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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: farm

farm stories: 21 news summaries

1 - 20 of 21 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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IT'S OK AGAIN DEPT.

 You Not Only Can 
 Eat New Veal, 
 You Should  

Pasture-raised version of other, other white meat draws new fans

Oct 28, 09 11:07 AM CDT
(Newser) - Some conscientious objectors to eating veal are not only reconsidering their stance, they are doing an about-face. The new hot product at top restaurants is “humanely raised” veal—calves no longer wrenched from their mothers and raised in cages, but brought to slaughter after an idyllic, if short, life... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iraq • food • beef • cows • eating • farm • rose veal • ethical • humane • pasture

 'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up 

USDA says small farms are becoming more popular even as large farms grow

Oct 5, 09 12:18 PM CDT
(AP) - Most evenings, Gary Mithoefer can be found at the end of a long gravel driveway off a busy highway, tending two garden plots filled with white sweet potatoes, squash, cabbages, and a dozen other vegetables still thriving in early fall. The 62-year-old, who gardens after his workday ends at his... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • farms • USDA • farmer • farm • sustainability • farmers • organic farming

OPINION

 Modern Farming Has 
 Lost Its Soul 

Family farms have a magic all their own—and can compete

Aug 23, 09 10:56 AM CDT
(Newser) - We know today’s food industry cranks out “unhealthy food, mishandles waste, and overuses antibiotics,” writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, but the heart of the matter is that today’s industrial farms have “no soul.” In a visit back to his old stomping... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • farm • food industry • Nicholas Kristof • factory farm

(Newser) - An illegal marijuana farm is responsible for a blaze that has charred more than 75,000 acres in Santa Barbara County, Calif., the Los Angeles Times reports. Authorities say a Mexican drug organization started the fire in the cooking area of a pot farm, and those behind it are likely... More »

MORE ABOUT:
marijuana • farm • California wildfires • weed • Mexican drug cartel

(Newser) - The motto of Rising Sun Farm in Wisconsin is “Unconventional Farming”—the naked pleasures of which Judd Spicer experiences firsthand and recounts for the Heavy Table. Spicer describes the moment of disrobing as “scary, liberating, strange, natural, different, fun,” but once he’s free and clear... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Wisconsin • farming • farm • nudist • naturism • nudism • naked • Rising Sun Farm

OPINION


 Greedy Farmers 
 Battle Climate Bill 
 That Benefits Them 

Demand government cash to take action

Jun 26, 09 7:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Farmers are among those facing the highest risk from global warming—storms, droughts and swarms of insect pests are coming their way—yet “true to form,” they’re not interested in backing a bill to fight it without reaping even more government cash, sputters Steven Pearlstein in the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • global warming • cap and trade • farmer • farm • climate change legislation • regulations

 Dairy Teams 
 Seek Greener 
 Cow Burps 

Methane production drops after farms adopt new feed

Jun 5, 09 9:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - Cow belches have been called a bigger environmental threat than cars and trucks—and now dairy groups are taking steps to keep dangerous burps to a minimum, the New York Times reports. One Vermont farmer has seen his cows’ methane emissions drop 18% after boosting the alfalfa and flaxseed in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • farming • global warming • France • Vermont • cows • methane • farm • feeding • Stonyfield Farms

Mini-Cows Help Ranchers Buck Rising Costs

Smaller cattle cheaper to raise but still deliver good meat

May 23, 09 4:59 PM CDT
(Newser) - Facing higher feed costs, ranchers aren’t having a cow—they’re merely downsizing them, the Los Angeles Times reports. Mini-cows have become the latest trend on farms around the country, because many eat less and are easier to handle, but produce 50% to 75% the rib-eyes and fillets of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Nebraska • cows • ranch • farmer • farm • feed prices

OPINION

 'Better' Pork Carries 
 Big Health Risks  

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

Apr 10, 09 9:33 AM CDT
(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... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • parasites • farming • salmonella • pig • farm • pork • locavore • toxoplasmosis • trichinosis • free range

 Hoe-town: 
 10K-Acre Farm 
 Eyed for Detroit 

Michigan investors seek to turn deserted streets into cropland

Apr 7, 09 5:40 AM CDT
(Newser) - Motor City could turn into Maize City if a Michigan investment group has its way and turns 10,000 acres of largely deserted streets into farm plots, reports BusinessGreen. Hanz Group hopes eventually to acquire almost 10% of Detroit's 143 square miles for development into cropland, Christmas tree and lumber... More »

MORE ABOUT:
investors • Detroit • Michigan • crops • farm • cash crops • economy • fiscal crisis • Motor City

