NewsTrust - Farming - Most Recent Stories: News (Independent)

The Dirt on Worms

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0800

agweb.com - By Pam Smith - Nov. 18 (News Report) - The earthworm has long been considered the farmer’s friend. Their burrowing has always been thought to aerate the soil while their droppings provide fertilizer. No-till farmers count on these tireless workers to improve soil tilth. And on their worst day, earthworms sacrifice everything to land us a lunch from our favorite fishing hole

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The olive grove wars

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

GlobalPost - By Sara Sorcher - Oct. 22 (Special Report) - The olive branch may be a universal symbol for peace, but in the West Bank, the olive harvest brings a season of unrest between Jewish settlers and Palestinians. It owes much to proximity. Small communities of Israelis

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Kenya: Waiting for El Nino

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Global Voices - By Samuel Maina - Oct. 09 (Special Report) - Kenyans are waiting for the El Nino rains anticipated between now and December 2009 with mixed feelings. Inasmuch as the El Nino is itself a natural disaster that in it's ‘moderate' form is expected to displace at least 100,000 people and leave 750,000 in need of humanitarian aid according to IRIN, most Kenyans actually want [...]

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Fairtrade coffee farmers battle for survival in Colombia

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

knowledge.insead.edu - By Rahilla Zafar - Oct. 08 (Special Report) - As the third-largest coffee producer behind only Brazil and Vietnam, more than 76 per cent of Colombia’s coffee is produced by small-holder farmers like Antonio. With over four million coffee farmers (10 per cent of the population), Colombia exports nearly 12 million 60 kilogramme bags per year; just over one million bags consist of specialised coffees such as organic and Fairtrade.

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Red Snow Warning

Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Tomdispatch.com - By Chip Ward, - Sep. 14 (Special Report) - Pink snow is turning red in Colorado. Here on the Great American Desert -- specifically Utah's slickrock portion of it where I live -- hot 'n' dry means dust. When frequent high winds sweep across our increasingly arid landscape, redrock powder is lifted up and carried hundreds of miles eastward until it settles on the broad shoulders of Colorado's majestic mountains, giving the snowpack there a pink hue.

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Business owners, fishermen want better health coverage

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

thecordovatimes.com - By Dimitra Lavrakas - Aug. 14 (News Report) - Mark Vinsel, executive director of the United Fishermen of Alaska, says 32 percent of fishermen in Alaska are not covered by health insurance. Alaska small-business owners and representatives of fishing organizations expressed support of a new approach to health insurance on Aug. 6 in a telephone conference held by Small Business Majority, a national small-business advocacy organization that focuses on health care reform. They also spoke to their concerns of what may happen if health insurance reform is not dealt with in the near future.

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Warning green fears could make farming more industrialised

Sun, 09 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

nzherald.co.nz - By Geoff Cumming - Aug. 09 (News Report) - Images of carefree cows roaming free, chewing grass or silage year round (well, almost), used to be the green selling point of New Zealand's dairy industry. Not for us those "factory farms" of the Northern Hemisphere where the poor cows are consigned to sheds and fed grain for long periods.

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Pakistan: Ruined Farmers Say Children Won't Go to School

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Ashfaq Yusufzai - Aug. 06 (Special Report) - PESHAWAR, Aug 6 (IPS) - Fertile Swat's famous orchards of peach, plum and apple were just starting to ripen when the Pakistan military launched an air and land attack on Taliban fighters in end-April, uprooting tens of thousands of civilians.

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Solid Ground - Marra Farm

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

solid-ground.org - Jul. 29 (Special Report) - Marra Farm is a model urban community farm engaging people in sustainable agriculture and education while enhancing local food security. Tucked into the South Park neighborhood of Seattle, it has 4 acres of historic preserved farmland. Marra Farm generates tons of fresh, organic produce, with more than 13,000 pounds grown each year. In addition to residents growing food for their own families, distribution includes donations to local residents and the senior lunch program through the Providence Regina House Food Bank, Mien senior citizens, and Concord Elementary School students and their families. Produce is also sold at the University District Farmer's Market through an employment program for at-risk youth run by Seattle Youth Garden Works.

