Free Republic

The FDA has won its two-year fight to shut down an Amish farmer who was selling fresh, raw milk to eager consumers in the Washington region, after a judge this month banned Daniel Allgyer from selling his milk across state lines, and he told his customers he'll shut his farm down altogether. The decision has enraged Mr. Allgyer's supporters, some of whom have been buying from him for six years and who say the government is interfering with their parental rights to feed their children. But the Food and Drug Administration, which launched a full investigation complete with a 5...

Farmers in the UK are being encouraged to plough up some of the most quintessential English landscapes so that they can continue to claim European subsidies, experts have warned. Wildlife-rich pastures—which have made famous the New Forest clearings, the South Downs, the Cotswolds and the Chilterns—are under threat after the EU proposed rule changes to the Common Agricultural Policy. Experts have warned that to escape the penalties, farmers are already mowing down the grassland ahead of the 2014 deadline for registering their permanent pasture—in case they want to plant them later. Many such fields will be "improved" grasslands—actually monocultures with...

This year will mark another push for aggressive food regulation at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On tap, salt regulations and industrywide regulations dictating which foods can be advertised on television. In October 2011, the FDA announced in the Federal Register that it would begin accepting comments on “approaches to reducing sodium consumption.” The announcement cited 2005 medical studies’ findings that excess sodium consumption is a contributory factor in the development of hypertension. Yet studies conducted subsequent to that 2005 study came to different conclusions. For instance, in 2006, the American Journal of Medicine published a study of 78...

New Plant Hardiness Zone Map Illustrates a Hotter 21st Century The U.S. Department of Agriculture unveiled a new “Plant Hardiness Zone Map” at the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C. The map — a vital tool for gardeners, farmers, researchers and policy makers — has changed in part to reflect changing climate patterns across the United States. The color-coded map of planting zones, often seen on the back of seed packets, has been updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century. Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden.

Monsanto has announced it will scrap plans to sell an insect-resistant maize in France, the second move in a week by biotech company to retreat from the genetically modified foods market in Europe. Monsanto's announcement on Tuesday (24 January) came a week after Germany's BASF said it would suspend the development of GM crops in Europe and move its plant science arm to the United States. BASF's move is a particular blow for Europe, said Carel du Marchie Sarvaas, director of agricultural biotechnology at EuropaBio. "The BASF decision is not good for Europe because I think it is the reaction...

In the 18th century, Catherine the Great invited German farmers to come to Russia and cultivate the land. Over two centuries later, the country is recruiting Teutonic pioneers once again to put vast tracts of fallow land to use. The land holds great opportunities for agricultural entrepreneurs -- provided they have strong nerves. Stefan Dürr, 47, is now the owner of more than 170,000 hectares (about 420,000 acres) of prime Russian farmland. He is cultivating fields in the Kursk, Voronezh, Orenburg, Novosibirsk and Kaluga regions. Through his holding company, EkoSem-Agrar, he employs 2,800 people in farming, owns a herd of...

Shelly Mayer says she would never do anything to put her three children in harm's way on their family dairy farm, but she worries that proposed regulations could put an end to many jobs for farm kids. As Americans, Mayer says, we are too protective of our children when it comes to physical labor. "We have raised a generation of 'bubble-wrap' babies," she says. "Parents dote so much on kids, they practically need an oxygen mask to go outside. And we wonder why they can't function in society." Mayer and her husband, Dwight, have children ages 15, 13 and 8...

LANSING, Mich. — Sparking outrage across the country’s rural heartland, the Obama administration is proposing rules to curb the ability of children on farms to engage in “corn sex” for pay. Farmers call it corn detasseling, a time-honored but physically demanding chore designed to promote cross-pollination in the field. For decades it has been a way for teens to earn extra spending money — and forge some good-natured field hand camaraderie — for a few weeks each summer. The Obama administration is considering revisions to federal agricultural work rules that effectively would bar teens younger than 16 from engaging in...

While you were preparing for Thanksgiving and President Obama was sparing the life of a couple of photo op turkeys, he also approved legislation that will result in the domestic slaughter of thousands of horses every year for human food. For the past half-decade the relatives of Flicka, Black Beauty and Seabiscuit have been spared the domestic livestock disassembly line -- the quick blow to the head, bleeding, eviscerating, slicing, grinding, packaging and cooking that comes with being edible around hungry Americans or shipped abroad as a delicacy for foreign palates.

