farmer

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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...

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,...

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...

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...

Sheep Farmer Couldn't Attend Aunt's Funeral, Did This Instead

Australia's Ben Jackson pays tribute to late aunt in viral video

(Newser) - In lockdown in Guyra, New South Wales, Australian sheep farmer Ben Jackson couldn't travel the 250 miles to Brisbane to attend the funeral of his aunt, who died recently following a two-year battle with cancer. "I felt hopeless, helpless—I didn't really know what to do,"...

Farmer Accidentally Makes France a Little Smaller

Belgian moves stone marking the border

(Newser) - Sometimes it takes a war to change the border between two nations. And sometimes, it requires only a ticked-off farmer. The BBC reports that a farmer in Belgium moved a stone marker in his field a little more than 7 feet, apparently because it was in the path of his...

He Was Sick of a Sucky 2020. His Remedy: 2M Sunflowers

Wis. farmer Scott Thompson has planted upward of 2M 'blooms of sunshine' to make people happy

(Newser) - Strawberries, raspberries, and pumpkins are what you'd find growing on Scott Thompson's Wisconsin farm in a normal summer and fall. But 2020 is definitely anything but normal, and this year, neither are the Bristol farmer's fields. When the pandemic forced everything to start shutting down in March,...

Winter Flooding Takes Farmer's Life
Winter Flooding
Takes Farmer's Life
Mar 16, 2019 2:00 PM CDT

Winter Flooding Takes Farmer's Life

And at least 2 other people are missing

(Newser) - Authorities were using boats and large vehicles on Saturday to rescue and evacuate residents in parts of the Midwest where a recent deluge of rainwater and snowmelt was sent pouring over frozen ground, overwhelming creeks and rivers, and killing at least one person, the AP reports. Rescue efforts in eastern...

Tractor Driven by Dog Kills Millionaire Farmer

The death is called 'a very tragic accident'

(Newser) - A multimillionaire farmer met an untimely end when a tractor driven by his pet dog crushed him to death, the Independent reports. Derek Mead, 70, was apparently building a rock garden at his home in England last June when he got out of the vehicle, leaving it in neutral without...

They Grow Our Food, and They're Killing Themselves
They Grow Our Food, and
They're Killing Themselves
in case you missed it
Dec 17, 2017 7:03 AM CST

They Grow Our Food, and They're Killing Themselves

The CDC says those in the agricultural industry have the highest suicide rate

(Newser) - On the day in May 2011 that Matt Peters took his own life, he spoke on the phone with Dr. Mike Rosmann. Rosmann, himself an Iowa farmer, is also a psychologist who doubles as "one of the nation’s leading farmer behavioral health experts," writes Debbie Weingarten for...

Mystery Crater Surfaces on Utah Farm

Theories include collapsed soil, earthquakes, or 'Martian art'

(Newser) - Gary Dalton was draining the irrigation pond on his farmland in Circleville, Utah, when he made a startling discovery: a giant crater staring back up at him from the bottom of the basin. "The sun was just right, so I saw this blasted thing that no one had ever...

Phone Lost in Oklahoma Is Found in Japan

Farmer's iPhone traveled to Hokkaido and back

(Newser) - When Oklahoma farmer Kevin Whitney's phone slipped out of his pocket into a silo containing 290,000 bushels of grain, he figured it was gone for good—but it was just beginning a journey around the world. Some eight months later, he was reunited with the iPhone, and some...

Farmer Is First American Jailed Thanks to a Drone
Farmer Is First American Jailed Thanks to a Drone
in case you missed it
Feb 1, 2014 7:00 PM CST

Farmer Is First American Jailed Thanks to a Drone

North Dakota cops used Predator to help end farmer's standoff

(Newser) - Given how common it is for law-enforcement agencies to use drones these days, this milestone was only a matter of time: A North Dakota farmer has become the first American to be convicted and sentenced to prison with the help of a drone, reports US News & World Report . Rodney...

Radiation? Bah, Japanese Farmer Won't Budge

Masami Yoshizawa makes a stand after nuke plant disaster

(Newser) - A farmer is defying evacuation orders around Japan's Fukishima nuclear plant, saying he'll stay in the radioactive wasteland to keep cattle alive—even if it puts his health at risk, the New York Times reports. "These cows are living testimony to the human folly here in Fukushima,...

Police Hunting Man Who Stole $4K Worth of Grass

Yes, you read that correctly

(Newser) - Austrian police are seeking witnesses to an unusual theft—of huge amounts of grass, mowed secretly from a farmer's field. According to a police statement, a farmer reported today that someone had come into his field, mowed it, and made off with the grass. The alleged theft occurred in...

Oregon Farmer Eaten by His Hogs

Terry Vance Garner's body parts, dentures found in pen

(Newser) - Don't go into the hog pen. A 70-year-old Oregon farmer went to the barn to feed his hogs and never returned. A family member later found a few body parts and Terry Vance Garner's dentures in the pen. Authorities are still investigating what happened, but they believe it'...

Elderly Farmer Accidentally Grows Field of Pot


 Elderly Farmer 
 Accidentally 
 Grows Field 
 of Pot 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Sep 9, 2012 9:01 AM CDT

Elderly Farmer Accidentally Grows Field of Pot

The culprit: Bird food with hemp seeds, he says

(Newser) - Want to keep the drug police off your property? Don't sow your land with birdseed. That's what a 74-year-old German farmer says he did—and the bird food contained hemp seeds, resulting in an accidental 10-foot-high cannabis crop, Der Spiegel reports. He explained that he wanted to grow...

1,600 Turtles Flee Georgia Farm
 1,600 Turtles Flee Georgia Farm 
Jul 20, 2012 10:53 AM CDT

1,600 Turtles Flee Georgia Farm

They made a break for it after fences stolen

(Newser) - Around 1,600 fugitive turtles are hiding out in ponds and creeks in northern Georgia after making a slow but deliberate getaway from a local farm. David Driver, one of only three turtle farmers in the state, says most of his turtles escaped after vandals or possible scrap metal thieves...

Farmworkers Seize Land in Massive Honduras Protest

Plantations are on public land, activists say

(Newser) - Honduras saw its own kind of Occupy protest erupt yesterday. Thousands of impoverished farmworkers in the Central American nation took over land belonging to major landowners in a coordinated series of protests around the country, reports the BBC . The farmworkers insisted that the land was public land that small farmers...

Donkeys Abandoned Across Texas

Dire drought and high feed costs to blame

(Newser) - Cash-strapped donkey owners in Texas are abandoning the animals in record numbers, creating a headache for authorities and a devoted group of donkey rescuers, the Houston Chronicle reports. Authorities say dire drought and high feed costs are making donkeys, like horses, much harder to keep. "Donkey rescues have gone...

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