farmers – News Stories About farmers - Page 1

Mar 3, 2023 12:17 PM CST

This Is Quite the Demonstration

Hundreds of angry farmers converge on Brussels' center, disrupt traffic, make their beef known

(Newser) - Hundreds of tractors driven by angry farmers protesting a plan to cut nitrate levels converged on Brussels Friday, creating major traffic disruption in Belgium's capital city. The BB farmers union and several others combined efforts to gather more than 2,700 farm vehicles, according to Brussels police. Several major...

Every Month for
Years, He Handed
Her $100. Now,
His Secret Is Out

Every Month for Years, He Handed Her $100. Now, His Secret Is Out

Alabama farmer Hody Childress quietly paid locals' pharmacy bills for around a decade

(Newser) - Hody Buford Childress' obituary is a rather unremarkable one, just three brief paragraphs in the Jan. 4 edition of the Sand Mountain Reporter listing his age (80), day of death (New Year's Day), and information on survivors and funeral arrangements. But what Childress did in secret for the last...

New Zealand Wants to
Tax This Cow's Burps

Oct 12, 2022 8:05 AM CDT

New Zealand Wants to Tax This Cow's Burps

Farmers are not on board with the plan

(Newser) - There are just 5 million people in New Zealand but some 10 million beef and dairy cattle and 26 million sheep. New Zealand's government on Tuesday proposed taxing the greenhouse gasses those farm animals make from burping and peeing as part of a plan to tackle climate change. The...

California's Drought Limits Tomato Production, Ups Prices

Higher Prices Are Ahead, With
Drought Cutting Tomato Supply

Oct 10, 2022 6:50 PM CDT

Higher Prices Are Ahead, With Drought Cutting Tomato Supply

Agriculture Department cuts production forecast

(Newser) - California farmers who grow tomatoes are being squeezed by the drought and other factors, which means prices at grocery stores are only going up. In the central part of the state, low levels of rain and snow are being felt, and the limits on water from the Colorado River are...

They Were Harvesting Wheat. Then 4 Were Dead

Cops: Feud Between
Brothers Led to 4 Deaths

Cops: Feud Between Brothers Led to 4 Deaths

Police say Robert Bracken killed his son, his brother, another man, and himself in North Dakota

(Newser) - Update: Police in North Dakota say a disagreement between brothers led to a triple-homicide and suicide, reports the Grand Forks Herald . The Towner County Sheriff’s Office blames a "dispute between brothers Robert Bracken and Richard Bracken" that had been "escalating for a week or more." Police...

Drought Forces US Farmers to Sell Cattle, Kill Off Crops

As US Dries Up in Drought,
Farmers' Hands Are Forced

Aug 18, 2022 8:57 AM CDT

As US Dries Up in Drought, Farmers' Hands Are Forced

America's farmers are having to kill off their own crops, sell cattle earlier than usual

(Newser) - In 2021, nearly a quarter of America's farmers said they had to kill their own crops because drought conditions had made the environment so dry that the crops were never going to mature. Things haven't gotten any better since: This year, 37% of the nation's farmers say...

Dutch Farmers Block Roads
With Piles of Manure

Jul 27, 2022 7:44 AM CDT

Dutch Farmers Block Roads With Piles of Manure

They're protesting nitrogen emissions cuts, fearing they'll put them out of business

(Newser) - Dutch farmers resumed protests at government plans to reduce nitrogen emissions Wednesday by dumping manure and garbage on highways and setting fires alongside roads. Traffic authorities said several roads in the central and eastern Netherlands were completely or partially blocked, requiring fire services to rush to clear roads as traffic...

On Top of Avian Flu, Farmers
Deal With Conspiracy Theories

Jun 12, 2022 9:45 AM CDT

On Top of Avian Flu, Farmers Deal With Conspiracy Theories

As with COVID-19, misinformation spreads online

(Newser) - Brad Moline, a fourth-generation Iowa turkey farmer, saw this happen before. In 2015, a virulent avian flu outbreak nearly wiped out his flock. Barns once filled with chattering birds were suddenly silent. Employees were anguished by having to kill sickened animals. The family business, started in 1924, was at serious...

Feds: Trade Aid From Trump
Overpaid Corn Farmers by $3B

Dec 21, 2021 2:52 PM CST

Feds: Trade Aid From Trump Overpaid Corn Farmers by $3B

Farmers in the South were paid more per acre than those in the West, Northeast

(Newser) - The Trump administration overpaid corn farmers by about $3 billion in federal aid in 2019 and farmers in the South were paid more for the same crops than those elsewhere in the country, a federal watchdog agency has found. The Government Accountability Office said in a report released Monday that...

Feds Are Changing
'Product of USA' Meat Rules

Jul 7, 2021 11:15 AM CDT

Feds Are Changing 'Product of USA' Meat Rules

That 'product of USA' often isn't, it turns out

(Newser) - It's something White House press secretary Jen Psaki learned "that I found a little outrageous," she says: Most grass-feed beef bearing the label "product of USA" is no such thing. Rather, it's raised and slaughtered abroad and then brought to the US for processing, and...

