short-term relationships. Only a percentage of our farms get turned over to the new tenant in any given year, even if the lease is up,' said Pittman. He insists Farmland Partners has a vested interest in the long-term health of the land and prefers tenant farmers who are apt to adopt conservation practices. 'When you own the asset, about a third of your return is your current yield. Two-thirds of your return is land appreciation. If you're not doing the right thing over the long run, the land appreciation side gets hurt and that's a bigger piece of the puzzle,' he said. Ultimately, Farmland Partners and Farmland Reserve both describe themselves as 'passive investors,' meaning that they don't tell their tenants how to manage the land. Ceres Partners takes a more active approach to land management, adding irrigation and drainage systems to its properties to increase land values and requiring farmers to maintain soil fertility levels. Goodrich, the U. of I. economist, worries that a corporate takeover by money-hungry investors will make short-term leases and exponentially rising rents more common. In turn, farmers will be less willing to invest in capital-intensive conservation practices that prove beneficial over time on rented land. 'It's going to lead to more of these mismatches in incentives,' she said. 'If (the corporation) is not providing an incentive to plant cover crops, why would a farm plant cover crops when it could potentially affect their yields and is more risky for them to do so?' Zick said Ceres Partners actively seeks to buy farms from individuals and families acting as landlords. He framed it as a way to let current tenants remain on a parcel if they cannot afford to buy it themselves, but he noted that they might see a rent hike. 'We knew the market for rent that the widow didn't understand,' he said, explaining why they have raised rent from about $100 to $275 per acre on plots they bought from older women who acquired the land after their husbands died. The majority of Illinois' farmland is still owned by families. It's been passed down from one generation to another. But, given that more than three-fourths of farmland is leased, most of these owners are not farming. This has made it increasingly difficult for young people with different visions for Illinois' fields to make inroads into agriculture. 'Many people only own farmland because they're related to settlers in Illinois. It's like we've created our own form of land gentry,' Mary Jane Oviatt said. The 28-year-old aspiring farmer was wearing hiking boots and jeans while sitting in an indie coffee shop in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood on an April afternoon. No one in Oviatt's immediate family farmed, and she arrived at the U. of I. for her undergraduate degree with plans to become an environmental lawyer. Frequent road trips from her home in Wheaton, a town 30 miles west of Chicago, to college in central Illinois inspired her to explore agriculture. 'It seemed desolate,' she said, recalling field after field of corn stubble and dirt from fall to spring. 'I had an instinct to save it, to make it green.' She immersed herself in farming through a series of internships with small diversified farms. And since graduating, she has worked as an educator at the Savanna Institute, a Champaign-based nonprofit that promotes agroforestry, a land management technique that integrates trees with crops. Her days are filled with Zoom meetings taken from her Chicago apartment and occasional visits to farms downstate. Eventually, she'd like to buy 50 to 100 acres where she can grow fruits, vegetables and nuts — 'things people actually eat' — but every day that dream feels more out of reach. 'Unless I win the lottery or inherit a lot of money, I can't afford to buy my own farmland,' Oviatt said. Her sentiments are similar to those of young Americans trying to buy a home. The median age of a first-time homebuyer rose from 29 in 1981 to an all-time high of 38 in 2024, according to the National Association of Realtors. Meanwhile, the share of first-timers in the market has dropped from 44% to 24%. Rising prices have been cited as a driving factor. Earlier this year, U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski joined a bipartisan group of congressmen to introduce the New Producer Economic Security Act. The Democrat represents parts of four of the nine counties with the highest cash rent. 'If we are going to revitalize and strengthen American agriculture going forward, we need to take steps now to ensure young farmers can succeed,' she said in a news release. The bill, which is still sitting in committee, would provide financial support to farmers with less than 10 years of experience as the average age of the American farmer inches toward 60. The lawmakers want to include it in the next federal Farm Bill, a comprehensive package of legislation guiding agriculture and food policy that is long overdue for reexamination. Meanwhile, in Springfield, state Sen. Turner introduced the Farmland Transition Commission Act. The bill, which passed the General Assembly and is on the governor's desk, would establish a team within the state Department of Agriculture to study the barriers young adults encounter when buying or accessing farmland. During an interview with the Tribune in May, Turner suggested exploring possible tax incentives for companies that rent to beginning farmers. But it's not just young people who are struggling to keep up. Like longtime renters in the housing market, longtime tenant farmers grapple to contend with rising rents. 