agriculture

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In California, an 'Explosion' in Pistachios

Pistachio crops are booming, with much of them headed to China

(Newser) - In a sprawling plant in the heart of California's farmland, millions of shells rush down a metallic chute and onto a conveyor belt where they're inspected, roasted, packaged, and shipped off to groceries around the world. Pistachios are growing fast in California, where farmers have been devoting more...

'The Weeds Have Caught Up to Us'
'The Weeds Have
Caught Up to Us'
longform
Nov 10, 2024 2:20 PM CST

'The Weeds Have Caught Up to Us'

MIT Tech Review looks at how modern farming has an herbicide problem

(Newser) - "When you try to kill something, what does it do? It tries to not be killed." That truism from Patrick Tranel, an expert in molecular weed science at the University of Illinois, sums up a big problem in modern agriculture as detailed in a story at MIT Technological ...

Oh My Gourd! This Pumpkin Weighs in at Nearly 2.5K Pounds
This Pumpkin Weighs
More Than a Ton
Oct 15, 2024 11:22 AM CDT

This Pumpkin Weighs More Than a Ton

Minnesota's Travis Gienger wins Cali pumpkin-weighing contest (again), with a 2,471-pound entry

(Newser) - A Minnesota horticulture teacher remained the reigning champion Monday of an annual pumpkin-weighing contest in Northern California, where his massive gourds have won the top prize four years in a row. Travis Gienger, of Anoka, Minnesota, beat his closest competitor by 6 pounds to clinch the victory at the 51st...

'Short Corn' Could Bring Big Change to Midwest

Smaller, sturdier plants are better able to withstand powerful windstorms

(Newser) - Taking a late-summer country drive in the Midwest means venturing into the corn zone, snaking between 12-foot-tall green, leafy walls that seem to block out nearly everything other than the sun and an occasional water tower. The skyscraper-like corn is a part of rural America as much as cavernous red...

Where Your Seafood Now Comes From May Surprise You

More aquatic animals were farmed in 2022 than caught in the wild, per a new UN report

(Newser) - In the world of marine life, some big news. The United Nations, via its Food and Agriculture Organization, is out with its 2024 report on the state of the world's fisheries and aquaculture—the practice of breeding, raising, and harvesting aquatic organisms on farms—and for the first time,...

Angry Farmers Organize Very Smelly Protest

Cops in Belgium get sprayed with liquid manure amid protests over EU policies

(Newser) - Farmers clashed with Belgium police on Monday, spraying officers with liquid manure and setting fire to tire piles in a fresh show of force as European Union agriculture ministers met in search of ways to address their concerns. Brussels police said 900 tractors entered the city, many bearing down on...

This Is a Different Kind of Protest

German farmers use their tractors to block traffic in protest of proposed cuts to diesel subsidies

(Newser) - Farmers blocked highway access roads and snarled traffic in parts of Germany on Monday with their tractors, launching a week of protests against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture. Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular three-party coalition infuriated farmers last month by drawing up plans...

Olive Oil Now 10 Times More Expensive Than Crude Oil
Price Shock
in the Kitchen:
Olive Oil
Oct 28, 2023 10:45 AM CDT

Price Shock in the Kitchen: Olive Oil

Extreme weather across the Mediterranean has jacked up the price of the cooking staple

(Newser) - Cooking with olive oil keeps getting more expensive, and the culprit is the usual suspect in agricultural woes: climate change. Per the New York Times , global olive oil prices across the world have doubled over the past year. Severe drought across Spain's orchards has caused a 48% drop in...

Sorry, Sriracha Fans, It's Happening Again

Bottles of popular Huy Fong hot sauce are selling for triple digits online amid chile pepper shortage

(Newser) - A hot summer lies ahead , though that heat won't be carrying over to meals usually doused in Sriracha sauce. A shortage of the chile-pepper-based condiment means it's been harder to find on store shelves, though fans can likely stumble upon the hot sauce made by Huy Fong, its...

They'll Soon Be Back, and It's Our Job to 'Eliminate' Them
They'll Soon Be Back, and It's
Our Job to 'Eliminate' Them
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Apr 29, 2023 12:55 PM CDT

They'll Soon Be Back, and It's Our Job to 'Eliminate' Them

Spotted lanternflies are due to start hatching soon; experts say we need to 'smash' invasive species

(Newser) - Since 2014, when they apparently made their way from China to the US in a shipping crate, spotted lanternflies have been the bane of farmers, agricultural officials, and plant lovers throughout the Northeast. Now, it's almost time for the eggs of the invasive species to hatch, and experts are...

