skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, January 31, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

From anguish to aggression: Trump goes on offense after midair collision; NH air monitoring project grows with help from citizen scientists; Maryland worst state for wage theft, study finds; Scholarships help OH women in public service amid diversity program cuts.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

President Trump's latest executive actions on aviation safety, education and birthright citizenship spark debates. Critics say they threaten civil rights, while supporters say they support competency.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

As bird flu spreads, egg prices continue to soar, wildfires aren't stopping Americans from moving to wildfire-prone states, and post-pandemic infrastructure isn't just roads and bridges but also education, healthcare and economic opportunity.

Utah program incentivizes farmers to optimize water use

play audio
Play

Thursday, January 23, 2025   

A Utah grant program is aiming to incentivize farmers to optimize their water use.

Historically, Utah agriculture has accounted for up to 80% of the state's water consumption, but the state's Agricultural Water Optimization Program is an initiative using state and federal funds to lower the financial barriers for ag producers to modernize and update their irrigation equipment.

Hannah Freeze, Agricultural Water Optimization Program manager for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food, said it covers half the cost of purchasing new, more efficient equipment. She explained the Utah Legislature and the federal government have allocated $276 million for the program and describes it as a step in the right direction, especially with agriculture being what she calls "nonnegotiable."

"It is essential to everything that we do in life," Freeze pointed out. "So, as we continue to use the scarce water that we have for agricultural purposes, this program allows our producers to be the best stewards of that precious resource. Our farmers are truly the first environmentalists."

Freeze added the program boils down to helping farmers use the scarce water the state has to still be able to meet agricultural demands. She noted it was only after capturing federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act that the program "got a big shot in the arm." Since 2019, the program continues to see increased interest, but has only been able to fund around half of the projects in the state.

The 2025 application period runs through Feb. 28.

Freeze stressed the biggest requirement to be eligible for the program is for a project to be directly tied to agricultural water use. She recognizes that irrigation needs across the state are diverse.

"We try to be open to all of the different needs based on the regions that the producers are in," Freeze added. "The real hard stop is, you've got to have 'ag water' to be able to participate. And other than that, we try to be accommodating with all the other projects."

Freeze emphasized the program has committed hundreds of millions of government dollars to help optimize water use and, while the state helps administer half of the cost of the infrastructure projects, the other half comes from the farmers themselves.

"If that doesn't say they are stepping up, they are here to help, they are at the table and they understand the role that they play as we optimize water use in the West, I don't know what does," Freeze concluded.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Unhealthy concentrations of fine particle matter can threaten vulnerable groups like children, the elderly and people with heart or lung disease, according to the National Institutes of Health. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

By Elijah de Castro for Keen Sentinel. Broadcast version by Kathryn Carley for New Hampshire News Service, for the Solutions Journalism Network-…


Social Issues

play sound

Elected officials in New York and nationwide joined an amicus brief filed by the Public Rights Project fighting President Donald Trump's executive ord…

Social Issues

play sound

The Trump administration this week reversed a decision to freeze federal loans and grants -- but only after it led to mass confusion among organizatio…


Legislation to increase fines for companies that violate child labor law to as much as $10,000 passed with overwhelming bipartisan support. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New child labor laws went into effect in Virginia at the start of the year, but some advocates say more can be done. House Bill 100 took effect in …

Environment

play sound

A North Dakota legislative committee on Thursday took up a trio of bills about landowners' rights as states in this region are eyed for carbon-capture…

Provider organizations in the state, including the Mississippi State Medical Association and Mississippi Hospital Association, have been supporters of Medicaid expansion. (Pixabay)

Health and Wellness

play sound

As Mississippi lawmakers move forward with a potential Medicaid expansion, advocates said the state cannot afford further delays while thousands …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Florida residents who depend on Medicaid said they fear for their futures as lawmakers consider $2.3 trillion in federal cuts, which could force …

Health and Wellness

play sound

Service providers and advocacy groups in Ohio and across the country are facing uncertainty following recent executive orders that have thrown federal…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021