'Once I say I'm not interested in paying 10 bucks more an acre this year, they'll find somebody else who will do it and there's no chance of getting that property back,' said Bishop, the Logan County vegetable turned corn and soybean farmer. He's been all but forced to employ conventional corn and soybean farming methods on the 120-acre lease he took over from his father. The arrangement is coordinated by a farm manager on behalf of a family Bishop has never met. The manager sends out a new lease agreement every year, collects Bishop's money, pays the property taxes, takes his cut, and then gives the landowning family the rest. On his other nearly 580 acres, Bishop farms organic corn and soybeans, meaning he doesn't use fertilizers or pesticides. He learned from his father, who was an early adopter of organic farming. The 120 leased acres were farmed organically — and housed some of Bishop's vegetables — until the manager and landowner decided they wanted neat and tidy fields when renegotiating the contract with Bishop. If he wouldn't use chemicals to kill weeds and make the plot look like their neighbors', they'd find another farmer. On the organic acres, most of which he or a family member owns, Bishop strives to plant rye, wheat and red clover — cover crops — between corn and soybean rotations. Keeping a living root in the soil all year helps keep the soil in place, reducing the potential for dust storms like the one Chicago saw last month and dirty runoff. Biodiversity also helps the soil retain nutrients, making it more fertile over time and ultimately reducing the need for fertilizer. But these cover crops are an extra expense and often result in modest yield declines. The cost-benefit analysis isn't as attractive on leased acres. Bishop is less willing to do anything that might reduce his yields when he has to pay rent increases. Plus, with a year-to-year lease, Bishop doesn't have assurance he'll be on the field long enough to reap the benefits. 'You just keep applying band-aids instead of trying to build a larger ecological system,' he said. In this case, that band-aid is more fertilizer. Planting the same crops repeatedly upsets the natural balance of the soil by stripping it of certain varieties of bacteria and microorganisms needed to maintain fertility. Farmers who only plant one or two varieties must apply increasing amounts of chemical fertilizers to compensate for the loss of naturally occurring nutrients. Without varied root structures to trap moisture and hold the soil in place, those chemicals are more likely to flow into local waterways with eroded soil. 'Farmers, including myself, are seeing erosion take place in areas where we've never seen it happen before,' said Kris Reynolds, a fifth-generation corn and soybean farmer working over 700 acres in Montgomery County. Fertilizer runoff flowing down the Mississippi River basin continues to worsen, contaminating water from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico. 'Crop diversification is needed,' continued Reynolds, who is also a certified crop adviser and the Midwest director of American Farmland Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting farmland from environmental degradation and development. 'When you couple that with other soil health practices like cover crops and no-till, you can really maximize your efficiency and decrease overall nutrient loss.' He owns about a quarter of his land and leases the rest from his family, which he acknowledges makes it easier for him to adopt conservation practices. 'We often see that farmers who own the vast majority of their land are the ones who are more likely to adopt these practices consistently across all of their acres,' said Reynolds. Federal and state conservation programs do exist to help cover the profit gap farmers often incur when transitioning to sustainable practices like cover crops, but enrollment can be complicated by lease terms. Rob Woodrow, a farm manager based in Sangamon County, said none of the 38,000 acres of farmland he manages are enrolled in such conservation programs because they are an 'encumbrance.' Participation raises questions about whether payments go to the landowner or farmer, and since many programs are multiyear, they're difficult to administer on farms that are prone to change hands. 'About 95% of the time, (the landowners) are removed from (the farm) by several generations. They've inherited it from grandma or grandpa,' said Woodrow. 'They don't know how to handle the land. It's viewed as an investment instead of a family farm.' He said this is demonstrated in the way landowning families have steadily transitioned away from crop-share agreements — an arrangement where the landowner and farmer share costs and revenue — to cash rent. Under a crop-share, farmers and landowners split the risk associated with adopting conservation practices. Meanwhile, with cash rent, which is the basis of what Farmland Partners, Farmland Reserve and Ceres use, farmers assume all the risk. Landowners are detached from daily operations and guaranteed a fixed income. Investment firms are betting that, as landowning generations become further removed from farming, there will be a steady transition of land from individuals to corporations. 