farmers

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Automation Comes to Farming. Not Everyone Is Thrilled

Technology has the potential to cut costs, alleviate backbreaking labor, but it's got some worried

(Newser) - Jeremy Ford hates wasting water. As a mist of rain sprinkled the fields around him in Homestead, Florida, Ford bemoaned how expensive running a fossil fuel-powered irrigation system on his 5-acre farm was—and how bad it was for the planet. Earlier this month, Ford installed an automated underground system...

Odd Tick Allergy Is a Nightmare for Farmers

Atlantic reports on how many are becoming allergic to their own animals

(Newser) - The strange effect of a particular tick bite has been in the news for a few years now. A bite from a Lone Star tick makes some people allergic to meat and sometimes dairy, a condition known as alpha-gal syndrome. Now the Atlantic reports that one segment of the population...

Ranchers Fake a Drought, End Up Behind Bars
Ranchers Fake a Drought,
End Up Behind Bars
longform
Sep 29, 2024 9:30 AM CDT

Ranchers Fake a Drought, End Up Behind Bars

Colorado Sun untangles the unusual story of fraud

(Newser) - The numbers seemed fishy. Weather experts in Colorado and Kansas couldn't figure out why rain gauges in far-flung locations kept reporting almost no precipitation even on stormy days throughout 2016 and 2017. But as the Colorado Sun reports, the reason soon became clear enough. Two local farmers orchestrated a...

Even the 'Cow Whisperer' Couldn't Escape Bovines' Wrath

Guardian reports on incidents of cattle attacks in the UK

(Newser) - When people spot cows idling in a field, it typically becomes an idyllic photo op. In the UK, however, cattle are the leading cause of accidental death in the nation's agricultural sphere, and they're said to be even more dangerous than dogs when it comes to going on...

2 Cows Got Lost. Even Joaquin Phoenix Ended Up Involved

For 2 years, a rural Western New York town has been embroiled in a culture war

(Newser) - Events in a rural Western New York town have "inspired death threats, rowdy protests, shadowy figures skulking in the woods, intercessions by Fox News and Joaquin Phoenix, stolen chickens, county and state legislation, and a court battle featuring a rotating cast of lawyers." Per a feature in the...

Danish Farmers Will Pay Tax on Their Gassy Cows

World-first carbon tax will begin in 2030

(Newser) - In a world first, Denmark will tax livestock farmers for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep, and pigs beginning in 2030. The country is targeting the major source of methane emissions as part of an effort to reduce Danish greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by...

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...

These Men in Yellow Are Angry Farmers
These Men in Yellow
Are Angry Farmers
Feb 22, 2024 10:30 AM CST

These Men in Yellow Are Angry Farmers

They're turning out in Spain, other countries to protest EU policies

(Newser) - Hundreds of farmers drove their tractors into central Madrid on Wednesday as part of ongoing protests against EU and local farming policies and to demand measures to alleviate production cost hikes. The protest, the biggest to take place in the Spanish capital after more than two weeks of daily protests...

Unusual Sight in European Cities: Throngs of Tractors

Farmers protest EU environmental regulations, claiming the rules put food production at risk

(Newser) - The rice used in Spanish paella, the country's national dish, is at risk of disappearing, growers warn, amid widespread protests against European Union environmental regulations, including the banning of a fungicide. Tricyclazole was used to fight fungus appearing on bomba rice grown in Spain's wetlands for 40 years,...

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...

This Is Quite the Demonstration
This Is Quite the Demonstration
Mar 3, 2023 12:17 PM CST

This Is Quite the Demonstration

Hundreds of angry farmers converge on Brussels' center, disrupt traffic, make their beef known

(Newser) - Hundreds of tractors driven by angry farmers protesting a plan to cut nitrate levels converged on Brussels Friday, creating major traffic disruption in Belgium's capital city. The BB farmers union and several others combined efforts to gather more than 2,700 farm vehicles, according to Brussels police. Several major...

Every Month for Years, He Handed Her $100. Now, His Secret Is Out
Every Month for
Years, He Handed
Her $100. Now,
His Secret Is Out
in case you missed it
Jan 22, 2023 7:15 AM CST

Every Month for Years, He Handed Her $100. Now, His Secret Is Out

Alabama farmer Hody Childress quietly paid locals' pharmacy bills for around a decade

(Newser) - Hody Buford Childress' obituary is a rather unremarkable one, just three brief paragraphs in the Jan. 4 edition of the Sand Mountain Reporter listing his age (80), day of death (New Year's Day), and information on survivors and funeral arrangements. But what Childress did in secret for the last...

New Zealand Wants to Tax This Cow's Burps

Farmers are not on board with the plan

(Newser) - There are just 5 million people in New Zealand but some 10 million beef and dairy cattle and 26 million sheep. New Zealand's government on Tuesday proposed taxing the greenhouse gasses those farm animals make from burping and peeing as part of a plan to tackle climate change. The...

Higher Prices Are Ahead, With Drought Cutting Tomato Supply

Agriculture Department cuts production forecast

(Newser) - California farmers who grow tomatoes are being squeezed by the drought and other factors, which means prices at grocery stores are only going up. In the central part of the state, low levels of rain and snow are being felt, and the limits on water from the Colorado River are...

They Were Harvesting Wheat. Then 4 Were Dead
Cops: Feud Between
Brothers Led to 4 Deaths
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 17, 2022 4:45 PM CDT

Cops: Feud Between Brothers Led to 4 Deaths

Police say Robert Bracken killed his son, his brother, another man, and himself in North Dakota

(Newser) - Update: Police in North Dakota say a disagreement between brothers led to a triple-homicide and suicide, reports the Grand Forks Herald . The Towner County Sheriff’s Office blames a "dispute between brothers Robert Bracken and Richard Bracken" that had been "escalating for a week or more." Police...

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...

Dutch Farmers Block Roads With Piles of Manure

They're protesting nitrogen emissions cuts, fearing they'll put them out of business

(Newser) - Dutch farmers resumed protests at government plans to reduce nitrogen emissions Wednesday by dumping manure and garbage on highways and setting fires alongside roads. Traffic authorities said several roads in the central and eastern Netherlands were completely or partially blocked, requiring fire services to rush to clear roads as traffic...

On Top of Avian Flu, Farmers Deal With Conspiracy Theories

As with COVID-19, misinformation spreads online

(Newser) - Brad Moline, a fourth-generation Iowa turkey farmer, saw this happen before. In 2015, a virulent avian flu outbreak nearly wiped out his flock. Barns once filled with chattering birds were suddenly silent. Employees were anguished by having to kill sickened animals. The family business, started in 1924, was at serious...

Feds: Trade Aid From Trump Overpaid Corn Farmers by $3B

Farmers in the South were paid more per acre than those in the West, Northeast

(Newser) - The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019 and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday that...

Feds Are Changing 'Product of USA' Meat Rules

That 'product of USA' often isn't, it turns out

(Newser) - It's something White House press secretary Jen Psaki learned "that I found a little outrageous," she says: Most grass-feed beef bearing the label "product of USA" is no such thing. Rather, it's raised and slaughtered abroad and then brought to the US for processing, and...

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