Obamas Urged to Turn the White House Green

Advocates push for new first family to take up organic farming

Jan 17, 09 9:22 AM CST
(Newser) - Advocates for all kinds of green causes are hoping to find newly fertile ground for their ideas at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Wall Street Journal reports. Several groups are pushing for the president-elect to lead by example and plant an organic garden on the White House's ample grounds. Others urge... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Barack Obama • Michelle Obama • White House • farm • Obama administration • President Obama

 Pigs Savaged 
 in PETA Farm Video 

Undercover film shows workers beating sows, slamming piglets to ground

Sep 17, 08 7:59 AM CDT
(Newser) - Undercover investigators for the anti-cruelty organization PETA have filmed shocking cruelty to pigs at an Iowa farm, AP reports. Pigs are seen being beaten with metal rods while a supervisor brags of jamming rods in sows' anuses. Unhealthy piglets are slammed against the floor and left to die writhing in... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iowa • livestock • animal cruelty • PETA • pig • farm • Hormel Foods Corp. • animal

Plains States See Boom,
But Await Bust

Strong farming economy highlights nationwide differences

Aug 20, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - Driven by rising food prices and farmers’ access to loans, the Plains states are a bright economic spot amid the nationwide slump, the Washington Post reports. Farm country was able to avoid the housing bust because it also avoided the boom. And retail space is filling up as consumer... More »

MORE ABOUT:
farmland • retail sales • food prices • farm • fuel costs • feed prices • bust • farmers • bubble

 Midwest Awaits
 Bumper Corn Crop

Ideal growing weather wipes out flood fears

Aug 13, 08 8:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - America's farmers are on track to deliver the second-biggest corn harvest ever despite June floods, according to the Department of Agriculture. Shortages were predicted after severe flooding swamped fields, but the Midwest has had ideal corn-growing weather since, the New York Times reports. A healthy soybean crop is also expected.... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • corn • crops • harvest • farmer • farm • Department of Agriculture • corn belt • soybeans

OPINION

Farm Boy Mulls What's Good for Goose, Gander

As California considers cage ban, Kristof looks at animal rights

Jul 31, 08 9:21 AM CDT
(Newser) - Californians go to the polls in November with a high-profile ballot initiative to decide: whether to ban factory farms from raising livestock in small cages. For Nicholas D. Kristof, it's an apt moment to consider our transforming attitudes toward animal welfare. The Oregon farm boy turned New York Times columnist... More »

MORE ABOUT:
meat • animal cruelty • animal rights • cage free • farm

Corn Prices Leave
Catfish Farmers Gasping

Southern farmers abandon fish biz as feed prices triple

Jul 18, 08 2:14 AM CDT
(Newser) - The soaring price of corn and soybeans is moving up the food chain and drying up the South's catfish farming industry, reports the New York Times. Farmers are draining their ponds as the cost of feeding the fish becomes prohibitive. In the Mississippi Delta, heartland of the relatively new industry,... More »

MORE ABOUT:
farming • corn • fish • Mississippi • farm • commodities • aquaculture • soybeans

Forget the Farmers Market: Buy the Farm

21st century-style 'sharecropping' takes root nationwide

Jul 10, 08 3:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - Consumers wanting food straight from the source are buying up shares of farms in growing numbers, the New York Times reports. For a set annual fee, shareholders buy access to the land and a guaranteed share of the harvest income. The number of community-supported farms in America has mushroomed from... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • organic food • farming • crops • farmer • farm

 Grain Prices Surge
 With Midwest Floods 

Water inundating heartland expected to drive food, oil prices still higher

Jun 14, 08 9:45 AM CDT
(Newser) - The floods inundating the Midwest are pushing grain prices to new highs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Corn prices jumped 10% to a record high last week as farmland flooded. The domino effects will hit the ethanol industry, hog farmers, and even owners of catfish ponds who rely on corn... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iowa • Midwest • ethanol • corn • flood • flooding • crops • farmland • grain • farm • commodities

 Diesel Thieves Plague Farmers 

Irrigation systems are also caches of diesel fuel

Jun 6, 08 2:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - With oil prices stuck in triple digits, any form of gas is becoming precious booty for thieves, CNN reports. The latest targets: farmers running diesel-fueled irrigation pumps. Fuel tanks, often sitting unguarded in fields, can be a quick score of around 250 gallons in the middle of the night. In... More »

MORE ABOUT:
oil • theft • thief • diesel • gas prices • farmer • oil price • farm

 'Big Dry' Killing Aussie Farms 

Wheat exports critically low as farmers flee parched land

May 2, 08 8:33 AM CDT
(Newser) - The worst drought in a century has forced a tenth of Australian farmers off the land, reports the BBC. The "Big Dry" has led to parched farmland across the nation over the last seven years, accelerating the exodus from rural areas. The number of farming families in Australia has... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Australia • farming • drought • wheat • farmer • farm • food shortage

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