agriculture

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Human Hair Grows Plants, Profits for Fla. Company

(Newser) - For growers and gardeners of all kinds, Smart Grow mats could be revolutionary. Tucked around the stems of plants, the cheap, natural mats keep weeds and pests away as they spur growth. There’s just one thing holding them back: They’re made from human hair. “No matter what...

Old Days&mdash;Good and Bad&mdash;Are Back: Noonan
Old Days—Good and Bad—Are Back: Noonan
OPINION
Apr 17, 2009 10:36 AM CDT

Old Days—Good and Bad—Are Back: Noonan

In slump, simple pleasures are chic as traditional values gain

(Newser) - Reading about a Michigan family that shed modern excess in favor of a self-sufficient farm life didn't strike Peggy Noonan as shocking in these economic times. Her fellow New Yorkers have already begun responding to the same forces, causing Noonan to predict the rise of "a certain authenticity chic,...

Jobless Japanese Work the Land

$10M government program trains new agricultural force

(Newser) - As their country struggles with its worst recession since World War II, many Japanese city slickers stymied by the job market are trying out the farming life, the Wall Street Journal reports. Aiming to rejuvenate an industry in which two-thirds of full-time workers are 65 and older, the government has...

'Better' Pork Carries Big Health Risks
 'Better' Pork Carries 
 Big Health Risks  
OPINION
Apr 10, 2009 9:33 AM CDT

'Better' Pork Carries Big Health Risks

Free-range pork may relieve your guilt, but bother your tummy

(Newser) - Free-range pork sounds better for everyone involved, especially the pig. But exposure to the outdoors means exposure to dangerous pathogens, from salmonella to toxoplasmosis to the deadly parasite trichinosis, writes James McWilliams for the New York Times. "Free range is like piggy day care, a thoughtfully arranged system designed...

Obama Can't Cull Farm Subsidies

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s attempt to slash farm subsidies seems to have died on the vine, the New York Times reports. The $9.7 billion in cuts Obama included in his budget outline were conspicuously absent from the outlines the House and Senate approved Thursday, squashed by farm state lawmakers. Now...

Neil Young: Don't Forget Farmers in Bailout

(Newser) - Neil Young puts down his guitar and picks up his pen today on behalf of family farmers. In an essay in the Boston Globe, Young argues that tight credit, declining prices, natural disasters, and the overall economic gloom has many of them on the brink. The situation is as dire...

Lobbyists Open War Chests to Battle Obama

(Newser) - In his address to Congress, President Obama made it clear certain industries are in his crosshairs, from agribusiness to defense to health care. But those industries aren’t taking it lying down, the Wall Street Journal reports. They’re spending big on lobbyists, hoping to derail—or at least reshape—...

Warming Will Wipe Out Calif. Agriculture: Energy Sec.

Top US producer faces disaster without swift action on climate change

(Newser) - Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees dire effects of global warming, particularly on his home state of California, he tells the Los Angeles Times. Some 90% of the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, a vital storehouse for water used in farming and cultivation, could disappear, he said. “We’re...

Want to Save the Planet? Stop Dumping on Frankenfood

Genetically modified products fight pollution

(Newser) - It's time for greenies to take another look at the frankenfoods they've been campaigning against. Consider the enviropig. It’s a pig with an extra gene that means less phosphorous in manure runoff, and it’s just one example of how genetic modification in agriculture can be good for the...

Use Stimulus to Invest in Food Reform
 Use Stimulus to 
 Invest in Food Reform 
OPINION
Jan 12, 2009 5:19 PM CST

Use Stimulus to Invest in Food Reform

Fixing food will save health and environment

(Newser) - Just because Barack Obama has a lot of issues to deal with once he's sworn in, he shouldn't leave food reform off the table. Putting a bulk of the stimulus package toward local and regional food systems will cut costs and bring us back from the edge, Tom Philpott, founder...