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Failure to Yield: Evaluating the Performance of Genetically Engineered Crops (2009)

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Union of Concerned Scientists - Jul. 15 (Special Report) - For years the biotechnology industry has trumpeted that it will feed the world, promising that its genetically engineered crops will produce higher yields. That promise has proven to be empty, according to Failure to Yield, a report by UCS expert Doug Gurian-Sherman released in March 2009. Despite 20 years of research and 13 years of commercialization, genetic engineering has failed to significantly increase U.S. crop yields.

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Why Silk Soy Milk's Parent Company Is Throwing American Farmers and Consumers Under the Bus | Environment | AlterNet

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:00:00 -0700

AlterNet - By Ari LeVaux - Jul. 15 (News Analysis) - Even as demand for organic food continues to explode, organic farmers in America are getting thrown under the beet cart they helped build. The Chinese are taking over market share, especially of vegetables and agricultural commodities like soy, thanks to several American-based multinational food corporations that have hijacked the organic bandwagon they only recently jumped onto.

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U.S. Senate Report: Excessive Speculation in the Wheat Market

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

agweb.com - Jun. 24 (News Report) - A 247-page report, entitled, Excessive Speculation in the Wheat Market, was released last night by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Acting Ranking Minority Member.

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Drought conditions in Texas cause farmer's crops to fail.

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TwitPic - By @Barbaramagana - Jun. 19 (Other) - [Photo]

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Northwest's biofuel boom goes bust ?

Sun, 07 Jun 2009 00:00:00 -0700

OregonLive.com - By Scott Learn, The Oregonian - Jun. 07 (News Report) - The biofuel downturn has been a national phenomenon, Van't Hof noted. Oregon's plants are likely to be restructured under Chapter 11 proceedings or sold, not shuttered. And the federal plans for more biofuel use in coming years leave Oregon in a good position to capitalize as the industry grows, he said.

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16 Cattle Drop Dead Near Mysterious Fluid at Gas Drilling Site

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

ProPublica - By Abrahm Lustgarten - Apr. 30 (News Report) - Sixteen cattle dropped dead in a northwestern Louisiana field this week after apparently drinking from a mysterious fluid adjacent to a natural gas drilling rig, according to Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality and a report in the Shreveport Times [3]. At least one worker told the newspaper that the fluids, which witnesses described as green and spewing into the air near the drilling derrick, were used for a drilling process called hydraulic fracturing [2]. But the company, Chesapeake Energy [4], has not identified exactly what chemicals are in those fluids and is insisting to state regulators that no spill occurred.

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Is a Free-Range Pig a Good Pig?

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

nicholas.duke.edu - By Bill Chameides - Apr. 24 (News Analysis) - Free-range pigs by definition live in a less-controlled environment that should lead to greater exposure to a whole variety of microbes and parasites and thus a higher incidence of pathogens. Whether or not that means you should or should not eat free-range pigs (or any free-range meat) is a personal decision.

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California takes on King Corn

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

wwwp.dailyclimate.org - By Matthew Cimitile - Apr. 21 (News Report) - As they see it, corn is no better – and might be worse – than petroleum when total greenhouse gas emissions are considered. Such a declaration, to be considered later this week by the California Air Resources Board, would be a considerable blow to the corn-ethanol industry in the United States.

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UN names critical areas in reviving global economy

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Business Daily Africa - By Wandera Ojanji - Mar. 22 (News Report) - The UN has identified energy, transport, infrastructure and agriculture as the most critical areas in reviving the global economy and fighting poverty and the effects of climate change. The United Nations Environmental Programme (Unep) and other UN agencies cite the multiple economic, environmental and social benefits of investing a significant amount of the $3 trillion-worth of stimulus packages in renewable energies. These include wind, solar, geothermal and biomass; hybrid vehicles, high speed rail and bus rapid transit systems; ecological infrastructure including freshwaters, forests, soils and coral reefs and organic production.

