Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: agriculture

agriculture stories: 85 news summaries

61 - 80 of 85 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>

Switch to grid view »

 Oregon's Having a Grape Year

Good weather, high pinot demand have growers toasting bumper crop, again

Mar 19, 08 4:07 PM CDT
(Newser) - Thanks to good weather and rising demand, Oregon crushed a record number of grapes in 2007—good news for its 370 wineries. And despite selling 1.7 million cases worth $208 million last year, the state hasn't quenched thirst for its wine, the AP reports. "Fussy superstar" pinot noir... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • wine • Oregon • grapes • wineries • wine industry • pinot noir • pinot gris • cabernet sauvignon

Wal-Mart Helps Farmers Grow, American Style

But Central American stores may ruin them first, critics say

Mar 9, 08 6:00 PM CDT
(Newser) - Wal-Mart is helping Central American farmers even as the chain threatens to render their mom-and-pop ways outdated, the Los Angeles Times reports. Thousands of small farmers are financially at risk, unable to grow produce that fits the US giant's supply chain—so Wal-Mart, Washington, and a Portland, Ore., relief group... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • retail • Mexico • Central America • Guatemala • farmer • Wal-Mart • food industry

Texas Tops US
in CO2 Emissions

Activists fight to clean things up

Feb 29, 08 3:35 PM CST
(Newser) - Texas—the land of big oil, big agriculture, pickup trucks, wide-open spaces, and little mass transit—not only is the biggest emitter of CO2 among states, it ranks eighth in the world, a new study says. It’s also one of the few states without any climate plan in the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
environment • agriculture • Texas • renewable energy • air pollution • coal power • oil companies • cattle industry • carbon emissions

Boom Time on Heartland Farms

US farmers strike it rich satisfying ethanol, export demands

Feb 15, 08 2:55 AM CST
(Newser) - The US economy may be teetering on a precipice but agriculture is enjoying what one industry analyst is calling a "golden age" after decades of decline, with bountiful harvests of crops and profits. The boom is fueled by the soaring demand from ethanol producers and to fill grain orders... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • ethanol • Credit Suisse • corn • biofuel • Nebraska • Cedar Rapids • wheat • rice • farmer • grains • Food and Agriculture Organization • boom • heartland • rural America • Albion • agricultural economy • Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago • Boone County Commissioners • VeraSun • cash crops

Trader Joe's Cuts Chinese Food Imports

Discount gourmet grocer acts on fears
of pesticides, antibiotics

Feb 12, 08 8:36 AM CST
(Newser) - With customers worried about the safety of food imported from China, Trader Joe's said yesterday it will withdraw garlic, frozen spinach, and other “single ingredient” items from its shelves by April 1, reports the Los Angeles Times. The discount gourmet retailer will continue selling items made with ingredients... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • food safety • China food exports • US imports

New Worry: Global Soil Change

Scientists propose calling current geological era 'Anthropocene'—human-made

Feb 8, 08 6:20 PM CST
(Newser) - Earth's changing soils appear less able to support farming and plant and animal diversity because of human activity, a study shows. "Global soil change," which is occurring most severely in Africa and Asia, has a heavier hand in climate change than previously thought, National Geographic reports. Degraded soils... More »

MORE ABOUT:
climate change • environment • agriculture • global warming • study • erosion • geology • population

UK Veal Now Cool, Not Cruel

New farming standards make calf meat a newly ethical food

Jan 20, 08 2:21 PM CST
(Newser) - Veal is the new guilt-free meat in Britain, and everyone from top chefs to farmers and animal activists is pushing consumers to eat up. Anti-cruelty groups largely eliminated veal from the UK diet in the '90s, and as a result, dairy farmers slaughter half a million male calves and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • cattle • veal • animal cruelty • dairy • farmer • Britain • rose veal • Tesco • British veal • veal farms

Top Chefs Meet Their Meat

Jamie Oliver and friends work for better treatment of the animals they cook

Jan 16, 08 4:08 PM CST
(Newser) - Top chefs are trying to change the way we eat by calling attention to how animals are raised for meat. In Britain, Jamie Oliver killed a chicken on live television, and supermarkets across the UK sold out of free-range chickens and eggs. The New York Times reports it’s part... More »

MORE ABOUT:
food • agriculture • meat • chef • animal rights • Jamie Oliver

Locusts Swarm Northeast Kenya

Voracious pest could strip bare nation's crops

Dec 7, 07 2:28 PM CST
(Newser) - Threatened by the largest swarm of locusts seen in Kenya since the 1960s, authorities have begun spraying crops in affected areas in hopes of exterminating the rapacious pests before they have a chance to lay eggs. The locusts, each of which can consume its own weight in food daily, have... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Kenya • agriculture • famine • locusts

Jelly-cide: 100,000 Salmon Killed

Northern Ireland's entire stock destroyed in jellyfish attack

Nov 22, 07 12:00 PM CST
(Newser) - An attack of killer jellyfish has wiped out Northern Ireland’s only salmon farm. More than 100,000 fish died in the seven-hour attack, causing estimated losses of $2.1 million, AFP reports. The 35-foot-deep wave of jellyfish covered 10 square miles. The mauve stinger normally prefers warmer Mediterranean waters... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • Northern Ireland • salmon • fish • fishing • nature • jellyfish

