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World leaders at a U.N. summit on food security in Rome are vowing to take "urgent action" to eliminate global hunger. But they did not agree in their final declaration to a U.N. request for $44 billion a year in farm aid. The World Food Program says for the first time ever, more than one billion people in the world are going hungry. That's more than one out of every six people on Earth. World hunger and food security are the focus of a three-day U.N. summit that opened Monday in Rome.

The crispness is in the air and frost has already been on the pumpkin this fall. It's harvest time in Indiana. But for farmers, this has not been a good year. A shortened planting season because of rain is now mixed with a late harvest because of rain. Some reports have the moisture content as high as 35 percent in some areas. This has posed a problem for the wheat industry in Indiana.

Crops Headed For A Tough Harvest by: Jim Delaney November 03, 2009 Although it appears the prospects for the producers of porcine products have prettied, yes, lipstick included, that cannot be said for all of the ‘ole MacDonald’s in the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported recently that due to a late planting season and a cooler and wetter fall than normal, only 20% of the corn crop is out of the fields vs. an average of 58% during the years of 2004-2008. “It’s getting scarier. The longer we go, the more mold keeps growing and the more ears...

Livestock and Climate Change: What if the key actors in climate change are...cows, pigs, and chickens? The environmental impact of the lifecycle and supply chain of animals raised for food has been vastly underestimated, and in fact accounts for at least half of all human-caused greenhouse gases (GHGs), according to Robert Goodland and Jeff Anhang, co-authors of "Livestock and Climate Change". A widely cited 2006 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Livestock's Long Shadow, estimates that 18 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions are attributable to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, camels, pigs, and poultry. But recent analysis...

A farm in every Pittsburgh neighborhood would be one of the goals of a Franco Dok Harris administration, the independent mayoral candidate said today, as his campaign sounded its final notes before Tuesday's election. The novel proposal -- which would have the city assemble vacant lots and help gather the expertise needed to transform them into farms Read more: http://www.postgazette.com/pg/09303/1009555-100.stm#ixzz0VRy1TKRj

Biofuel refineries in the US have set fresh records for grain use every month since May. Almost a third of the US corn harvest will be diverted into ethanol for motors this year, or 12pc of the global crop. The world's grain stocks have dropped from four to 2.6 months cover since 2000, despite two bumper harvests in North America. China's inventories are at a 30-year low. Asian rice stocks are near danger level. Yet farm commodities have largely missed out on Bernanke's reflation rally in metals, oil, and everything else. Dylan Grice from Société Générale sees "bargain basement" prices....

INTERNATIONAL. Legendary global investor and chairman of Singapore- based Rogers Holdings, Jim Rogers said the lack of supply in agricultural products is especially concerning. This cycle may last for many years as no one is bringing new supply on stream, Rogers said. In a Yahoo Finance video clip Rogers explains the reasons he is bullish on agricultural commodities. As he sees it, "most agricultural products are still depressed on a historic basis." "The story is not over, not for a while," he said. "I don't see any reason it's going to be over for a few years because no one...

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Farmers from North Dakota and Vermont and four others trying to plant hemp seeds at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration have been arrested. Arlington County police spokeswoman Detective Crystal Nosal says six people were charged with trespassing on Tuesday. They were among 21 people protesting the ban on farming of hemp, which is related to the illegal drug marijuana. The Hemp Industries Association says the protesters turned to civil disobedience for the first time. The group is lobbying lawmakers on Capitol Hill. They want to grow hemp for non-drug products. North Dakota farmer Wayne...

The top of the frozen apple juice can was stamped with the date, then the word "China." I could not believe it. China? I live in the Shenandoah Valley, at one time the biggest apple producer in the world, and my apple juice comes from China? Maybe it's just this store brand, I thought. But a visit to another grocery store confirmed it. They stocked a name brand, the top of it stamped with the date and the words "from China." I googled "China and apples." Stories and reports came up confirming my ... yes, fear. I hadn't been paying...

FORT WORTH — U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison landed a coveted endorsement Monday — from the Texas Farm Bureau, which some expected would go to incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Perry, the state’s former agriculture commissioner — in her bid to become the next Texas governor. Farm Bureau officials say that they did not make the decision lightly, but that it was not difficult because it involves "a matter of trust." "This is the most important race for governor in a long time," Kenneth Dierschke, president of the Texas Farm Bureau, said in a statement read at a local news conference....