'An aging farmer generation, fractional family ownership structure and technological advances requiring sizable capital investment will naturally transition farmland holdings from individuals to institutions,' said international asset manager PGIM Real Estate in a 2024 guide on U.S. farmland titled 'Low Hanging Fruit.' Among rows of conventionally grown corn and soybeans, there are glimmers of an alternative being spearheaded by forward-thinking farmers such as Bishop and curious landowners such as Jim Polston. Polston, a park planner and municipal project manager who spent his professional life in Oklahoma and Oregon before recently retiring to Washington state, inherited 103 acres in DeWitt County when his mother died in 1989. Both his sisters, who also aren't farmers, inherited adjacent plots. With it, they each inherited a farmer who had been planting corn and soybeans conventionally for decades. When Polston's farmer died, he transferred the lease to the farmer's brother with little thought. 'We didn't know what we were doing. We were given row crops. It's always been row crops,' said Polston, who was living in Oklahoma at the time. But, after watching his former farmer fall ill with cancer and wondering if it was related to chemical exposure, Polston felt compelled to switch his farm to organic production. 'We hope for (our daughter) to inherit a piece of land that's not just garbage,' Polston said. He reached out to Bishop, who had gained a reputation as one of the few farmers in the area growing organic beans and grain, in 2021 and they signed a lease. Polston's decision to transition his 103 acres to organic farming came with sacrifice. It took three years to expel the chemicals from the soil. To make the interim years worth it for Bishop, Polston took a smaller rent payment that just covered the property taxes. He made no profit. Last year was the first year the harvest was certified organic. Because of pressures from weeds and pests, organic corn and soybean yields are typically lower than conventional yields, but organic crops sell for significantly more on the market. In the last decade, Woodrow's Farmland Solutions has also expanded its offerings to include organic farm management. About 4,000 of the 38,000 acres it now oversees are organic. This was similarly spurred by landowner interest. 'I didn't know much about organics at the time. The first thing that came to my mind was weedy fields and half the yields of conventional,' admitted Woodrow. 'It's a generational shift bringing the organic shift.' While the fields aren't those neat rows the Midwest is known for, Woodrow said yields have risen over time and weeds have been brought under control. 'We're using nature to help control the weeds,' he said with a touch of awe. When Polston comes back to visit his farm, his neighbors poke fun at him for having a messy field, but it doesn't bother him. 'I don't care if my land doesn't look as good as the next guy's. I know my land is getting healthier every year,' he Atkins is a freelancer.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Settlement over major SLO County development cuts its affordable housing in half
After months of negotiations, the developers of the Dana Reserve housing project and the groups that sued to block its progress have reached a legal settlement that will trim nearly 230 units from the final total — with the affordable housing segment taking the largest hit. The number of units for the lowest income tier of potential residents will be cut by half. That was the biggest compromise developers made to resolve issues brought by two groups in lawsuit against the project. In May of 2024, the Nipomo Action Committee joined forces with the California Native Plant Society to sue Dana Reserve developers NKT Commercial for potential environmental impacts, citing concerns over the water supply, wildfire safety and protected tree species in the proposed project area. To address these concerns, the new project plan reduces the original 1,470 unit housing development by 229 units — about a sixth of the total. It also calls for over 1,500 new trees to be planted and includes perimeter changes while still retaining affordable housing options for school district employees and locals and other benefit programs to support the community, according to a joint news release from project managers and the Nipomo Action Committee. 'The settlement will create a revised Dana Reserve Specific Plan to better balance the needs for local housing with long-term habitat preservation on the Nipomo Mesa, while offering some accommodation for the impacts of a rapidly growing community,' the groups said in the release. Alison Martinez, director of the Nipomo Action Committee, said the six-month negotiation between the parties was 'rigorous.' 'We were never anti-Dana Reserve, but we wanted a better project that better served the community with fewer impacts,' Martinez told The Tribune. 