Boorish Boars Overrun Texas

Feral swine win out in war against humans

Nov 19, 07 2:45 PM CST
(Newser) - Everything's bigger in Texas, and the pig population is no exception. They aren't cute porkers, either—wild boars wreck crops and cause some $52 million in annual damages in the state. For some, that means an opportunity for heavy-duty huntin', but the solo efforts aren't enough to slow a wave... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • Texas • animal behavior • hunting • wild hog • animal • boar

Noah's Flood Transformed Agriculture

Melting glaciers inundated Black Sea, scattered farmers

Nov 19, 07 10:33 AM CST
(Newser) - The real-life inspiration for the biblical flood may have been responsible for the widespread adoption of agriculture in Europe, according to a new study. About 8,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, ice sheets melted, causing massive flooding in the Black Sea basin. That forced... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Turkey • agriculture • farming • Europe • France • Italy • Noah's Ark • flood • Black Sea • Yugoslavia • Balkans • Bosphorus

UK Farmers Facing Tax for Cattle Outbreaks

Bird flu, foot and mouth, cost Britons $246M this year

Nov 18, 07 6:14 PM CST
(Newser) - UK farmers face an $82 million tax bill to pay for curbing cattle infections. Farmers are likely to gripe, the Guardian reports, because diseases have already slammed profits—and the government is to blame for leaking foot and mouth disease from a lab last summer. But the environment ministry is... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • livestock • foot and mouth disease • outbreak • disease control

Russia Freezes Food Prices as Election Looms

Across the globe,
rising agriculture costs take a political toll

Oct 24, 07 10:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - In an effort to halt spiraling food prices ahead of parliamentary elections, Russia will today sign an agreement with its biggest grocers that freezes the cost of basic foodstuffs at October 15 levels. But while the move sounds a bit Soviet, Russia joins a host of nations in reacting to... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Russia • agriculture • Vladimir Putin • food prices

Mini-Cattle Are New Cash Cow

Downsized breeds are new industry craze

Sep 24, 07 10:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Americans may still like their burgers supersized, but the latest rage in the cattle industry is mini-cows. With smaller ranches on the rise, growers are looking for animals that suit a limited acreage. They're often kept as pets or sustainable lawn-mowers that make the rounds at state fairs, but they... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • cattle • beef • ranch • mini cattle

Foes Hungry for US Grains

Iran, Venezuela hungry for American corn, wheat

Sep 13, 07 7:41 PM CDT
(Newser) - Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has called President Bush Satan, and Iran is that nuclear thorn in Washington's side, but neither country hesitates to import tons of grains straight from America's bread basket—especially during shortages the past few months. "They want to feed their people. They don't want to screw... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Iran • agriculture • Venezuela • corn • wheat • international relations • grains

Virus Causes Buzz in Bee Caper

Breakthrough may
help explain billions
of apian deaths

Sep 6, 07 8:48 PM CDT
(Newser) - The mysterious deaths of billions of honeybees now has a new leading suspect, scientists say: a newcomer to the US called Israeli acute paralysis virus. And as most stricken colonies test positive for the disease, the lead seems promising, the AP reports. The deaths have hit between 50% and 90%... More »

MORE ABOUT:
bees • agriculture • honeybees • virus • entomology • epidemiology

US Laborers Work Hard for the Money

New UN report says Americans more productive than peers

Sep 3, 07 1:55 PM CDT
(Newser) - Labor Day is a well-deserved rest for Americans, as a new UN report shows US laborers work longer, harder, and get more done than their counterparts worldwide. The average US worker produces the most wealth, raking in $63,885 yearly, followed by Irish laborers at $55,986. Only Norway beat... More »

MORE ABOUT:
China • technology • agriculture • Belgium • Japan • European Union • France • United States • labor • Norway • Luxembourg • fishing • US productivity • manufacturing

Foot and Mouth Outbreak Traced to Lab

Vaccine may have leaked and spread
to nearby farm

Aug 5, 07 11:13 AM CDT
(Newser) - An English research lab is the likely source of a recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease, the Guardian reports. British government officials believe a batch of experimental vaccine leaked and spread to a nearby farm. Scientists were tipped to the possible leak by the fact that the strain of... More »

MORE ABOUT:
agriculture • farming • disease • livestock • England • vaccine • outbreak

UK Cattle Test Positive for Foot-and-Mouth

New outbreak forces farm quarantine, ban on livestock transport

Aug 4, 07 6:35 AM CDT
(Newser) - Britain faces its first outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in six years after a herd of beef cattle in Guildford tested positive, reports the Independent. The news forced Gordon Brown to cancel his vacation as the government introduced emergency measures banning all transportation of cattle and pigs and throwing up a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
food • agriculture • disease • Gordon Brown • livestock • beef • safety • Guildford • Britain • outbreak

61 - 80 of 85 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next >>


from our news partners