Finally acknowledging that there is a significant government-created crisis in the San Joaquin Valley, the Interior Department convened a public hearing Sept. 30, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein has announced she has asked her staff to begin assembling a major piece of legislation to address the water crisis facing the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar has issued a "memorandum of understanding" that will keep representatives from six federal agencies talking to various interest groups in California. The problem is that it will take months to make such decisions and years for results to be apparent. The crisis is...

Good morning to all of you gardeners. I started the clean up of my garden this past week. I am taking my time doing it. I started with my tomato plants and decided not to use them in my compost pile. I do plan on pulling up my landscape fabric and saving it for next season. I would like to plant winter rye grass in the garden but would like other advice from y’all. What would be a good cover for this area until spring?

Weekend Roundup --snip-- Picture Highlight: the new Herschel Space Telescope, is seeing first light and creating dramatic images of gas clouds in the Milky Way...

Plant geneticist Dr John Sanford began working as a research scientist at Cornell University in 1980. He co-invented the ‘gene gun’ approach to genetic engineering of plants. This technology has had a major impact on agriculture around the world...

MOSINEE - The Lewer family has grown raspberries for more than 20 years. What they created as a family, they want others to enjoy as a family. "We have heard that it's really hard to find places to pick (berries) and take their children," said Dani Banks, daughter of Lakeview Berry Farm owners Fran and Dennis Lewer. "To us, it doesn't matter if they're strapped on their parent's back or they're 2-year-olds just running around eating berries. We try to accommodate everybody." Lakeview Berry Farm, overlooking the Eau Plaine flowage in Marathon County, started as a family garden and grew...

Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt. (snip) The Senate rejected the amendment by a largely party-line 61-36 margin, with Feinstein opposing the restoration of water deliveries to farmers. The California senator claimed she was blindsided by the amendment to the bill she was managing in the Senate, bizarrely comparing the move to a "Pearl Harbor." "No one from California has called, written or indicated they wanted this on the calendar," Feinstein protested.

Delta smelts: Preferred over humans. Environmentalism: Sen. Dianne Feinstein votes to deny water to California's drought-stricken San Joaquin Valley. Farmers, families and food are being held hostage to an endangered fish called the delta smelt.There was a time when the San Joaquin Valley was the most productive agricultural region in the world. It was a large part of what made the Golden State golden.Now it's a place where farmers no longer farm, but instead line up at food banks to feed the families of those who once fed the rest of the country and a good chunk of the...

San Joaquin Water Crisis Resource Information:Websites Aquafornia.com http://aquafornia.com/ By Water Education Foundation. “…Aquafornia is dedicated to providing comprehensive news and information about California water issues, as well as issues affecting the southwest. Aquafornia posts links from the news media, press releases, trade magazines, and blogs…The site is updated usually by 8am daily, 7 days a week, and breaking news is posted whenever it occurs…” Links to footage from the Sean Hannity Show. Farmers For Water www.Farmersforwater.com “…Providing Links & Information on the Central Valley Water Crisis…” Good collection of articles, maps and photos, links and other information. Families Protecting the...

State Highway 9 is a two lane strip of asphalt that cuts across the northernmost tier of counties in Iowa, from Larchwood to Lansing. If you drive its 320 miles, as I have done many times, you will not be dissuaded from the stereotype of Iowa as a flat boring expanse of cornfields. The few points of interest include Lake Okoboji and the headquarters of Winnebago in Forest City. It takes you near Mason City, the model for "River City" in Meredith Willson's The Music Man, and the site of the plane crash that claimed Buddy Holly after a February...

“Turning the water off is not just bad politics, it’s an act of domestic terror.” - Former Fresno, California Mayor Alan Autry Forgive me if I am less than diplomatic here. I am not a fan at all of the radical environmental movement. I’m even less of a fan of radical, Big Government. Let’s cut to the chase here. The rabid environmentalists have destroyed the economy in the San Joaquin Valley of California. Not only have they destroyed the economy, they have destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of farmers, as well. According to the California Farm Water Coalition...

