farming

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Sustainable Farm Fuels the Left's Sheldon Adelson

Hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer pushes environmental issues

(Newser) - A hedge-fund billionaire and his wife, a community bank CEO, originally aimed to use their 1,800-acre California ranch to show off soil conservation techniques—but today, it's become a model sustainable farm, and apparently a highly profitable one. At TomKat Ranch, Tom Steyer and Kat Taylor raise grass-fed...

Argentines Say Agrochemicals Causing Birth Defects, Cancer

In one town, 80% of kids have pesticides in their blood

(Newser) - Argentina is the third-largest soybean producer in the world, and also grows a lot of cotton and corn. Nearly all of it is now genetically modified, since Monsanto convinced farmers to switch to its seeds and chemicals in 1996. But the agrochemicals the country's farmers use to keep up...

To Rebuild Company, Sharp Turns to ... Strawberries

Will grow the fruit indoors in Dubai, sell it to rich Middle Easterners

(Newser) - Remember Sharp? Perhaps you owned one of the Japanese company's TVs many years ago. Perhaps you still do—though that's less likely, given, as Reuters reports, the company had to get bailed out by banks last year after posting a $5.5 billion loss. So to address its...

New Virus Decimating US Pig Farms
New Virus Decimating
US Pig Farms
Aug 5, 2013 12:16 AM CDT

New Virus Decimating US Pig Farms

Epidemic has killed off untold thousands of piglets

(Newser) - A plague from overseas is devastating American pig farmers already reeling from soaring feed prices. The porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, which first surfaced in Ohio last spring, has spread to 16 states this year and wiped out thousands of piglets, the New York Times reports. Farmers are scrambling to sanitize...

Co-Op Gives Farm Workers Shot at Field of Own Dreams

Field hands get opportunity to start own businesses

(Newser) - Being an itinerant farm worker might be one of the most grueling ways to make a living in the country. But what if these workers could take their experience and turn it into a farm of their own? NPR profiles a cooperative in California's Salinas Valley that offers that...

Rising From the Farm Bill's Ashes: Hemp

Amendment to legalize it for research purposes passed, and it will be raised again

(Newser) - It's looking more and more likely that US farmers will be getting back into the hemp-growing business. The latest hopeful sign for advocates came when the House passed an amendment that would make it legal for universities to grow hemp for research purposes—an important step if farmers ever...

Agriculture's Rising Force: Female Farmers

Women now account for 30% of US farmers

(Newser) - One of the biggest changes in agriculture isn't so much about what type of seeds are being planted as who is planting them: women. Grist expands on a USDA study showing that the number of farms run by women has nearly tripled in the last three decades. Add in...

New in Factory Farming: Exploding Poop Foam
New in Factory Farming:
Exploding Poop Foam
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
May 19, 2013 6:03 PM CDT

New in Factory Farming: Exploding Poop Foam

One blast killed 1.5K hogs, but can be treated with an antibiotic

(Newser) - The latest thing out of industrial agriculture isn't too appetizing: Burbling up from the manure pits beneath factory hog farms is an oozing substance that's charmingly being dubbed "poop foam"—and it's un-charmingly explosive, reports Mother Jones . The ooze is wreaking havoc on large hog...

In Record Drought, Nation's Farmers Twist in Wind

Depression, lost land, ditched vacations

(Newser) - The worst drought in decades has reached farming families' personal lives, making for a year very different than they might have expected. "You probably can’t print our mood," says a South Dakota rancher. "The wife says she can’t drink enough to dull the pain of...

Drought-Ravaged Farmland Selling for More Than in 2011

Prices keep rising, thanks to federal subsidies, insurance payments

(Newser) - With a historically awful drought laying waste to fields across the country, you might think farmland prices would be down—but you'd be wrong. The average price of farmland in Iowa jumped 24% in the second quarter compared to last year, while in Illinois it rose 15%, according to...

Food Prices Could Jump 4% in 2013

And losses could hit $12B

(Newser) - For the average consumer, the effects of this year's brutal drought are still months away, but they are coming, as many food prices next year are expected to jump by as much as 4%, reports Reuters . Already corn and soy prices are going up , which is expected to lead...

After Flooding, US Farms Buried Under Feet of Sand

Last summer's flooding has wreaked havoc on Iowa, Nebraska farms

(Newser) - Mason Hansen's days used to be occupied with corn and soybeans; now the Iowa farmer deals mainly with sand. Despite nine months spent hauling away tons of sand dropped when the flooded Missouri River engulfed his farm last summer, parts of the property still look like a desert, with...

Environmentalists Fear New Biotech Corn

Dow's 'Enlist' resists powerful herbicide

(Newser) - Debate is raging over a new biotech corn engineered by Dow Chemical. The corn, called "Enlist," is intended to solve farmers' struggle against tough weeds; that's because it's resistant to a powerful herbicide, also made by Dow. But environmentalists fear that wind, heat, and humidity would...

Farming's Future: No More Plows?

'No-till' agriculture is eco-friendly and rising in popularity

(Newser) - A transformation in farming may be under way, one that leaves plows in the dust. It's called "no-till" farming, and the AFP (via Raw Story ) catches up with the growing trend in Indiana. The idea is that a plow—or on a smaller scale, a garden shovel—...

Sorry, Critics, Sustainable Farming Is Not a Myth
Sorry, Critics, Sustainable Farming Is Not a Myth
OPINION
Apr 21, 2012 11:46 AM CDT

Sorry, Critics, Sustainable Farming Is Not a Myth

Small-scale agriculture provides a path toward real solutions: Joel Salatin

(Newser) - In a recent New York Times op-ed , James McWilliams dismissed the movement toward smaller-scale, sustainable farming as ultimately unworkable in terms of logistics, and nowhere near as good for the environment as proponents suggest. In doing so, he called out one of the movement's leaders, Joel Salatin of Virginia'...

Officials Find 50K Abandoned Chickens

A&L Poultry apologizes for leaving chickens on farm

(Newser) - An animal rights group is seeking criminal charges after officials discovered nearly 50,000 dying chickens abandoned on an egg farm near Modesto, Calif., MSNBC reports via the Modesto Bee . Most of the birds were euthanized due to illness, but about 2,000 are being treated at sanctuaries and will...

Satellites, Drones Spy on Europe's Farms

EU using eyes in the sky to spot subsidy fraud

(Newser) - Satellites and spy drones are scanning farmland in the European Union, and their findings can lead to something nearly as damaging as an air strike: a subsidy cut. The EU spends billions every year in farm subsidies, and eyes in the sky are increasingly being used as a tool to...

Seed Shortage Buries Hopes for Record Corn Crop

Corn prices may hit record high this year

(Newser) - American farmers had been planning the biggest corn planting since World War II this spring, but they're being thwarted by a seed shortage. Drought conditions in the Midwest and Great Plains last year have caused what dealers in the corn belt say is the biggest shortage of top-quality seeds...

What Downturn? Farmers Have Abundant Year

Profits set to jump 28%, cross $100B mark

(Newser) - The rest of us might be bracing for the worst, but US farmers are having a banner year. With prices soaring for crops, farmland, and livestock, farmers are set to score profits of $100.9 billion, a 28% jump, the AP reports. That's the first time the figure has...

Get Ready for Even More Stink Bugs

Scientists consider introducing Asian wasp to kill invading crop-destroyers

(Newser) - If your town is already overrun with stink bugs, bad news: There's little relief in sight. Last year, the non-native brown marmorated stink bug sunk its proboscis into the Mid-Atlantic apple crop, ruining $37 million of fruit; after that, they swarmed into local houses to hibernate. Now they've...

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