Feds to boost homeownership in rural areas
The Agriculture Department and the Department of Housing and Urban Development Thursday teemed up to promote increased home ownership, particularly in rural communities.
Secretaries for the two federal agencies said an extra $9 million in new grants will be available from the Agriculture Department to help build 600 self-help housing projects in California, Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma and Washington.
Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman and HUD Secretary Mel Martinez visited with families in Troy, Mo., who were able to buy their first homes through grants, loans and other aid from the two agencies.
"President Bush has put forth a bold initiative to expand homeownership opportunities throughout America," Veneman said. "Through these type of public-private partnerships, we are working together to help families in rural America realize the dream of homeownership."
Earlier this week, Bush said he would like to see the number of minority homeowners increased by 5.5 billion by 2010.
Funding for the project will be provided by the Mutual Self-Help Housing grant program, which targets families unable to purchase homes through more conventional means.
Families in the project must perform at least 65 percent of the construction labor on each others' homes under qualified supervision.
Savings from lower labor costs make the homes more affordable for low-income families.
Agriculture Department statistics indicate about 65 percent of the 1,343 families who received aid through the program during 2001 belonged to racial or ethnic minorities.
This is not the only means by which the Agriculture Department tries to boost housing quality in rural communities. During 2001, the department's Rural Development Agency provided $3.5 billion in direct and guaranteed housing loans to help buy housing for more than 57,000 rural families.
Manure storage:
The use of a geotextile cover can reduce odors from manure storage by as much as 45 percent, according to research funded by the National Pork Board's checkoff fund.
Researchers spent two years studying the geotextile cover BioCap, which was designed for lagoons and manure storage by Baumgartner Environics Inc. of Olivia, Minn.
Geotextile is a non-woven permeable material made from chemical compounds such as polypropylene. The cover provides a physical barrier to odorous compounds in manure, minimizing their emissions into the atmosphere.
"Odor emissions were reduced by nearly half using the geotextile cover in this study," said pork board member John Kellogg. "The results may be different in other conditions. Whether or not the odor reduction is enough depends on each individual operation."
Farm bill:
The National Corn Growers Association has developed a guide and calculator to help farmers figure out how big their direct payments, countercyclical payments, marketing loan assistance and total program benefits will be under the new farm bill approved earlier this year.
The guide was designed to help farmers figure out their government assistance for corn, barley, cotton, oats, rice, sorghum, soybeans and wheat.
"Due to the complexities of the farm bill, growers need to be able to enter their own data and get the information that applies directly to them," association public policy chairman Ron Litterer said.
Internet:
The National Farmers Union is developing an educational Web site to help agriculture interests do business on the Internet.
The Web site, when completed, will focus on teaching farmers and their cooperatives how to sell goods and services via computer. Officials from 10 states are testing the Web site's content and are hoping to launch the site by early July.
Funding for the project came from an Agriculture Department grant. Officials say business-to-consumer Internet sales totaled $49.8 billion last year, and could increase to $155.6 billion by 2005.
Drought:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Thursday drought conditions are expanding across the Dakotas into Minnesota.
The NOAA Drought Monitor indicated southern North Dakota, central Minnesota and most of South Dakota and Nebraska have missed the cool and dry weather conditions that spread across the rest of the Plains states and the Midwest.
Central South Dakota and northern Nebraska were found to be experiencing moderate drought conditions, while severe drought was experienced in southwestern Nebraska and north-central South Dakota. Extreme drought occurred in far-southwestern Nebraska.
Grains:
Grain futures were mixed at the close Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade.
Soybeans fell on a lack of positive news. Export sales were high but non-threatening weather conditions limited gains.
Corn rose on a solid export report and word that South Korea purchased 52,000 metric tons of U.S. corn, ending a stretch where Seoul had been buying corn from China.
Wheat was mostly higher amid reports of yields coming in lower than anticipated.
Oats futures were mixed.
The prices:
Soybeans: Jul 4.87 1/2 off 4, Aug 4.83 3/4 off 3 3/4, Sep 4.73 3/4 off 2 3/4, Nov 4.67 1/4 off 3 1/4.
Corn: Jul 2.10 up 1 1/4, Sep 2.17 up 1 3/4, Dec 2.26 3/4 up 2, Mar 2.34 1/2 up 2.
Wheat: Jul 2.91 1/4 off 1/4, Sep 2.98 1/2 up 1/2, Dec 3.06 1/2 up 1 3/4, Mar 3.07 3/4 up 2 1/4.
Oats: Jul 1.85 1/4 off 3, Sep 1.48 3/4 unch, Dec 1.41 1/2 unch, Mar 1.46 up 2.
