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NEWS ABOUT: agriculture

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America's Hot New Crop Is ... Chickpeas?

That's because hummus sales are booming, says Wall Street Journal

(Newser) - Look out, US snackers, here comes the hummus. So says the Wall Street Journal , which declares that the relatively healthy Mediterranean dip made from chickpeas is "conquering America." The numbers are hard to dispute: Sales were up 11% last year to $530 million, and that's up 25%... More »

USDA: Time for 'Sea Change' in Fighting Pests

Officials release list of top 15 threats

(Newser) - Pests are causing billions of dollars of agricultural damage—the Asian citrus psyllid alone has cost Florida growers $4.5 billion—and it's time for a "sea change" in how we deal with them. Today, the USDA is releasing its list of the top 15 pest threats, USA ... More »

Get Ready for the Biggest Corn Crop Since 1936

2012 drought sent prices soaring

(Newser) - Last year's drought sent corn prices soaring, and this year, US farmers are looking to take advantage of it. They're set to plant the biggest corn crop the country has seen since 1936, USA Today reports, sowing some 97.3 million acres of the commodity. Right now, corn... More »

Kentucky Passes Hemp-Growing Bill

Move will make it easy to resume production just in case feds ever give OK

(Newser) - Kentucky's House and Senate have passed a bill that could help the state become a major producer of hemp once again—if the federal government ever lifts its ban on the crop. Lawmakers voted heavily in favor of a measure to quickly license industrial-scale hemp growers, the Lexington Herald-Leader... More »

Seriously? We Can't Even Cut Farm Subsidies?

Robert Samuelson says farm handouts exemplify our broken system

(Newser) - Farm subsidies are widely seen as the "low hanging fruit" of federal spending cuts, but with the milk cliff looming, Congress last week passed an agriculture bill that left them all essentially intact . And that, in a nutshell, is "the essence of the deficit problem," writes Robert... More »

Lawmakers Agree to Avert Milk Cliff—If They Have Time

But don't worry, slow USDA might make it a moot point

(Newser) - In a desperate bid to avoid the dreaded " milk cliff ," House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders have agreed to just extend the 2008 farm bill for another year—assuming they can get around to doing so. Given the drama surrounding that other cliff, House Republican leaders tell CBS... More »

Congress Gets to Work on Milk Cliff

...But will likely extend unpopular agriculture subsidies in the process

(Newser) - Fiscal cliff negotiations may be going nowhere fast, but the House and Senate agriculture committees are poised to temporarily avert another pressing crisis: the milk cliff . The two committees are drafting a short-term extension of as many as 37 expiring agriculture provisions, including one staving off a 1945 law that... More »

Why Milk Could Hit $8 a Gallon

Old law could be reinstated if Congress can't reach compromise

(Newser) - If Congress doesn't get its act together soon, old laws will cost all of America dearly—we're speaking, of course, of the Milk Cliff. If legislators don't take a break from fiscal cliff negotiations/posturing and pass a new farm bill by Jan. 1, the government will be... More »

Climate Change's New Vital Crop: Bananas

Warming to force farmers to switch away from spuds

(Newser) - As the planet gets warmer, farmers are going to have to give up on certain crops and people are going to have to get used to radically changed diets, according to a new report. Agricultural experts predict that harvests of maize, rice, and wheat are set to fall in many... More »

Farm Exports to Drop $1B Over Drought

But one expert thinks the 1-year dip won't matter much

(Newser) - The nation's top agricultural negotiator said he expects farm exports to drop between $1 billion and $2 billion, though he doesn't think the one-year dip will drive away international buyers in the long run, reports the AP . Isi Siddiqui says the drought is to blame—less grain means... More »

In Record Drought, Nation's Farmers Twist in Wind

Depression, lost land, ditched vacations

(Newser) - The worst drought in decades has reached farming families' personal lives, making for a year very different than they might have expected. "You probably can’t print our mood," says a South Dakota rancher. "The wife says she can’t drink enough to dull the pain of... More »

Farm Antibiotics Make Us Sick

Farm lobby resists attempts to regulate drug use

(Newser) - Why are people getting sick and dying from antibiotic-resistant infections? In part because of the food we buy at the supermarket, advocates say. With the farm industry buying most of America's antibiotics, and pumping it into animals like chickens and pigs, we may be munching on germs that have... More »

Frackers Battle Farmers for Water Amid Drought

Gas companies scrambling to buy up supplies for drilling

(Newser) - The drought ravaging the heartland has thrown into stark relief an ongoing battle between farmers and energy companies for that most fundamental of resources: water. As the name implies, hydrofracking requires water, and lots of it—one well can use up to 5 million gallons—so gas companies are storming... More »

Organic Food No Better for You

Study finds no nutritional benefits

(Newser) - There's no question that organic food is better for the planet, but there's no evidence that it's better for the person eating it, according to a new study. Scientists analyzed four decades of research, and found that organic meat and produce have no more nutritional value or... More »

Taxpayers on Hook for $10B as Drought Ravages Crops

Subsidized insurance program draws criticism

(Newser) - Crop farmers are on track to record about $18 billion in losses thanks to this year's historically nasty drought—and by one expert's estimate, the federal government is on the hook for about $10 billion of that, thanks to the heavily subsidized federal crop insurance program, the Washington ... More »

House Ditches Huge Farm Aid Bill, Leaves for Recess

House passes stopgap measure, but Senate wouldn't take it up

(Newser) - It's August and many Americans are taking well-earned summer vacations. And then there's Congress. House lawmakers took off for their August recess yesterday after refusing to consider a five-year measure to aid America's stricken farmers, reports the New York Times . Instead, they passed a stopgap $383 million... More »

Drought Now Worst Since 1956

More than half of continental US affected

(Newser) - The US is in the grip of the worst drought in more than 50 years, with almost 80% of the country either in drought or in abnormally dry conditions. The NOAA's latest report finds that 56% of the continental US is in drought, the sixth-highest percentage on record and... More »

Non-Browning Apple Has Growers Seeing Red

Genetically-engineered fruit has some growers fuming

(Newser) - It sounds like magic: an apple that won't turn brown when cut or bruised. But the genetically-engineered fruit's special powers aren't enough to win over other apple growers, who say it's just unnatural. The Arctic Apple, from small Canadian firm Okanagan Specialty Fruits, could hurt consumers'... More »

Obama's 'Boring' Aid Is Saving Lives in Africa

Nicholas Kristof: US emphasis on agriculture isn't sexy, but it's effective

(Newser) - President Obama deserves credit for a great foreign aid success, writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times , but it's a safe bet you haven't heard of it. That's because it's happening not in a war zone or some sexy locale but on small farms in... More »

Candy Makers Fight Sugar-Protection Bill

Bitter battle over sweets pits agriculture against sweets manufacturers

(Newser) - It's sugar versus sugar on Capitol Hill, as growers are facing off against candy makers over the United States' longstanding import restrictions that keep sugar prices high, reports the Los Angeles Times . Both sides are spending millions of dollars lobbying over the latest farm bill now before Congress—the... More »

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