November 2024

20 YEARS AGO: NEWS FROM THE ISSUE OF DEC. 2, 2004 Golden piles dotting the landscape of the United States corn belt are visible evidence of the numbers that will go into the record books — a national corn harvest of nearly 11.7 billion bushels. Southwestern Minnesota farmers are adding their several million bushels to the nation’s total, which will top the 2003 record crop by 1.5 billion bushels. This year’s soybean harvest of 3.15 billion bushels is also a record. Mark Hergott, location manager for Cargill Inc. Grain Elevator in Litchfield, said the bumper crop is the reason so many ground piles of grain are being seen, especially in northern and western parts of the corn belt, where harvest has been delayed due to a cool summer.

The renewed fight over the insertion of fluoridation into the public water supply is traceable to legislation and legal cases here in Minnesota some 50 years ago. Its revival is attributable to the remarks by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. — the prospective health czar in the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump — that he will attempt to banish the chemical that is regarded by many authorities as minimizing or preventing tooth decay.

To mark National Rural Health Day Nov. 21, University of Minnesota School of Public Health Associate Professor Carrie Henning-Smith, who specializes in health and health care in rural communities, discussed the challenges and opportunities related to addressing rural health and well-being.

University of Minnesota Extension and Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce will offer a 2025 Crop Management Input Seminar from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 4, at the Crow River Winery in Hutchinson.

Nancy Black, Tribune Content Agency

FRIDAY, NOV. 29