Talk show host Sean Hannity is in our Valley tonight. The topic is water. But it’s bigger than that. Some believe its: Environmentalists vs. Liberty. Some believe environmentalists are standing on the necks of our farmers and their kids. And ... some believe they’re coming for YOUR water next. This link has..

If you plan to attend the protest with Sean Hannity tomorrow and don't know what to wear, print this reversed on a t-shirt iron-on.

Norman Borlaug arguably the greatest American of the 20th century died late Saturday after 95 richly accomplished years. The very personification of human goodness, Borlaug saved more lives than anyone who has ever lived. He was America's Albert Schweitzer: a brilliant man who forsook privilege and riches in order to help the dispossessed of distant lands. That this great man and benefactor to humanity died little-known in his own country speaks volumes about the superficiality of modern American culture. Born in 1914 in rural Cresco, Iowa, where he was educated in a one-room schoolhouse, Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize...

Science: Norman Borlaug has died at age 95. Most will respond to the news by saying "Who?" And that's a shame. Borlaug did more for humanity than all of the government programs ever devised put together.Borlaug was known as the father of the Green Revolution, but he was no environmentalist. Unlike the greens, he was actually concerned about the condition of man. While misanthropes and neo-Malthusians were predicting mass starvation, Borlaug developed technologies that dramatically increased the yields of food crops and made them more resistant to disease. Between 1960 and 1990, the agronomist's work was responsible for more than...

Sep 14, 2009 ... Sean Hannity on Thursday will broadcast his national FOX TV show life from the west side of Fresno for a program on California's water that ...

Norman Borlaug, the man who saved more human lives than anyone else in history, has died at age 95. Borlaug was the Father of the Green Revolution, the dramatic improvement in agricultural productivity that swept the globe in the 1960s. For spearheading this achievement, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. One of the great privileges of my life was meeting and talking with Borlaug many times over the past few years. In remembrance, I cite the introduction to Reason's 2000 interview with Borlaug below:

DALLAS – Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the "green revolution" who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95. . . . more at link

Christine Vernay was on holiday in Missouri when she got the call. It was August 12 2003 and the French vineyard owner was not due to return home for 10 days; the harvest on her Rhône valley estate would begin in late September. But then a friend from the same village, Condrieu, called her husband’s mobile phone. “The grapes have ripened early. You need to come home now,” he said. France was sweltering in the most extreme heat wave on record. Christine and her husband, Paul Ansellem, caught the first flight back but by the time they reached the vineyards...

California has a new endangered species on its hands in the San Joaquin Valley—farmers. Thanks to environmental regulations designed to protect the likes of the three-inch long delta smelt, one of America's premier agricultural regions is suffering in a drought made worse by federal regulations.

U.S. farm income to plunge 38 percent in 2009: USDA By Christopher Doering Thu Aug 27, 1:16 pm ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. farm income this year was forecast to plunge 38 percent to $54 billion due to lower commodity prices for crops and livestock, the Agriculture Department said on Thursday. Grain and livestock prices falling from record highs set in 2008 means farmers will see earnings slump by $33.2 billion in 2009 from last year's near record net farm income of $87.2 billion. The 2009 forecast was $9 billion below the 10-year average of $63.2 billion in net farm...

The elk in New Mexico are big and beautiful — a hunter's dream, a landowner's nightmare. Property owners across the state long have complained about wildlife overrunning their private land and destroying crops. But the problem is boiling over in the Sierra Nacimiento in northern New Mexico, where ranchers say they're being ignored and wildlife managers aren't doing enough to curb the damage or compensate them. Some frustrated property owners say they are considering a last resort: shooting the hungry animals. "We enjoy the elk. We don't mind the elk being around but we cannot feed the elk. If it...

Farmers in Michigan and six other states are harvesting a bumper crop of tart cherries. But the bounty is turning out to be the pits for farmers whose fruit is rotting in orchards instead of bubbling in cherry pies. Under a Depression-era federal program designed to keep prices from plummeting, tart-cherry farmers are being told by fruit processors to leave up to 40% of their crop unharvested. "It's kind of heartbreaking," said Rob Manigold, a tart-cherry farmer near Traverse City, Mich. Michigan grows about 75% of all the tart cherries in the U.S.

