An Innovating Ag Program and Other News 

We shared a story in a previous blog post about more young people getting into farming. This week's "Super Six" stories in the agriculture, construction, forestry and oil industries includes an interesting article on how one state is helping aspiring young farmers purchase land.

• Many young people interested in getting into farming face a serious obstacle if they do not inherit land because land prices are sky high. Countryfolks.com discusses how the Vermont Land Trust is helping some aspiring farmers get started. 
• Suppliers to the residential construction industry will be glad to hear that economists at America's top banks are citing the housing market as a key reason they expect the U.S. economy to grow 2.9% in 2015 as opposed to 2.5% last year.
  
  
• We supply our Primex forestry tires to many important customers in the Southeast who we're sure are participating in the boom in wood pellet production. This story from environment360 explores whether wood pellets are really a green form of energy as touted.
  
  
• In other forestry news, Forest Business Network has shared a National Geographic report that about half of California's big trees are gone. Logging and suburban sprawl have played a role, but the magazine reports that global warming is a huge culprit.
  
  
• Yahoo Finance reports that mining giant BHP is shutting down 40% of its shale oil rigs in response to the current world oil glut; definitely not good news for the many businesses that have benefited from the shale oil boom in the U.S.
  
  
• On a more positive note, worldoil.com, in a story shared by Reuters, is reporting a major light crude oil sale to Asia, indicating that at least certain sectors of the U.S. oil industry are ready to do battle with OPEC for marketshare.

We hope you find these weekly articles helpful to your business and welcome your comments on topics you would like to see covered in the "Super Six."