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July 23, 2008 8:51:37 PM CDT

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Stories related to: farming

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  • July 2008

    • Corn Prices Leave Catfish Farmers Gasping

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Jul 18, 08 2:14 AM CDT

      Corn Prices Leave Catfish Farmers Gasping

      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, thousands of much-needed jobs are disappearing. More »

      Tags

      farming  • Mississippi  • fish  • commodities  • corn  • farm  • aquaculture  • soybeans

    • Fish Farms, Retailers Hatch Green Standards

      newser  |  Washington Post  |  Jul 16, 08 6:42 AM CDT

      Fish Farms, Retailers Hatch Green Standards

      Supermarkets are tightening the net on farmed seafood products as demand for environmentally-friendly products grows, reports the Washington Post . Aquaculture now supplies more than half of America's rising demand for fish and shrimp and retailers are working with producers and green groups to make sure the farmed products are both safe and sustainable. More »

      Tags

      farming  • fish  • Whole Foods  • Greenpeace  • seafood  • World Wildlife Fund  • sustainability  • aquaculture

    • Even Toughest Toads Are Being Unmanned

      newser  |  Independent (UK)  |  Jul 13, 08 10:40 AM CDT

      Even Toughest Toads Are Being Unmanned

      The mystery of the hermaphrodite toads may be solved: Researchers have found that various chemicals used in farming are linked to sex changes in certain amphibian species, the Independent reports. In a population of cane toads, 40% of males had developed feminine coloring and ovaries, and an additional 20% had marked female characteristics. And the toads are not unique. More »

      Tags

      endangered species  • farming  • extinction  • chemicals  • frogs  • sex change  • amphibians  • hermaphrodite

    • Motown Crops Spring From Decay

      newser  |  BBC  |  Jul 10, 08 2:00 PM CDT

      Motown Crops Spring From Decay

      An ambitious charity thinks it can turn Detroit’s most desolate neighborhoods into bustling farming utopias. The group, dubbed Urban Farming, grows vegetables on vacant land throughout the city, then gives them out for free to local residents, the BBC reports. Parts of Motor City have been transformed by its efforts, and now it’s branching out across the US. More »

      Tags

      Detroit  • charity  • farming  • gardening  • urban revitalization  • urban development

    • Forget the Farmers Market: Buy the Farm

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Jul 10, 08 3:45 AM CDT

      Forget the Farmers Market: Buy the Farm

      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 100 in the early '90s to almost 1,500 today. More »

      Tags

      agriculture  • farming  • farmer  • crops  • organic food  • farm

  • June 2008

    • Farming Tigers for Profit Best Way to Save Species

      newser  |  Spiked  |  Jun 22, 08 5:42 AM CDT

      Farming Tigers for Profit Best Way to Save Species

      Though animal conservationists hail the success of India's Jim Corbett National Park in increasing populations of endangered tigers, Kirk Leech complains in Spiked that numbers continue to decline—and that expanding protected areas for tigers harms indigenous human populations. His solution: for-profit tiger farms, where selling animal parts to meet unrelenting demand can finance more farms and better breeding to prevent extinction. More »

      Tags

      India  • farming  • conservation  • tigers  • animal rescue groups

    • Floods Ruin Midwest Economy

      newser  |  MSNBC  |  Jun 20, 08 2:30 PM CDT

      Floods Ruin Midwest Economy

      The floods ravaging the Midwest are taking a catastrophic toll on the region's farmers, and consumers across the country will feel the pinch in higher food prices, MSNBC reports. Even if waters recede quickly, farmers will lose a sizable chunk of the season—they need about 120 growing days—and it may take some farms years to recover. Summed up an official in Illinois: “Livestock was affected. Farmhouses were affected. Machinery was affected, and the land was affected.” More »

      Tags

      flood  • food prices  • farming  • Midwest  • corn  • Midwest floods  • grain

    • Yellow, Popular, and Not Long for Our Shelves

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Jun 18, 08 9:32 AM CDT

      Yellow, Popular, and Not Long for Our Shelves

      With prices pushing the $1-per-pound mark, the banana's days as an American staple fruit are numbered, Dan Koeppel writes in the New York Times . “That bananas have long been the cheapest fruit at the grocery store is astonishing,” he notes of the exotic, quick-to-rot fruit, which is cheaper than homegrown apples despite enormous transportation costs. More »

      Tags

      farming  • Latin America  • workers' rights  • banana

    • Scars of War Remain for Laotian Farmers

      newser  |  Gourmet  |  Jun 11, 08 3:14 PM CDT

      Scars of War Remain for Laotian Farmers

      As if surviving as a farmer in the developing world wasn't hard enough, for those in Laos there is an extra—often deadly—complication. The US littered the Southeast Asian nation with 2 million tons of explosives during the Vietnam War, one-third of which remain precariously unexploded, and responsible for an unquantified weekly death toll, reports Gourmet in a look at the complicated task of removing them. More »

