Puerto Rico (AP) For 21 years Hector Alejandro Santiago spread joy throughout Puerto Rico with the poinsettias, orchids and other ornamental plants he raised and sold to major retailers including Costco, Walmart and Home Depot. In a matter of hours Hurricane Maria wiped it away. The greenhouses and other buildings on the 40 acres where…
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) – Missouri lawmakers are blocking a tax increase on the state’s most valuable farmland. The Senate voted 29-2 on Thursday to reject the State Tax Commission’s plan to raise some agricultural tax values for 2017 and 2018. The House passed the same resolution last week on a 133-24 vote. It does…
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (AP) – Agriculture officials say it’s too soon to know if recent flooding in southeast Missouri damaged the area’s winter wheat crop. Anthony Ohmes, agronomy specialist at the University of Missouri Extension, told The Southeast Missourian (http://bit.ly/1PteKny ) that wheat crops can handle being submerged when it’s cold. But he says the…