News

Since its inception in late 2022, Holy Grounds Coffee has become a staple at various community events and gatherings throughout Merrick County. Known for their mobile coffee shop, they consistently attract long queues of coffee enthusiasts. Holy Grounds has marked its presence at numerous local events including ‘Race for Grace,’ ‘Harvest of Harmony’ in Grand Island, the Merrick County Fair, the junk jaunt, and a variety of small-town festivals and school events. Holy Grounds expressed their admiration for the loyal customers who frequent their Saturday drive-through events, noting their unwavering support.

Central City is gearing up for a week of notable community gatherings, offering residents opportunities to engage in both political discourse and local history. The upcoming events include a meeting of the Merrick County Republicans and the annual meeting of the Merrick County Historical Museum, each promising to be a highlight in the city’s social calendar.

The show choir fine tunes its performance for competition. Tyler Vogt a member of the Young American’s musical performing group choreographed their show.

Farmers, ranchers, and Nebraska agriculture remained resilient in 2023. From widespread drought conditions and uncertainty in commodity markets, to economic recoil associated with higher interest rates and input costs, Nebraska agriculture navigated some challenging waters. Nebraska Farm Bureau (NEFB) worked alongside Nebraska’s farm and ranch families to help lighten the burden by helping deliver historic property tax relief, promoting growth opportunities for livestock agriculture, working on the next Farm Bill, helping achieve an unprecedent Supreme Court win for Waters of the United States (WOTUS), and continuing to ensure strong agricultural advocates are elected. Those issues round out Nebraska Farm Bureau’s top agricultural issues list for 2023.

County-level estimates for 2023 small grain acreage, yield and production are now available, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. The estimates, based primarily on surveys conducted with farmers and ranchers last fall, can be accessed using the Quick Stats online database at: http://www. nass.usda.gov/Quick_Stats/.

Nebraska feedlots, with capacities of 1,000 or morehead, contained 2.58 million cattle on feed on December 1, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. This inventory was down 1% from last year.