Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Water”
Low Water Levels Disrupt Midwest Barge Traffic Again During Harvest 2025 Low water levels on major rivers back in the Midwest will disrupt barge traffic during harvest time for the fourth year in a row. The Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers, among others, have all dropped below the low gauge level again, making grain transport by barge more difficult …
Applications Open for $25 Million Florida Agricultural Regional Projects Program Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson has announced the opening of the application process for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Agricultural Regional Projects Program. This initiative provides $25 million in grant funding to support regional, collaborative agricultural water resource projects that improve both water quality and …
EPA Awards $48 Million for Water System Recovery in Hurricane Helene-Affected States The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced $48 million in disaster relief funding to support water systems in southeastern states devastated by Hurricane Helene. This critical funding will aid in restoring and strengthening drinking water and wastewater infrastructure that was damaged or destroyed by the storm. The …
Mississippi River Hits Historic Low for Fourth Year, Disrupting Grain Transport The Mississippi River south of St. Louis is once again experiencing dangerously low water levels as the region enters the fall harvest season. For the fourth consecutive year, water levels have dropped to critical lows, significantly impacting grain transportation, barge traffic, and cash basis prices at river terminals. “Lower …
Trump Administration Set to Propose New Clean Water Act Rule, Rolling Back Wetlands Protections The Trump administration is preparing to propose a new Clean Water Act rule that may eliminate federal protections for many wetlands across the United States, according to an internal EPA presentation obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News. “Under the proposed rule, the federal government would regulate wetlands …
The Roots of Irrigation In today’s American Agriculture History Minute, Mark Oppold sheds light on the long and fascinating history of irrigating cropland. While modern systems are sophisticated and efficient, the practice of irrigation dates back thousands of years. Ancient farmers in Asia and Africa were among the first to manipulate water for agriculture, devising rudimentary yet effective techniques to …
Windmills have long played a vital role in agriculture—grinding grain, pumping water, and powering essential equipment. But in 1854, a breakthrough in windmill design changed everything. That year, American inventor Daniel Halladay patented the first commercially successful windmill. What set his design apart? Unlike previous stationary windmills, Halladay’s model automatically turned to face the prevailing wind direction—dramatically increasing efficiency. Even …
Ag History Minute: From Ancient Innovation to American Farms In this edition of the American Agriculture History Minute, we take a closer look at one of the most enduring tools in rural landscapes: the windmill. This historical moment honors the windmill’s essential role in farming history. Modern windmills, as we recognize them today, trace their origins back to the 8th …
Mark Oppold presents an American Agriculture History minute, focusing on the origins of Valley Irrigation. In 1946, Robert Doherty identified an opportunity in a small manufacturing company near Valley, Nebraska. He invested his life savings of $5,000 in Valley Manufacturing, which initially focused on farm elevators. A significant development occurred when Frank Ziebach created a prototype for a center pivot irrigation …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Agriculture in what is now Colorado began taking shape in the early 1850s. Then Rocky Mountain News founder William N. Byers passed out seeds to make his newspaper “the principal chronicle of early farming in Colorado”. By the 1870s Byers facilitated the colony of Greeley, Colorado’s first major agricultural settlement and …