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Spoiled: Organic and Local Is So 2008

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Mother Jones - By Paul Roberts - Mar. 07 (Special Report) - That a recovering industrial farmer can't get respect from the alternative food crowd may seem trivial, but Fleming's experience cuts to the very heart of the debate over how to fix our food system. Nearly everyone agrees that we need new methods that produce more higher-quality calories using fewer resources, such as water or energy, and accruing fewer "externals," such as pollution or unfair labor practices. Where the consensus fails is over what should replace the bad old industrial system. It's not that we lack enthusiasm—activist foodies represent one of the most potent market forces on the planet. Unfortunately, a lot of that conscientious buying power is directed toward conceptions of sustainable food that may be out of date.

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Australia Faces Collapse as Climate Change Kicks in: Are the Southwest and California Next?

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Joseph Romm - Feb. 02 (Special Report) - Australia has been suffering its worst heatwave on record, the first time temperatures exceeded 110 F for 3 days running. It’s been so hot that on Thursday, the low at Melbourne airport was 87 F. Australia is the canary in the coal mine for climate-driven desertification. The astonishing decade-long drought in southern Australia was declared ‘worst on record’ last year. My headline quote is from the UK’s Independent story, which notes: Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, is regarded as highly vulnerable. A study by the country’s blue-chip Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation identified its ecosystems as "potentially the most fragile" on earth in the face of the threat.

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Food security and global warming: Monsanto versus organic

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Grist - By Meredith Niles - Jan. 14 (Special Report) - One promising solution appeared in an article published in BioScience in 2005. The authors outlined the Rodale Institute's Farming Systems Trial, a long-term comparison of organic and conventional farming systems conducted between 1981 and 2002. Significantly, the trials found that organic production yielded equivalently to conventional systems after a transition period. Yet even more importantly, Rodale found that in drought conditions in which rainfall was 30 percent less than normal, organic systems yielded 28 to 34 percent higher than conventional systems. Rodale equates the yield gain to increased water retention as a result of higher soil organic carbon. Water volumes percolating through the various systems were 15-20 percent higher in the organic systems as compared with the conventional systems over the 12 year period.

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Poet Pilot Plant Now Making Fuel from Corn Cobs

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

agweb.com - By Jeanne Bernick - Jan. 13 (News Report) - Ethanol critics chuckled when Poet announced last year that it would produce ethanol from corn cobs by 2009. Now, the world’s largest ethanol company has the last laugh.

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Why Bananas are a Parable For Our Times

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Johann Hari - Jan. 08 (News Report) - Below the headlines about rocketing food prices and rocking governments, there lays a largely unnoticed fact: bananas are dying. The foodstuff, more heavily consumed even than rice or potatoes, has its own form of cancer. It is a fungus called Panama Disease, and it turns bananas brick-red and inedible. There is no cure. They all die as it spreads, and it spreads quickly. Soon - in five, 10 or 30 years - the yellow creamy fruit as we know it will not exist. The story of how the banana rose and fell can be seen a strange parable about the corporations that increasingly dominate the world - and where they are leading us.

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Crops absorb livestock antibiotics, science shows

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:00:00 -0800

environmentalhealthnews.org - By Matthew Cimitile - Jan. 06 (News Report) - “Around 90 percent of these drugs that are administered to animals end up being excreted either as urine or manure,” said Holly Dolliver, a member of the Minnesota research team and now a professor of crop and soil sciences at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. “A vast majority of that manure is then used as an important input for 9.2 million hectares of (U.S.) agricultural land.” Manure, widely used as a substitute for chemical fertilizer, adds nutrients that help plants grow. It is often used in organic farming.

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Let’s Talk Trash: Cellulosic Ethanol is Around the Corner

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

agweb.com - By Jeanne Bernick, - Dec. 29 (News Report) - The simple corncob – what some consider field trash – could soon contribute to the nation’s fuel solution. Ethanol companies like Poet are gearing up to produce cellulosic ethanol from cobs and fiber by year 2011.

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