'The settlement is not really a win or a lose … but it's something we can move forward with.' The modified Dana Reserve project will now return to San Luis Obispo County for review and re-approval. The Planning Commission will review the revised project likely by the end of August or early September before the decision comes before the Board of Supervisors later, SLO County planning and building director Trevor Keith told The Tribune. The board originally approved the previous version of the project in April 2024. If approved again, the project will be cleared for construction. 'We have worked closely with NAC and CNPS to modify the project in a way that is mindful of the community concerns and still provides a meaningful ladder of housing,' Nick Tompkins, managing partner of the Dana Reserve, said in the release. 'We appreciate our local representatives who make land use decisions. Our hope is that the commissioners and supervisors will support the settlement and recognize the time, effort and compromise it took to reach this agreement.' Last year, the Nipomo Action Committee and the California Native Plant Society filed a California Environmental Quality Act — or CEQA — lawsuit against the Dana Reserve project on the grounds that the project's environmental impact report was inadequate. Specifically, the groups took issue with the project's reliance on the Nipomo Community Services District's water supply, allegedly incomplete evacuation plan in the event of a fire and the project's disruption of the 3,000-tree oak forest that spans the proposed construction site. The CEQA lawsuit alleged that the environmental report lacked sufficient analysis of these issues and project alternatives. The additional discovery of a potentially new species of manzanita by the California Native Plant Society was also cited in the lawsuit. To address their concerns about the environmental impacts associated with population growth, the project scope was reduced by 16% to a total of 1,242 housing units, Dana Reserve spokesperson Jocelyn Brennan told The Tribune. The largest reduction in housing type came from the affordable housing units. In the original plan, 156 affordable units were spread out across two neighborhoods — Neighborhood 10A and 10B. The lawsuit identified neighborhood 10A as a sensitive biological area, so developers combined the two neighborhoods into one Neighborhood 10 with 78 affordable housing units, Brennan said. That is a reduction of half the original number. 'That's the only big change,' Brennan said. 'The middle and missing work force housing is staying the same.' The new affordable units will be built in partnership with People's Self-Help Housing and rent will be based on income, Brennan said. 'We are supportive of anything that leads to more housing actually getting built,' Michael Massey, the president of pro-housing group Generation Build, told The Tribune. He wrote an op-ed for The Tribune calling for an end to the lawsuit in March. Other available units will include market-price single-family units, 345 multi-family units — including 87 below-market units for moderate-income renters — 78 deed-restricted affordable housing units and other housing types to help address the region's housing shortage, Brennan said. There was a 38-unit reduction in the number of multi-family units in Neighborhoods 1 and 2, a five-unit reduction in the single-family homes in Neighborhood 9 and an eight-unit reduction in the single-family homes in Neighborhood 7 to keep a contiguous area of manzanita together, she said. The addition of 100 accessory dwelling units required by the Board of Supervisors was also removed, but people can still build them on their own if they choose, Brennan said. For the deed-restricted units, first priority will be given to Lucia Mar Unified School District employees, the release said. Other benefits that remain include a down payment assistance program, housing priority to locals and three on-site childcare options, as originally approved. Changes were also made to the perimeter to address some neighborhood and community concerns, including moving the set-back farther away from Hetrick Avenue to create a larger buffer area near Neighborhood 9 and reducing Neighborhood 3 perimeter homes to single story, Brennan said. Another change made as a term of the settlement was additional and significant offsite biological mitigation effort to help support long-term protection of sensitive manzanita habitats outside of the project boundaries, the news release said. The new project design includes protection of additional sensitive plant species and 195 more coast live oaks, bringing the number of total protected trees to 1,979. Notably, Dana Reserve also agreed to plant 1,554 new oaks and 814 other trees onsite to offset the environmental impact caused by construction. Dana Reserve will also donate significant funds for the public benefit of Nipomo as a part of the settlement agreement, which will be overseen by the Nipomo Action Committee. The release did not say how much money would be given. 'This settlement will provide significant financial resources to address future priorities of our community,' Martinez said in the release. 'I anticipate this settlement, as agreed, will now proceed through the county approval process.'