Like a child who wandered into an adult cocktail party and tried to seem precocious by mouthing clichés he doesn't really understand, Obama once again made a fool of himself as he did during the campaign when he told his rich backers in San Francisco about those bitter clingers to their religion and guns .

Each day thousands of farmers in California’s Central Valley depend on water to produce America’s food, but that water isn’t being delivered. Inaction from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Congress and state legislators are leaving thousands unemployed, threatening national food security and further crippling the American economy by causing a man-made drought in the most fertile land in America. California farmers are not receiving enough water to sustain their crops because lawmakers refuse to ease the application of the Endangered Species Act, creating dire economic and agricultural conditions throughout the Central Valley. This disaster will have a ripple effect on food prices...

Supporters of California agriculture called on the Obama administration and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday to lift water restrictions that were imposed to protect the endangered delta smelt, saying the fish is putting farmers out of business. The Pacific Legal Foundation presented a "Save Our Water" petition with 12,000 signatures at a Sacramento news conference, calling on Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, to request that the Obama administration convene the federal Endangered Species Committee, also known as the "God Squad," to remove the water curbs. "California should be known for the Rose Bowl, not a dust bowl. But there's a...

<p>BOSTON (AP) - The nation's cranberry production is expected to fall by 10 percent from last year's record-breaking crop, even as worldwide demand for the berry continues to steadily rise.</p> <p>Still, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast, released Aug. 18, wasn't unwelcome news to growers.</p>

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - A Purdue agricultural economist and state agricultural officials at the Indiana State Fair on Wednesday (Aug. 12) were surprised at the abundant 2009 crop projected by a U.S. Department of Agriculture report, especially given the difficult time farmers throughout the Eastern Corn Belt had getting their crops planted this spring. The USDA's Crop Production Report has U.S. corn production at 12.8 billion bushels, up 5 percent from 2008. Soybean production is estimated at 3.2 billion bushels, up 8 percent from this past year, while wheat production is estimated at 2.18 billion bushels, 3 percent higher. Indiana...

Get ready for the sugar shock. Raw sugar futures have almost doubled this year amid fears of a shortage, which could lead to slightly higher prices for candy but also a spike in the price of ethanol. Much of the rise in sugar prices has come in just the past few weeks as drier-than-normal weather in India, the world's largest consumer, threatens to leave production there far short of demand... The bigger impact may be felt at the gas pump, where the sugar shortfall is likely to drive up the cost of ethanol, increasingly used as a substitute for gasoline....

From the weekend WSJ. An excerpt: Crops rot and people stand in line for food while the EPA engineers a drought San Joaquin Valley, Calif. In 1931, a severe drought began that within a few years engulfed the Oklahoma panhandle and a third of the Great Plains in a "Dust Bowl." Tens of thousands of people fled the region — many traveling to California along Route 66, which John Steinbeck called "the mother road, the road of flight" in "The Grapes of Wrath." A lot of the "Okies" settled in the San Joaquin Valley. In the decades that followed, state...

Locals will tell you they taste like chicken, but you'd have to partake to see if they are telling the truth. They can be called Mountain Oysters, Cowboy Caviar, Swingin Sirloin or Calf Fries. But no matter how you slice them, they are still bull testicles. And they are the main course tonight in Watsonville. The Testicle Festival gets under way at Casserly Hall. The piece de' resistance will be served up fresh. The flier boasts only "USDA inspected" testicles will be served. It also refers to the dish as a true delicacy of the America West, not to mention...

Faced with the prospect of an economic disaster caused by a man-made drought, hundreds of concerned citizens from California's Central Valley today engaged in a massive protest at the Concord, California district office of Democrat George Miller. Miller and Congressional Democrats had an opportunity just a few weeks ago to turn on valley water pumps again, in time to avert a disaster via HR 3105, but Miller voted instead to protect a non-threatened species of fish [the Delta smelt] and his extremist supporters rather than California farms, farm workers and the millions of people who depend on them for food.

A farming town in California claims that it may disappear due to the United States federal government shutting off water pumps, though the government states the actions are necessary to save several marine species. In July 2009, action by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation to protect threatened fish stopped irrigation pumping to parts of the California Central Valley causing canals leading into Huron, California and the surrounding areas and the farms that rely on them to lose their primary irrigation source. Unemployment has reached 40% in some areas as the farms have dried up.