Could North Korea See Another 'Arduous March'?

Nation is mired in its worst food shortage since its mid-'90s famine

(Newser) - As North Korea continues to launch ICBMs and lob threats , it's also contending with a familiar problem: a food shortage, though this time experts say it's particularly bad. Per Fox News , South Korea's Unification Ministry says the food situation "seems to have deteriorated" in its northern...

This State Wants Roasted Chiles to Be Its Official Aroma

New Mexico would be first state to have an affiliated scent

(Newser) - Every fall, the air in New Mexico is infused with the sweet, smoky scent of roasted chile peppers, a tradition that follows chile harvesting season. Now, a bunch of fifth-graders have spearheaded a campaign to deem that salivation-inducing bouquet as the scent of the Land of Enchantment, making it the...

1.2M Pigs to Meet Demise Annually in New 'Pig Hotel'

Dozens of similar facilities are planned in coming years

(Newser) - Pigs are big business in China, which consumes about half of the world’s pork, but pig farms require lots of space. They also produce a slurry of toxic biproducts and—above all—are vulnerable to disease outbreaks like African swine fever, which wiped out 100 million pigs between 2018...

As US Dries Up in Drought, Farmers' Hands Are Forced

America's farmers are having to kill off their own crops, sell cattle earlier than usual

(Newser) - In 2021, nearly a quarter of America's farmers said they had to kill their own crops because drought conditions had made the environment so dry that the crops were never going to mature. Things haven't gotten any better since: This year, 37% of the nation's farmers say...

Country Plans First Tax on Cow, Sheep Burps

New Zealand is including agriculture in emissions-trading scheme

(Newser) - New Zealand is looking into slapping a tax on one of the country's main sources of greenhouse-gas emissions: The livestock that outnumber human New Zealanders by more than seven to one. Agriculture accounts for around half the country's emissions, mainly methane produced by the burps of sheep and...

$9M Doomsday Vault Getting $13M Upgrade
After 'Doomsday Vault'
Withdrawal Comes a Deposit
UPDATED
Feb 14, 2022 12:06 PM CST

After 'Doomsday Vault' Withdrawal Comes a Deposit

Group formerly in Syria deposits seeds for safeguarding, a milestone for the vault

(Newser) - Updated: The world's "Doomsday Vault" opened its doors Monday to accept more seeds from abroad. The vault in Norway was taking seeds for safeguarding from facilities in Uganda, Sudan, New Zealand, Germany, and Lebanon, reports Reuters . Most notably, the International Center for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas, formerly...

Drought Is Hitting Corn, Wheat Production Hard

Inventories expected to fall to lowest level since 2013

(Newser) - This is a tough year for American farmers—severe drought has gripped much of the country and crops planted this spring are failing. The Department of Agriculture has now scaled back its forecasts for 2021 production and inventories of corn, wheat, and soybeans are expected to fall to their lowest...

Atlanta Addresses Food Desert With a Forest

City's free food forest is the nation's largest

(Newser) - Townhouses were once intended for a 7-acre plot in southeast Atlanta. But the project fell through, and the area needs food more anyway. One-third of the Browns Mill neighborhood's residents live below the poverty line, and the nearest grocery store is a half-hour away by bus. For Atlanta overall,...

Rare Storm Causes Heartbreak for Iowa Corn Farmers

Hopes of a record crop have been wrecked

(Newser) - Farmers across a wide swath of Iowa are dealing with the heartbreaking aftermath of a rare wind storm that turned what was looking like a record corn crop into deep losses for many. The storm, known as a derecho, slammed the Midwest with straight line winds of up to 100...

Those Strange Seeds You Got in the Mail? Don't Plant Them

Officials in several states warn unsolicited packets may be from China, other overseas locations

(Newser) - "Do not plant seeds from unknown origins." That's the warning issued by Mike Strain, Louisiana's agriculture commissioner, after people in his state and several others say they've received unasked-for packages of seeds in the mail, which officials say may have come from China or other...

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