The European Commission launched an investigation on Friday over complaints that U.S. bioethanol exporters are using unfair state subsidies to sell their fuel to Europe at illegally low prices, a statement in the EU official journal showed. The investigation follows a formal complaint by EU bioethanol industry association ePURE in October, which alleged that tax credits in the United States allow its exporters to cut their EU selling price by about 40 percent, EU diplomats said. If the EU authorities find evidence of unfair trade practices, it could result in import tariffs on millions of liters (gallons) of bioethanol imports...

Skinning, gutting, and cutting up catfish is not easy or pleasant work. No one knows this better than Randy Rhodes, president of Harvest Select, which has a processing plant in impoverished Uniontown, Ala. For years, Rhodes has had trouble finding Americans willing to grab a knife and stand 10 or more hours a day in a cold, wet room for minimum wage and skimpy benefits. Most of his employees are Guatemalan. Or they were, until Alabama enacted an immigration law in September that requires police to question people they suspect might be in the U.S. illegally and punish businesses -

Texas needs rain — and needs it quickly — to keep farmers and ranchers from suffering even bigger losses next year from the drought that already has left them with record-breaking losses this year, producers said Friday while in San Antonio. Corn growers in Texas could encounter even bigger losses in 2012 after seeing output fall by 40 percent this year; and rice plantings, which fell by only 2 percent this year, could be cut nearly in half if more water does not become available soon, officials said. “It could drive us to acreage levels we've probably not seen in...

Six beautiful photos with captions of the show. Fruits and vegetables planted in Canada are displayed during the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair at Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto, Canada, on Nov. 4, 2011. The ten-day 2011 Royal Agricultural Winter Fair that opened here on Friday is one of the largest combined indoor agricultural fair in the world.(Xinhua/Zou Zheng)

<p>Another hot, dry summer has devastated this year’s peanut crop, sending prices for the legume skyrocketing and forcing peanut-butter brands including J.M. Smucker Co.’s Jif, Unilever NV’s Skippy and ConAgra Foods Inc.’s Peter Pan into startling price increases.</p> <p>Wholesale prices for big-selling Jif are going up 30% starting in November, while Peter Pan will raise prices as much as 24% in a couple weeks. Unilever wouldn’t comment on its pricing plans, but a spokesman for Wegmans Food Markets, the closely held supermarket chain in the Northeast U.S., said wholesale prices for all brands it carries, including Skippy, are 30% to 35% higher than a year ago.</p>

U.S. farmers celebrate approval of free trade deals World Oct. 14, 2011 - 07:15AM JST ( 3 ) DES MOINES, Iowa — U.S. farmers on Thursday celebrated the approval of free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama, saying the pacts will increase demand for their products, though American consumers shouldn’t see a drastic increase in overall food prices. Congress approved the agreements Wednesday night, calling for the elimination of tariffs on U.S. products exported to those countries. Farm exports are expected to increase by $2.3 billion and 20,000 agriculture-related jobs are expected to be created under the agreements,...

Economic Growth According to the World’s Leading Economists By Bill Bonner 10/05/11 Paris, France – We were on the edge of our chairs yesterday. We wanted to see if the Dow would crash through the 10,000 barrier. A break below 10,000 would probably hit the markets like a drone attack on a birthday party… …perhaps causing investors to panic…and the feds to do something really stupid. The feds are getting ready. They’re being egged-on by some of the world’s leading economists. Nobel prize winner, Peter Diamond, for example, urges the feds to spend more money on infrastructure projects. Richard Koo,...

Each summer, animal activists travel across the country to meet and discuss the latest topics of the animal rights movement. This year, animal agriculture was once again the focus. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) hosted its annual Taking Action for Animals Conference in Washington, D.C. on July 15-18, and Farm Animal Rights Movement’s Animal Rights 2011 Conference (AR 2011) was held two weeks later on July 21-25 in Los Angeles. Both events claimed to have “record-breaking” attendance, attracting a combined total of more than 1,600 activists from around the world, ranging in age from 20-60 years old....

Federal officials on Friday rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with their benefits. (...) Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture, said in a statement that the United States Department of Agriculture “has a longstanding tradition of supporting and promoting incentive-based solutions that are better suited for the working families, elderly and other low-income individuals” who rely on food stamps. “We are confident that we can solve the problem of obesity and promote good nutrition and health for all Americans and stand ready to work with...

The Texas drought, lasting since fall 2010, has cost $5.2 billion to agriculture, a report said. This is now the most expensive year of drought, according to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service economists. Most of the losses accounted for in the report are higher costs and lost grazing land for livestock. To remain comparable with past reports, this one does not take into account losses to fruit and vegetable producers, horticultural and nursery crops, or other grain and row crops, according to a news release, making this a conservative estimate. A similar report released in May put the costs just...

