Free Republic

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - For one Nebraska farmer, celebrating the Fourth of July means leaving a message for the world to see from above. Broc Brune has been farming his entire life. Five years ago, he decided to let his soybeans do the talking. “We started out that first year with the Husker block N. And we didn’t know what to expect. And all of a sudden I flew the drone up and it showed up really well. Every year we kind of tried to push the detail a little farther,” Brune said. This year’s design This year, Brune’s 70...

The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

When people see Timothy Barkman's four-horned Jacob sheep at his farm near Lingle, they stop and stare at the ancient breed that looks part biblical legend and part heavy-metal mascot. The breed likely originated in Syria roughly 3,000 years ago. Timothy Barkman raises the rare heritage breed on his family's 105-year-old homestead. They're an the ancient breed that looks part biblical legend and part heavy-metal mascot. (Timothy Barkman) ======================================================================================== When people see Timothy Barkman's four-horned Jacob sheep at his farm near Lingle, they stop and stare. The sheep look unlike almost anything else grazing Wyoming pastures. Their piebald coats are...

(WASHINGTON, D.C., June 24, 2026) — Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) released the annual Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payment error rates (PER), which measure how accurately states determine who is eligible for SNAP and how much they should receive. The national payment error rate for fiscal year (FY) 2025 is 10.62%, far surpassing the congressional threshold of 6%. FY 2025 National and State Payment Error Rates While this is a modest decrease from FY 2024, the FY 2025 rate still shows significant waste at the state level. Including both overpayments and underpayments, this year’s rate represents a...

Eggs are a dietary staple for millions worldwide, known for their flavor and nutritional value. In the United States alone, per capita egg consumption reached 281.3 eggs in 2023, with projections suggesting it will rise to 284.4 in 2024, according to Statista. Yet, eggs have long been at the center of debates about their effects on cholesterol and heart health. In a groundbreaking experiment, Nick Norwitz, a Harvard student and Oxford-trained physiologist, consumed 24 eggs a day for 30 days, challenging conventional beliefs about dietary cholesterol. His unexpected results have sparked renewed discussions about the role of eggs in a...

A federal judge on Monday shut down the Trump Administration’s pilot program restricting the purchase of soda and junk food with SNAP benefits. US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, said Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins applied the wrong law in approving a pilot program for states that wanted to restrict junk food purchases. 23 states applied for the pilot program in an effort to limit the purchase of soda, candy and other junk food. Plaintiffs in five states filed the lawsuit against Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. Judge Berman Jackson’s ruling applies to five states: West Virginia, Tennessee,...

You know I love milk just as much as the next American. I'm not sure I love it this much, though. From Sentient: Although much of the technology remains speculative, the Russian company Neiry claims to have directly implanted neural devices in the brains of dairy cows to stimulate lactation on demand. ‘When a cow's appetite decreases, the system automatically adjusts the neuromodulation mode to restore it,' the company said in a September 2025 announcement that it had surgically placed electrodes into five cows. ‘The stimulator's electronic unit is attached to the back of the animal's head, with electrodes reaching...

The national average for U.S. gasoline prices has hovered above the politically sensitive $4-per-gallon level for 76 days, or roughly 2.5 months, as the Gulf energy shock tightened physical markets and forced emergency SPR draws. But with President Trump declaring late Sunday, just 30 minutes before NY futures opened, that a US-Iran peace deal has been secured, and with WTI and Brent futures tumbling, pressure at the pump could begin to ease in the very near term. National gasoline prices could slip back below $4 in the coming days or weeks if the crude selloff holds and traders begin pricing...

A county park official says the worm was spotted in Cliff Cave Park along the Mississippi River. (Photo courtesy of St. Louis County Parks and Recreation) ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — An invasive hammerhead worm was reportedly found earlier this week at a St. Louis County Park for the first time. A county park official says the worm was spotted in Cliff Cave Park along the Mississippi River. These flatworms originate from Asia and can harm the local ecosystem by preying on native earthworms, which are essential for healthy soil. They are usually seen after heavy rains, hiding under logs,...

A one-in-a-million apple that's half red and half yellow has become a local celebrity at the Sunshine Corner Market in Christchurch, New Zealand, after it came in a random delivery last month. The store's owner, Heather, told the New Zealand Herald, We've been in the game a long time, never seen one like it. Sunshine Corner Market/Facebook And no, that's not AI, that's actually a perfectly halved red and yellow apple known as a chimera apple. Chimera apples are caused by rare gene mutations that cause one apple to form from two different genetic backgrounds, resulting in a really cool...

