Crop Woes

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October 2008
- US Farmers See Leaner Times in Stormy Market
  
  Wall Street Journal | Oct 22, 08 1:20 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Plunging crop prices and soaring costs are hitting US farmers with a one-two punch that’s knocked the fight out of what had been one of the stronger segments of the nation’s economy, reports the Wall Street Journal . Corn prices have dropped some 50% since July, and prices for fertilizer and seed are expected to jump 40% next year. More »
- Let's Chow Down on the Food System
  
  New York Times | Oct 12, 08 5:05 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Americans touch it everyday and it’s a matter of national security, but John McCain and Barack Obama haven’t raised the issue while campaigning: America’s food system is in dire need of an overhaul, Michael Pollan writes in an open letter to the candidates in the New York Times . The system is critical to energy, health care, and environmental reform, he writes: “Food is about to demand your attention.” More »
- Gene Tweak Could Grow Crops in Toxic Soil
  
  Wired | Oct 3, 08 10:35 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Scientists have made a breakthrough that could dramatically boost the world's food production by making more land farmable, Wired reports. A slight change to a single gene allows plants to thrive in earth made toxic by aluminum, which currently renders nearly half of the world's soil useless for growing crops. The metal severely stunts root growth, and scientists think they’ve figured out why. More »
September 2008
- Feds Dig Into Price-Fixing by Egg, Tomato Processors
  
  Wall Street Journal | Sep 23, 08 3:35 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The Justice Department is investigating allegations of price-fixing by tomato and egg processors, the Wall Street Journal reports today. California processor SK Foods is facing allegations it bribed buyers at six companies to pay inflated prices for tomato paste and chili peppers. Tomato prices have surged 16% over the past year, while overall food prices have risen only 6%. More »
- New England Pumpkin Crop Patchy After Summer Deluge
  
  Boston Globe | Sep 18, 08 7:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - An unseasonably wet growing season has devastated the New England pumpkin crop, the Boston Globe reports. The rain has multiple effects, almost all bad: some overwatered gourds swell so much they burst, while beds are washed out and depleted of fertilizer, leading to undersized specimens. And “pumpkins are pollinated by bees,” one grower sighed, “and bees don't fly when it's raining.” More »
- UN Urges: Eat Less Meat to Fight Warming
  
  Guardian (UK) | Sep 7, 08 7:20 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Meat-eaters who want to help fight global warming can do so by going vegetarian at least one day a week, a top UN official tells the Guardian . The meat industry accounts for an estimated one-fifth of all greenhouse gas emissions, released during feed production and as methane by flatulent livestock. Meat consumption has gone up fivefold since 1950, and is predicted to double by 2050. More »
- Farmers Hunt Wildlife to Keep Greens Clean
  
  Associated Press | Sep 2, 08 12:21 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - To please cautious companies, farmers have turned hunters in California's Salinas River Valley, where 60% of the nation's lettuce grows. They’re stalking wild pigs, poisoning ponds and erecting fences—disrupting wildlife and destroying habitats in the process—to avoid another E. coli contamination, the AP reports. But some question the drastic steps, given limited evidence that wildlife caused previous outbreaks. More »
August 2008
- Cambodia's Food Crisis Fix? Eat Rats
  
  Guardian (UK) | Aug 27, 08 9:45 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Food prices have rocketed so high in Cambodia that even the humblest of foods has seen its price quadruple this year. That humblest of foods is rat meat, and it’s going up precisely because so many Cambodians can’t afford any other meat, the Guardian reports. Rats have been fleeing to higher ground lately as the Mekong Delta floods, making it easy for villagers to catch, sell, and eat them. More »
- As Food Prices Rise, Lobster Treads Water
  
  Slate | Aug 20, 08 12:43 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - As global demand drives food prices to new highs, there’s one high-end food item whose price is in decline, Daniel Gross points out in Slate: lobster. In Portland, Maine, a pound of lobster costs slightly more than a gallon of gasoline, a ratio that historically was more like 4-to-1. And the prices get even lower farther upstate. More »
- Producers Quick to Pass Price Hikes Down Food Chain
  
  Wall Street Journal | Aug 8, 08 1:01 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Soaring grain and energy costs are driving food prices skyward, and big producers are moving to pass price hikes down the food chain to consumers on everything from cereal to meat, the Wall Street Journal reports. And costs won’t likely decrease, with biofuel demand eating up more corn than ever and livestock herds being thinned in response to the higher price of grain. More »
July 2008
- Haitians Turn to Mud Cakes to Fill Empty Bellies
  
  Guardian (UK) | Jul 29, 08 6:08 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Impoverished Haitians have been reduced to living off mud cakes, the Guardian reports. The cakes of clay and water—long eaten by poor pregnant women seeking calcium—are increasingly the only food many families can afford. The global fuel and food crisis has hit Haiti, and half the population is malnourished. More »
- Agricultural Economist Has Growing Concerns
  
  New York Times | Jul 25, 08 1:45 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Is there any way to justify US farm subsidies? Agricultural economist Daniel Sumner has a blunt answer: “No.” In an in-depth interview with the New York Times , Sumner takes on a broad range of agricultural topics, explaining the trouble with organic food (it’s too expensive), the problems with local food (it’s often inefficient) and, of course, the insanity of subsidies. More »
- Corn Prices Leave Catfish Farmers Gasping
  
  New York Times | 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, thousands of much-needed jobs are disappearing. More »
- Farmers Aim to Plow Over Conserved Land
  
  Washington Post | Jul 11, 08 4:40 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Millions of acres set aside as grasslands and wetlands could soon be plowed under if farmers and livestock producers have their way, reports the Washington Post. As food prices soar, the Department of Agriculture is under pressure to release acreage from the Conservation Reserve Program that pays farmers not to grow crops on some land. The program was intended to hold down production and boost prices, but a major beneficiary has been the environment. More »
- G8 Leaders Chew on Global Food Crisis Over Caviar
  
  Independent (UK) | Jul 8, 08 5:12 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The global food crisis tops the agenda at this year's G8 summit—and the talks seem to be hungry work, reports the Independent . The 18 dishes at the eight-course luxury dinner served to the leaders last night included caviar, sea urchin, and Kyoto beef—followed by a "G8 fantasy dessert" for those who still had room after the dinner feast and the six-course working lunch. More »
- Floods Cloud Biofuel Future
  
  New York Times | Jul 1, 08 4:09 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - The floods that swamped the corn belt last month have raised fresh fears about the future of biofuels, the New York Times reports. The ruined corn crop has sent the price of ethanol soaring, and experts worry that unpredictable weather could lead to future spikes in the price of energy as destabilizing as those caused by turmoil in oil-producing countries. More »
June 2008

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Stories

US Farmers See Leaner Times in Stormy Market

Let's Chow Down on the Food System

Gene Tweak Could Grow Crops in Toxic Soil

Feds Dig Into Price-Fixing by Egg, Tomato Processors

New England Pumpkin Crop Patchy After Summer Deluge

UN Urges: Eat Less Meat to Fight Warming

Farmers Hunt Wildlife to Keep Greens Clean

Cambodia's Food Crisis Fix? Eat Rats

As Food Prices Rise, Lobster Treads Water

Producers Quick to Pass Price Hikes Down Food Chain

Haitians Turn to Mud Cakes to Fill Empty Bellies

Agricultural Economist Has Growing Concerns

Corn Prices Leave Catfish Farmers Gasping

Farmers Aim to Plow Over Conserved Land

G8 Leaders Chew on Global Food Crisis Over Caviar

Floods Cloud Biofuel Future