Dairy Farmers Going Udders Up
 Dairy Farmers Going Udders Up 
Jan 12, 2009 4:48 PM CST

Dairy Farmers Going Udders Up

Economy slams cow tenders

(Newser) - Dairy farmers are struggling to survive in the face of huge drops in the price they get for milk, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Though grocery store prices have stayed relatively constant, farmers are now getting just $10 for each hundred pounds of milk they sell, down from $20 in...

Volatile Markets a Growing Concern for Farmers

Volatile prices, uncertain demand push some farmers into the red

(Newser) - Volatile commodity prices and uncertainty about future demand are nurturing growing concern among American farmers as revenues sink—even as demand sprouts in emerging energy markets, the Wall Street Journal reports. Costs of doing business—namely seed, machinery, and fertilizer—are riding high alongside transportation costs, and commodity prices are...

Zimbabwe, Once Well-Fed, Turns to Eating Bugs

As Mugabe blocks aid, starving population's plight nosedives

(Newser) - Zimbabwe was once "a breadbasket for all of southern Africa," writes Celia Dugger in the New York Times, but a manmade crisis has turned the once-prosperous country into a land of scavengers. The UN says 7 of 10 Zimbabweans eat one meal or fewer a day, thanks to...

Obama to Pick Iowa Ex-Gov. Vilsack for Agriculture

(Newser) - Former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will be Barack Obama's pick for agriculture secretary, CNN reports. Obama is expected to make the announcement tomorrow. Vilsack himself briefly ran for president before dropping out and campaigning for Hillary Clinton. As a two-term governor, Vilsack backed renewable energy and sought to develop the...

Forget Agriculture&mdash;We Need a Secretary of Food
Forget Agriculture—We Need a Secretary of Food
OPINION
Dec 11, 2008 10:33 AM CST

Forget Agriculture—We Need a Secretary of Food

Take on the corrupt factory farming system, Obama

(Newser) - Once upon a time, more than one-third of Americans worked on farms, and a Department of Agriculture seemed logical. These days just 2% of Americans work the land, and the factory-farm lobby dictates agriculture policy, writes New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof. To help remedy the situation, Kristof contends, Barack...

Saltwater Crops Could Ease Land Demand

Hardy, saltwater-loving plants could produce biofuels from otherwise unusable land

(Newser) - A worldwide shortage of prime farmland has scientists taking a closer look at plants that thrive on briny water, Wired reports. Plants that can grow in earth too salty for other crops have huge potential for use as biofuel as well as food: One variety produces 1.7 times more...

Even Planes Are Greener Than This Guy

Rising meat consumption key concern at environment conference

(Newser) - This week ministers from 187 nations are gathering in Poland to discuss a new treaty on global warming, and one of the central issues will be not belching smokestacks but cows, pigs, and chickens. Rising global living standards have led to soaring meat consumption; emissions from livestock now generate 18%...

Science Supersizes Thanksgiving

Our fare is not the same as the pilgrims'

(Newser) - Thanksgiving food has undergone massive genetic changes in the centuries since the Pilgrims first prepared the feast, resulting in turkeys more than twice as big and corn six times as sweet. But human taste buds have evolved, too, meaning we don’t necessarily appreciate our new and improved fare any...

Farmers Already Working on Your '09 Bird

With Americans eating 17% of annual output today, planning ahead is crucial

(Newser) - Ever wonder how the grocery store bins fill up with so many turkeys come late November? Lots and lots of planning, explains Nina Shen Rastogi in Slate. Americans will eat about 46 million birds today—that accounts for 17% of all turkeys raised in the US in a given year....

Going Global Juices Cranberry Biz

Farmers raking it in after successful campaign to sell US berry to the world

(Newser) - America's cranberry farmers have turned sour times around with a push to bring the berry to the world, the New York Times reports. Eight years ago, farmers were faced with a glut of berries, but now, with almost a third of the crop being exported to nations who have been...

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