Chicago Tribune
7 days ago
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Chicago Bears Q&A: Why create cap space with the Joe Thuney extension? Can Terell Smith be a press CB?
As the Chicago Bears take part in their second week of organized team activities at Halas Hall, could they be laying groundwork for another major addition to the roster? The Tribune's Brad Biggs addresses that question and many more in this week's Bears mailbag. What is the upside of lowering this year's cap number for Joe Thuney? If they don't use that cap space this season, wouldn't it be better to take that cap hit now? If they're not using the space for Thuney, does this imply they are looking to add more salary? — @samolianssam The Bears signed Thuney to a two-year, $35 million extension last week that puts the left guard under contract through 2027 at a total of $51 million. Thuney has $33.5 million fully guaranteed through the 2026 season, which effectively makes 2027 a team option at $17.5 million. The way the deal was structured, Thuney's salary-cap hit for this season went from $16 million (in the contract the Bears inherited from the Kansas City Chiefs) to $8 million. While some leaped to a conclusion that the savings hinted at a big move to follow, the Bears were pretty snug against the cap before the Thuney extension. Now they have $14.75 million in operating space, according to Over The Cap, which ranks 24th in the league. That provides the room to make a small addition to the roster and handle the necessary in-season moves due to injuries and such. Yes, the Bears could add more space if required by adjusting other contracts, but I'm skeptical another big move (see: Trey Hendrickson) is coming. One way or another, they needed to free up some space and accomplished that with the Thuney extension. Is Ben Johnson allowed to use the tush push if George McCaskey voted against it and thinks it's dangerous? I'm seriously asking. — @canuckboy670am Johnson was asked for his thoughts on the tush push last week after a bid to outlaw the play reportedly fell two votes shy at the NFL owners meeting. 'Does it become an explosive play ever?' Johnson said. 'Have you ever seen a tush push become an explosive play? I like big plays, so I'm not a big tush push guy myself.' The Philadelphia Eagles, who run the play more successfully than anyone, have had a couple of longer gains built off the play. They have a quarterback in Jalen Hurts with a physical profile and lower-body strength that are unmatched at the position. He can handle the physical dangers of the play and has the strength to push forward for an extra half-yard or yard when needed. Who does what in the Chicago Bears organization? Here's a counter to Johnson's remark is that moving the chains on a fourth-and-1 tush push provides the offense a fresh set of downs and more opportunities for explosive plays. There's also nothing more explosive than a touchdown. I don't know what Johnson will cook up in short-yardage situations. Would he consider a tush push with tight end Cole Kmet, who is strong and potentially could execute the play? Just because the owner voted to outlaw the play doesn't mean Johnson won't consider it. Terell Smith is an under-the-radar cornerback. Does his game fit the Dennis Allen scheme? — @djw4177 That's a good question. I think the Bears viewed Smith as more of a zone-coverage cornerback when they selected him in the fifth round out of Minnesota in 2023. That doesn't mean he lacks the tools to be a press corner. He has what you want in terms of a longer frame, reach and the physical strength to aggressively challenge wide receivers at the line of scrimmage. Smith measured 6-foot-0½ with 32 7/8-inch arms at the scouting combine. That doesn't mean you want him locked in press coverage against Ja'Marr Chase or Justin Jefferson, but I think he has the tools to potentially fit the scheme. Don't get carried away thinking we're going to see nothing but in-your-face man coverage by the secondary. Allen will mix in two-deep coverages and Cover-3, but when he wants to play man, you'll see press coverage with aggressive technique by the cornerbacks. Re: The enthusiasm over Ben Johnson. There was hype over Dave Wannstedt, Matt Nagy and even Marc Trestman. Also Flus, to some degree. All failed. Why should we believe Ben will be any better? — Mike W., Arizona One thing Bears fans have a tendency to do — and I'm sure it happens everywhere — is believe that the previous coaches, along with packing their belongings, also took with them everything that ailed the franchise. All of the poor play calls, ineffective schemes, missed challenge opportunities, blown timeouts and failed leadership are tidily packed in a cardboard box and removed from