agriculture
Young, urban-born and working on the land
"Being a farmer was the most radical vocation I could choose," says a Columbia graduate now running a sheep and garlic farm in Vermont and quoted in "The New Farmers" in Orion magazine.
Agriculture’s top hope for lame duck – revival of tax breaks
Congress is fairly likely during its post-election session to revive a package of tax incentives that expired on Jan 1, said the leaders of the two largest U.S. farm groups. The package includes the $1 a gallon tax credit for biodiesel, tax credits for wind and solar power, and generous write-offs for purchases of equipment and other assets. Bob Stallman, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation, told reporters the so-called tax extenders package was...
Destructive fruit fly is a four-in-one pest
"Four of the world's most destructive agricultural pests are actually one and the same fruit fly," says the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
Roberts says little about agriculture in Kansas Senate race
Sen Pat Roberts, potentially Agriculture Committee chairman if Republicans win control of the Senate, rarely mentions his record on agriculture - defender of crop insurance and author of the 1996 Freedom to Farm law - on the campaign trail.
Stymie on Japan-US issues clouds TPP hopes
A face-to-face meeting of trade ministers from Japan and the United States "failed to reach a much-awaited breakthrough, seen as vital to advancing the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, at a three-day meeting on the...
By far, CHS is No 1 agricultural cooperative
The two biggest agricultural cooperatives in the country are based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, but there's no question who is No 1. It's CHS, a grain handler, farm supplier and energy producer, best known in the Plains and upper Midwest.
Heating up over “hot goods” cases in agriculture
"An attempted crackdown on minimum wage and child labor violations at berry farms in the Pacific Northwest has sparked a backlash that threatens one of the U.S. Labor Department’s most potent tools for enforcing protections for farm workers," writes Bridget Huber at the news site FairWarning.
Court challenge for Missouri right-to-farm guarantee
The just-adopted constitutional amendment guaranteeing a "right to farm" in Missouri is under challenge before the state Supreme Court. The amendment was approved by voters in August by a 2,375-vote margin out of nearly 1 million cast.
China ponders how to remodel its farm sector
"From a bedrock of traditional culture, and an engine of the post-Mao economic boom in the 1980s, agriculture has become a burden for China," says the New York Times, "and few in the countryside see their future there."
In a mega-drought, California ag would adapt to aridity
California's agriculture sector would shrink but survive a mega-drought that lasts decades, says the Los Angeles Times, based on computer simulations by university scientists.
US farm law turns toward protectionism, analyst says
Parts of the 2014 farm law "send a message to trading partners that U.S. agriculture is becoming more protectionist," writes UC-Davis economics professor Colin Carter in Choices, the journal of agricultural economics.
Farming on the urban edge, bison on the Plains
In Brentwood, a "para-urban" community in Contra Costa County on the eastern outskirts of San Francisco, an amalgam of groups combines to keep 20,000 acres of farmland in production and out of subdivisions, office parks and strip malls, says Kristina Johnson at Civil Eats.
Agriculture is a key for growth in Africa, Obama says
During a speech to the U.S.-Africa Business Forum, President Obama summarized $33 billion in new investment in the continent and said stable societies with forward-looking governments would be the foundation for economic growth.
A primary election primer for Tuesday
In Missouri, the top agriculture issue is a constitutional amendment to create a "right to farm." Says the New York Times, "The debate over the proposed amendment has roiled Missouri for more than a year, with supporters saying it would end what they see as meddling by outsiders in its business practices.
U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit opens today
The United States is hosting a three day summit with leaders of four dozen nations in Africa that focuses " largely on the economic potential that Africa offers the United States - provided that the two can solve ongoing problems around electricity supply, agriculture, security threats and democratic governance," says the Washington Post.
Gates Foundation official describes ag development program
In an interview with AgWeb, Pamela Anderson, director of agriculture development for the Gates Foundation, describes the foundation's strategy on agricultural research and food security.
Precise use of fertilizer reduces greenhouse gas emissions
Over-application of nitrogen fertilizer results in a larger than previously estimated release of nitrous oxide, one of three major greenhouse gases, says research by Michigan State University appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Ag needs bigger view to win research money-Glickman
The agriculture sector should broaden its coalitions so it can land more research money, said Dan Glickman, former agriculture secretary, in a speech at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Agriculture adviser Rod Snyder leaves EPA on Wednesday
Rod Snyder, the first director of EPA's agriculture and rural affairs office, said on Monday that he was leaving the agency after nearly three years as its agriculture adviser. EPA administrator Michael Regan said farmers, ranchers, and rural communities "will always have a seat at EPA's table" thanks to Snyder's influence.