Rural Populations Grows and First Human Screwworm Infection
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**The U.S. population in rural counties grew by more than 134,000 between 2023 and 2024, an increase of 0.29%.
Although the growth rate was lower than metropolitan counties, which grew by 1.1%, rural populations, after nearly a decade of loss, have grown annually since 2020 even though they’ve experienced more deaths than births.
Between 2020 and 2024, deaths exceeded births by 563,550, but migration added over 974,000 people to rural counties.
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**The Maryland Department of Health says the patient with the first human infection of a travel-associated New World screwworm infection in the U.S. has recovered from the flesh-eating parasite, with no sign of transmission to other people or animals.
The problem is, Health and Human Services says the disease was confirmed on August 4 in a person who traveled to El Salvador, but the CDC didn’t report it until August 24.
**A National Corn Growers Association report says corn prices have dropped about 50% since hitting a peak in 2022, but the cost of production has declined only modestly, making production unprofitable.
Despite the plunging prices, the cost of growing an acre of corn this year is down only 3.3% from its peak in 2022.
The report says this is particularly problematic for farmers trying to cash flow high production costs.