The power to edit genes is as revolutionary, immediately useful, and unlimited in its potential as was Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press. And like Gutenberg’s invention, most DNA editing tools are slow, expensive, and hard to use — a brilliant technology in its infancy. Now, Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace — and combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears. “The payoff doesn’t really come from making a copy of something that already exists,”...

In the Russell Senate Office Building Caucus Room, Fred McClure was watching the crowd. It was March 1978, and the American Agriculture Movement — a pressure group for government support of farm prices — was meeting with Texan congressmen. A legislative aide to Sen. John Tower (R.), McClure was leaning on a door when a rancher from Paint Creek, Texas, named Rick Perry walked past. Newly retired from the Air Force, Perry held a degree in animal science from Texas A&M. His class ring gave him away. Spotting the ring, McClure, a fellow Texas A&M grad, introduced himself, and the...

An innovative, relatively young program provides active-duty soldiers and military veterans a jump start into civilian existence while bringing life to agriculture. One-sixth of the U.S. population is enlisted in the military, and 45 percent of that number is from rural farm communities, according to the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Farms need more hands, and veterans need work after service. So Michael O’Gorman founded the nonprofit Farmer-Veteran Coalition, based in Davis, California, to plow the hindrances and help reintegrate service men and women on a national scale. O’Gorman, a seasoned organic farmer, watched the...

Bats, as scary as they are to some, are one of the more useful mammals in creation. The diets of those species common in Pennsylvania consist of mosquitoes and other insect pests including the ones that damage crops. A colony of 100 brown bats can consume of a quarter-million insects in a single night. Science magazine has estimated the pest control service provided by bats can save farmers about $74 per acre. Well, the unattractive wind turbines built at the hectoring of the nature worshipers who've managed to convince most that they are the arbiters of all dogma scientific are...

The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release June 09, 2011 Executive Order - Establishment of the White House Rural Council By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America and in order to enhance Federal engagement with rural communities, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Policy. Sixteen percent of the American population lives in rural counties. Strong, sustainable rural communities are essential to winning the future and ensuring American competitiveness in the years ahead. These communities supply our food, fiber, and energy, safeguard...

Several people have become interested in a quite controversial topic called "AGENDA 21." They have requested being on a ping list for this topic. While I do not have time to do a thorough treatment of this subject, nor am I in any way an expert, I am willing at least for a time,to ping people as I run across articles which might pertain to this concern. It might be good to start with an examination of just what it is or might be. To kick this discussion and exploration off,I did a Google search (just for fun) on "Agenda...

HAVRE — Wet weather has left wheat crops in north-central Montana vulnerable to fungal diseases, officials say. Hill County Extension Agent Joe Broesder said the main battle is with stripe rust fungal infection, but tan spot and powdery mildew are also prevalent. "If the weather would straighten out, it would help with the others," Broesder said told the Havre Daily News. Arleen Rice of Taylor Aviation said the company has had to bring in more planes for aerial spraying. "You can walk out in the fields right now and the bottom of your boots turn red," she said. "We have...

Reports from the WTO and USDA show that corn supplies are influenced by biofuel subsidies and mandates. The biofuels industry is being blamed for record food prices and high price volatility. Earlier this month a report from the World Trade Organization and other international agencies recommended that governments cut support for biofuels to ease that volatility. On the heels of that report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture issued its corn forecast; it suggested that corn supplies will be very tight this year because bad weather has limited planting and because the share of corn going to ethanol is increasing. After...

When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: The height and health of the people declined. “This broad and consistent pattern holds up when you look at standardized studies of whole skeletons in populations,” says Amanda Mummert, an Emory graduate student in anthropology. Mummert (in photo at right) led the first comprehensive, global review of the literature regarding stature and health during the agriculture transition, to be published by the journal Economics and Human Biology. “Many people have this image of the rise...

CHINESE scientists have genetically modified dairy cows to produce human breast milk, and hope to be selling it in supermarkets within three years. The milk produced by the transgenic cows is identical to the human variety, with the same immune-boosting and antibacterial qualities as breast milk, scientists at China's Agricultural University in Beijing said. The transgenic herd of 300 was bred by inserting human genes into cloned cow embryos which were then implanted into surrogate cows, Sky News reported. The technology used was similar to that used to produce Dolly the sheep, the first mammal to be cloned by scientists,...