Sometime people do learn from history, though the number that intentionally do so are few. Perhaps one of the largest groups of people that seem to lack the ability to learn from history is composed of economists. The facts that they choose to intentionally ignore are near mind boggling. Two asset bubbles, technology and housing, were claimed to be non existent, until they collapsed. Now, that same group of myopic number crunchers believes that economic growth in Western economies is about to reignite. Is some skepticism appropriate? Now again, in the aftermath of the Federal Reserve doubling its assets, we...

Your right to eat healthy food and use supplements of your choice is rapidly vanishing, but every effort has been made to keep you in the dark about the coming nutricide. Codex Alimentarius is scheduled for full global implementation on December 31, 2009, and not a word has been spoken in main stream media about this threat to humanity. Yet, according to the projections based on figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a minimum of 3 billion people will die from the Codex mandated vitamin and mineral guideline alone. Former Nazi is...

Beekeepers in Scotland have warned of a serious threat to the industry after a deadly disease was discovered. At least four hives and three apiaries in Perthshire have been found to be infected with American Foulbrood (AFB). The honeybee disease was discovered while investigating cases of European Foulbrood (EFB) in the area. Colonies infected with EFB can be saved if the case is not serious. However, those with AFB cannot be treated with antibiotics and have to be destroyed. Foulbrood is caused by a bacterium which gets inside bee larvae and uses up their food supply, starving them to death....

Despite some really eloquent speeches to the contrary, our “for sale” House of Representatives passed the Food Fascism Act….euphemistically called a food safety act, by a margin of about 140 over the naysayer’s. True to form, Rosa DeLauro spoke about things she knows nothing about and couldn’t care less; Rosa just loves her some Monsanto! And that exclusion for farms??? Gone! And that includes you organic idiots who thought you had kissed enough behinds to have your industry excluded. The newly revised bill that appeared overnight after the original was defeated 29th of July, now includes all those farms we...

Empty turtle shells, decaying skunk carcasses and a set of deer antlers lay strewn about an empty campsite in California's Sierra National Forest. The butchered animals, as well as several five-pound propane canisters, camp stoves and heaps of trash, were all that remained of the 69 marijuana plantations recently uncovered in Fresno County as part of operation "Save our Sierras." The massive operation that began in February has already seized about 318,000 marijuana plants worth an estimated $1.1 billion, officials announced last week. In addition to 82 arrests, the multi-jurisdictional federal, state and local operation netted 42 pounds of processed...

Third Horseman Appears! Soylent Green Alert! byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D. thelastcrusade.org "We are a nation built on the strength of individual initiative. But there are certain things that we can't do on our own. There are certain things that only a government can do. And one of those things is ensuring that the foods we eat …are safe and don't cause us harm."President Barack Obama March 14, 2009 America enjoys the world’s safest, highest quality, most abundant, diverse and affordable food supply.This situation is about to change with the Food Safety Enhancement Act (H.R. 2749) which was scheduled for...

Some, and perhaps more than we imagine, economic sectors are immune to the failing economic policies of the Obama Regime. Those industries being driven by the dominant global trends should be somewhat resilient to the ongoing economic problems of the U.S. However, none will totally escape as the U.S. is such an important economic center of consumption. How do investors escape this reliance on U.S. economic activity level? The answer is, quite simply, Agri-Food. Investors, particularly those in the U.S., are being exposed to a grand period of illusory economic statistics. The U.S. Federal Reserve has injected more than a...

http://thecomingdepression.blogspot.com/2009/07/there-is-hunger-coming-like-run-away.html e driven the almost 400 mile stretch of Interstate 5 from L.A. to Sacramento dozens of times. Quite honestly, it's as boring as it gets. with only the usual gas stations, mini-marts, fast-food, home-cookin' restaurants, and strangely a newer batch of Starbuck's Coffee shops sprouting up everywhere. In between... farms, orchards, cattle, and dirt. On July 15th, as I began my trip to Utah, I came off the Grapevine decline and hit the flat 250 or so mile stretch of interstate which begins the farming belt in the valley. Almost immediately I noticed what I had only heard about...