Tennessee families are being squeezed from every direction. Grocery bills are up. Fuel costs more. And when something breaks, whether it’s a car, an appliance, or a piece of farm equipment, getting it fixed has become its own financial ordeal. Some of that is inflation. But some of it is federal policy, and that part is fixable. Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was originally written to protect intellectual property. Few could have anticipated that manufacturers of refrigerators, smartphones, and farm equipment would later use it for an entirely different purpose: embedding proprietary encryption and software locks...

Felt cute this morning hit the modeling software, ESRI, and thought why not solve Corpus Christi and Austin water supply issues forever for under $7 billion and a Capex return of 24 months in it's base config. The Japanese built past tense ABWR reactors in 39 months from ground breaking till first critical. Here is my summary report to the Texas Water Dev Board. Should I present it next time I am standing in their office in Austin. ## EXECUTIVE BRIEFING & PROJECT PROPOSAL To: The Board of Directors, Texas Water Development Board (TWDB) Project Title: The Texas Multi-Energy Hydronic...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) confirmed a second case of a flesh-eating screwworm parasite in Texas on Friday, as it races to contain and eradicate the outbreak before it severely impacts the cattle population. A New World screwworm was detected in a one-month-old calf in Zavala County after testing a “number of suspected cases,” according to USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). It was found less than six miles away from the ranch where the pest was reported in another young calf earlier this week. ( Snip ) The New World screwworm is a species of parasitic...

Consumers are being encouraged to check their freezers for a product that might contain harmful or potentially deadly bacteria. In the latest recall linked to salmonella risks associated with powdered milk, a popular frozen food sold by Costco and Walmart has been pulled from shelves. The Hill provided these details: The most recent recall was shared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday. Select batches of Motor City Pizza Co. 5 Cheese Bread were recalled because the dry milk powder was used in the five-cheese sauce blend. Other recalls linked to the powder impact frozen pizzas, pork rinds,...

Glyphosate-based formulations (GBFs), such as Roundup, are the most heavily used herbicides in the world. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that glyphosate and GBFs are probably carcinogenic to humans, mainly for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL)... In 2021, the French Institute of Health and Medical Research... also found that many studies demonstrated genotoxic damage (DNA breaks or structural changes) consistent with the induction of oxidative stress by glyphosate/GBFs, sometimes at exposure levels experienced by human populations... In a recent study of Thai farmers, a high frequency (97.6%) of those spraying GBFs with backpack sprayers had high...

Businessman Zach Lahn’s win in Iowa’s Republican gubernatorial primary over President Donald Trump’s pick, Rep. Randy Feenstra, delivered a rare electoral setback for Trump in a primary season that had handed him back-to-back victories... Members of the MAHA movement...cheered the win as a sign their political message was resonating with voters. “This election is a signal that pro-pesticide does not mean pro-farmer,” said Tony Lyons, president of Kennedy-aligned MAHA PAC, which endorsed Lahn. “Zach Lahn made transitioning away from toxic chemicals the cornerstone of his campaign and won this election decisively with strong farmer support.” “Iowa has the fastest growing...

A new analysis links high use of the weed killer glyphosate to elevated rates of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), particularly in the Midwest, reinforcing years of research linking cancer to the weed killer made popular by Monsanto.. A map of the hotspots shows clusters of NHL rates particularly high in many parts of Iowa, the nation’s top corn-growing state... Iowa has the second-highest rate of cancer in the nation and is only one of three states where cancer is rising, according to the National Institutes of Health.

In A Nutshell A major review found no link between naturally occurring dairy trans fats and higher risk of heart disease or type 2 diabetes. Unlike artificial trans fats in processed foods, dairy trans fats appear to behave differently in the body. Some studies found that people with higher blood levels of a dairy-specific trans fat were less likely to develop type 2 diabetes, though the evidence is not conclusive. Several of the study’s authors have ties to the dairy industry, a conflict of interest the researchers disclosed and that independent replication would help address. ============================================================================ For decades, “trans fat”...

The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

In A Nutshell Researchers found bacteria with probiotic potential in three British artisan cheeses. The hay-aged cheese had the biggest increase in bacterial diversity as it matured. Lactose was largely gone by maturity, which may matter for lactose-sensitive readers. The study is promising, but it does not prove these cheeses improve gut health in people. ========================================================================== For most people, cheese is a guilty pleasure: something delicious but probably not great for you. That assumption may be worth revisiting. A recent study took a close look at three traditional British artisan cheeses and tracked how their bacterial communities and chemical profiles...