Farmer Accidentally Makes
France a Little Smaller

May 4, 2021 11:05 AM CDT

Farmer Accidentally Makes France a Little Smaller

Belgian moves stone marking the border

(Newser) - Sometimes it takes a war to change the border between two nations. And sometimes, it requires only a ticked-off farmer. The BBC reports that a farmer in Belgium moved a stone marker in his field a little more than 7 feet, apparently because it was in the path of his...

He Was Sick of a Sucky 2020.
His Remedy: 2M Sunflowers

Sep 9, 2020 9:50 AM CDT

He Was Sick of a Sucky 2020. His Remedy: 2M Sunflowers

Wis. farmer Scott Thompson has planted upward of 2M 'blooms of sunshine' to make people happy

(Newser) - Strawberries, raspberries, and pumpkins are what you'd find growing on Scott Thompson's Wisconsin farm in a normal summer and fall. But 2020 is definitely anything but normal, and this year, neither are the Bristol farmer's fields. When the pandemic forced everything to start shutting down in March,...

Another Postal Service Issue:
Mail-Order Chicks, Dead

Aug 20, 2020 12:00 PM CDT

Another Postal Service Issue: Mail-Order Chicks, Dead

Thousands aren't surviving usual shipments to Maine farmers

(Newser) - When Postmaster General Louis DeJoy testifies before Congress Friday and Monday, he'll surely get lots of questions about how new policies might affect mail-in voting. But he might also get questions about a new and grisly problem with mail-order chicks. The Portland Press Herald reports that thousands of chicks...

Experts Paint Eyes on
Cow Butts—and It Works

Experts Paint Eyes on Cow Butts—and It Works

Researchers find a low-cost way to save cattle in Botswana

(Newser) - Want to save cattle from predatory attacks? First, paint eyeballs on their butts. Then see what happens. That's pretty much the gist of a new study out of Botswana—and it worked, Happy Mag reports. Researchers at the University of South Wales painted the eyes on cow butts to...

Farmer's Killing Was
'Incomprehensible'—Until Now

Farmer's Killing Was 'Incomprehensible'—Until Now

Elmer Yuill was murdered on his farm back in 1991. Now, a suspect emerges

(Newser) - Elmer Yuill's killing made no sense at all. The gentle farmer liked doting on his younger sisters and kept his barnyard so clean that drivers pulled over for photos. Yet early one morning in 1991, the 77-year-old was found dead, two bullets in the back—execution style—on that...

The Chickens Churned Out
Eggs. Then Came the Gas

Apr 22, 2020 11:00 AM CDT

The Chickens Churned Out Eggs. Then Came the Gas

Egg farmer Kerry Mergen says 61K chickens were euthanized due to drop in demand due to virus

(Newser) - A Minnesota contract egg farmer says his livelihood has been erased along with 61,000 chickens owing to a drop in demand triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. Kerry Mergen and his wife, Barb, produced 4,500 dozen eggs per day, which were turned into fluid egg and sent to food...

Feds Pull Crop Tour Staff
After Threat From Farmer

Aug 22, 2019 5:15 AM CDT

Feds Pull Crop Tour Staff After Threat From Farmer

'The safety of our employees is our top priority'

(Newser) - Trouble in the heartland for the Trump administration? The Department of Agriculture says it pulled all of its staff from a tour of corn and soybean fields in the Midwest after a credible threat was made against an employee. Sources tell Reuters that the threat was made in a phone...

Protected Birds Are
Eating Cows Alive

Jun 27, 2019 10:05 AM CDT

Protected Birds Are Eating Cows Alive

Black vultures can peck a calf to death in minutes, starting at the eyes

(Newser) - Black vultures are eating livestock alive, and there's little farmers can do about it unless they secure a federal permit to kill the protected birds, whose numbers have ballooned over the last two decades. Kentucky herdsman Derek Lawson says he came upon six black vultures pecking a calf to...

Farmers Drown
Their Sorrows
in Beer and
Fried Chicken

Jun 16, 2019 4:29 PM CDT

Farmers Drown Their Sorrows in Beer and Fried Chicken

Illinois farmers gather for a 'Prevent Plant Party'

(Newser) - Illinois farmers gathered to tell their tales of woe Thursday at—of all places—The Happy Spot. With heavy rains and record floods forcing them to leave millions of acres unseeded, corn farmers gathered with sellers of equipment, chemicals, and seed at the Deer Grove restaurant to swap stories over...

PepsiCo's Warning
to Farmers: 'Join
Us or Grow Other
Potatoes'

Apr 26, 2019 1:30 PM CDT

PepsiCo's Warning to Farmers: 'Join Us or Grow Other Potatoes'

Company wants 4 small farmers in India to stop growing tuber it uses in Lay's potato chips

(Newser) - Four farmers in India only boast a few acres each, but a special potato they're growing has one of the world's biggest food and beverage conglomerates after them. PepsiCo's Indian subsidiary filed suits against the small group of farmers in early April, accusing them of planting a...