Halas Hall. When a team is stuck in a series of failed rebuilding efforts, the problems never really exit. They repopulate like weeds in your front yard. Should there be hope for Johnson and his new staff? Sure. The Bears landed arguably the most coveted candidate in this hiring cycle. I don't think you can say that about previous hires, but it would be an error to say the other coaches didn't have momentum toward landing a top job. If the roster is more competitive than last year's 5-12 record indicates — and the Bears surely are betting on that — there should be optimism they can field a more successful product in short order. They have a talented offensive mind to work with a talented young quarterback, plenty of skill-position players and an upgraded offensive line. That's where belief should lie in Johnson and what he can bring to the table. How many issues plaguing the organization were actually packed up and shipped out with Matt Eberflus and his staff, we'll have to wait to find out. Do you think the Bills or Dolphins training camp joint practice will be open to the public? — @michael16824439 Photos: What we saw at Chicago Bears OTAsThat's a good question and I don't know the answer because the Bears haven't finalized a training camp schedule. Instinct tells me they will schedule an open day for the public to at least one of the two joint practice sessions and possibly both. Last year the Bears had nine camp practices open to the public, including a joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals. Inclement weather forced them to cancel fan access that day, so they added an extra open day in an effort to accommodate those who missed out on the opportunity. I'd expect the team to release a camp schedule in June. Remember, a free ticket is required for admission to camp practices. How much of the offense will be the dreaded WR screen pass? I remember when John Lynch as a Buccaneers player called WR screens the 'Bear Pass' and it seems no matter who calls plays for the Bears, it's been called five or more times a game for 40 years. — @themanvic I don't recall Lynch saying that but it's possible he did. The wide receiver screen is part of every NFL, college and high school offense. These days, wide receiver screens often are built into run-pass options (RPOs). That's strictly a numbers thing. If you have numbers on the edge, the quarterback throws it. If the numbers aren't there, hand it off. Like any other play, it still has to be executed. Miss a block at the point of attack — even with numbers — and it can look bad. One pitfall the Bears got into last year, and maybe at times with Justin Fields as quarterback, is they tended to use wide receiver screens as an answer for pressure. They wanted the ball out of the quarterback's hand as quickly as possible. That was a tendency defenses were able to pick up on pretty easily. Wide receiver screens will be a part of just about every package, and the Bears have three talented catch-and-run targets in DJ Moore, Luther Burden and Olamide Zaccheaus. They just can't use the play as an answer for pressure over and over. What year will the Bears play their first game in Arlington Heights? — Jerry F. That's impossible to answer at this point, but I suppose I can hazard a guess without knowing how the team will fare in Springfield in the final week of the spring legislative session. The Bears are seeking megaproject legislation that would allow them to negotiate with local governments over property tax bills, and there's no way of telling how things will go this week. Simply put, the Bears need help from the state to put a move to Arlington Heights in motion. At this point, my blind guess is that the earliest the Bears could play games in Arlington Heights would be the 2029 season. What will happen to the Detroit Lions this year? Big test for Dan Campbell. — @terrydonahoe2 I won't masquerade as an expert on the Lions, but it's still Campbell's team, culture and identity and nothing from that standpoint has changed. He picked new coordinators and assistant coaches who profile and will adapt to his identity. Campbell has been around the league for a long time, and while it's a transition for sure to replace both coordinators, the Lions have something a lot of teams are seeking and that's stability at the top. That's because of Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes. They also have some super-talented players who missed a lot of time because of injuries last season. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson tops that list. As you know, the Lions just kept winning without them up until the playoff game against the Washington Commanders. The Lions are the pick to win the NFC North until someone beats them.