      Tags

      farming  • land mines  • Third World  • Laos

    • Investors Sink Billions in 'Green Gold'

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Jun 5, 08 8:22 AM CDT

      Investors Sink Billions in 'Green Gold'

      Billions of investment dollars are pouring into agriculture as the global demand for food explodes, turning crops such as wheat, corn, and soybeans into green gold, reports the New York Times . And while the immediate impact of more money being fed into agriculture will likely result in increased food production, some critics worry the boom could go bust just as quickly. More »

      Tags

      food prices  • agriculture  • farming  • investing  • corn  • wheat  • soybeans

  • May 2008

    • House Overrides Farm Bill Veto; Senate to Follow

      newser  |  Washington Post  |  May 21, 08 7:50 PM CDT

      House Overrides Farm Bill Veto; Senate to Follow

      The House today overrode President Bush's veto of the $307 billion farm bill, and the Senate is expected to follow suit tomorrow morning, the Washington Post reports. Bush issued the 10th veto of his presidency this afternoon, complaining that the wide-ranging measure gives too much money to rich farmers and is stuffed with wasteful perks. The override will be only the second of Bush's presidency and the first on major legislation. More »

      Tags

      Congress  • Senate  • House of Representatives  • farming  • farm bill  • Food Stamps

    • US Predicts Bumper Crops Will Ease Food Crisis

      newser  |  Reuters  |  May 10, 08 9:11 AM CDT

      US Predicts Bumper Crops Will Ease Food Crisis

      Farmers worldwide will reap record-breaking harvests of wheat and rice this year, the US projects, and the news is expected to ease some of the worldwide concern about food prices. The USDA says good weather will bring bumper crops that will replenish depleted stocks, Reuters reports. Analysts warned, however, that prices will remain high for some time and that the world's poor will still need food aid. More »

      Tags

      agriculture  • farming  • crops  • USDA  • wheat  • food supply  • rice prices  • wheat prices  • food security  • global food market

    • 'Big Dry' Killing Aussie Farms

      newser  |  BBC  |  May 2, 08 8:33 AM CDT

      'Big Dry' Killing Aussie Farms

      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 dropped by a third over the last 20 years. More »

      Tags

      Australia  • farming  • farmer  • drought  • food shortage  • wheat  • farm

  • April 2008

    • Another Key Shortage: Fertilizer

      newser  |  New York Times  |  Apr 30, 08 10:02 AM CDT

      Another Key Shortage: Fertilizer

      One of the less touted factors behind the global food crisis is a shortage in chemical fertilizer, which has helped boost crop yields dramatically and particularly benefited the developing world. But while growing demand is unlikely to be met for many years, the environmental impact of producing and using chemical fertilizers is significant and negative, the New York Times reports. More »

      Tags

      food prices  • farming  • corn  • crops  • developing countries  • rice  • food supply  • fertilizer

    • Humble Spud Could Solve Food Crisis

      newser  |  Reuters  |  Apr 15, 08 2:39 AM CDT

      Humble Spud Could Solve Food Crisis

      Sharp hikes in the prices of staples like wheat and rice are sending shockwaves around the world and convincing governments to rediscover the virtues of the potato, Reuters reports. Spuds are nutritious, will grow just about anywhere, and they yield up to four times more food per acre than other staples. Peruvians, faced with soaring wheat prices, have been switching to potato bread. More »

      Tags

      food  • food prices  • farming  • Peru  • crops  • food shortage  • food supply  • potato

  • February 2008
  • December 2007

    • Fish Farming Wiping Out Wild Salmon

      newser  |  Washington Post  |  Dec 13, 07 11:01 PM CST

      Fish Farming Wiping Out Wild Salmon

      Fish farming could drive some species of wild salmon to extinction, a new study says. Canadian researchers found a direct connection between the growth of such farms in British Columbia and a sharp drop in wild salmon nearby, the Washington Post reports. They attribute the problem to deadly sea lice that thrives in the farms, then spreads to wild salmon that swim by the netted cage.  More »

      Tags

      farming  • fish  • salmon  • seafood  • British Columbia  • aquaculture

  • November 2007

    • Noah's Flood Transformed Agriculture

      newser  |  Reuters  |  Nov 19, 07 10:33 AM CST

      Noah's Flood Transformed Agriculture

      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 farmers to disperse, and they migrated to new areas where people still relied on hunting and gathering. More »

      Tags

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

  • October 2007

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