FREDERICK, MD - One local industry that is peaking during this down economy is field corn. According to the Maryland Office of Economic Development, the price of a bushel of the cash crop is the highest its ever been. Eddie Mercer's 4,500 acre farm has been his livelihood for nearly 45 years and he says he has never seen the price of corn reach this level. "This is the ultimate high," says Eddie Mercer, President and Owner of Eddie Mercer Agri-Services Inc. "The most time we've ever sold corn is maybe in the $5, but never in the $8 range."...

The European Commission has proposed giving at least 150m euro (£134m; $220m) in compensation to farmers hit by the deadly E. coli outbreak. EU agriculture ministers have been holding crisis talks, amid criticism of Germany's handling of the outbreak. But Germany's health minister has said the worst could now be over. Producers of salad vegetables have seen sales plummet during the outbreak, which has killed 24 people and sickened nearly 2,400. Germany's Health Minister Daniel Bahr said there was cause for optimism, saying there were "some arguments suggesting the worst is behind us". There has been growing criticism of the...

E. Coli Not Found in Initial Testing of Sprouts By JUDY DEMPSEY and JAMES KANTER Published: June 6, 2011 BERLIN — A day after German agricultural officials identified locally grown sprouts as a possible cause of the E.coli outbreak that has killed 22 people and sickened more than 2,200, the officials said Monday that initial tests had failed to show conclusively that the bacteria originated with the sprouts. Results from the first 23 of 40 tests on several varieties of sprouts came back negative, said officials from the agriculture ministry in the state of Lower Saxony. The ministry did not...

Piercing, terrible screams shook Roddy Muir out of his sleep at about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday.“It sounded like a young child was being thrown around — and I could hear this banging and racket,” says Muir, 43, who lives on Campbell Ave., near Bloor St. W. and Lansdowne Ave. “I ran into the back of my yard,” said Muir, a voice actor who had fallen asleep on a couch on the main floor of his house. What he saw was a familiar sight. Last summer, behind his house, Muir saw a man attack raccoons with a pronged implement. In that incident,...

NAIROBI, May 18 (Xinhua) -- An international research team using a new combination of approaches has found two genes that may prove of vital importance to the lives and livelihoods of millions of farmers in a tsetse fly-plagued swathe of Africa. The research, aimed at finding the biological keys to protection from a single-celled trypanosome parasite that causes both African sleeping sickness in people and a wasting disease in cattle, brought together a range of high-tech tools and field observations to address a critical affliction of some of the world' s poorest people. "The two genes discovered in this research...

I'm trying to locate info on the internet for: top twenty-five producing countries of 3 items and the yearly amount produced for each in metric tonnes hay silage wood pulp straw for some reason I cant find any data

An insect with a voracious appetite, no domestic natural predators and a taste for everything from apples to lima beans has caused millions of dollars in crop damage and may just be getting started. The brown marmorated stink bug, a three-quarter-inch invader native to Asia, is believed to have been brought first to the Allentown, Pa., area in 1998. The bug began appearing in mid-Atlantic orchards in 2003-04 and exploded in number last year. This spring, stink bugs have been seen in 33 states, including every one east of the Mississippi River and as far west as California, Oregon and...

Hedge Farm! The Doomsday Food Price Scenario Turning Hedgies Into Survivalists By Foster Kamer May 17, 2011 | 8:16 p.m On the rare occasion that New Yorkers talk about farming, it's usually something along the lines of what sort of organic kale to plant in the vanity garden at the second house in the Adirondacks. But on a recent afternoon, The Observer had a conversation of a different sort about agricultural pursuits with a hedge fund manager he'd met at one of the many dark-paneled private clubs in midtown a few weeks prior. "A friend of mine is actually the...

The United Farm Workers Union is just a Jerry Brown autograph away from salvation.  The UFW which has seen its membership decline from more than 70,000 in the seventies to roughly 27,000 (including part time and seasonal workers) today is ready to fill its ranks and coffers through ‘card check.’   The Sacramento Bee reports that the California Assembly passed the ‘card check’ bill on Monday.  The measure, Senate Bill 104, cleared the Assembly by a vote of 51-26 with Republicans opposed.  It now goes to Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who has not yet announced whether he will sign it. Proposed...

Using large-scale gene re-sequencing, Purugganan and a team of researchers traced the origins of domesticated rice as far back as 9,000 years ago to China's Yangtze Valley, according to a May 2 press release from New York University. The tens of thousands of kinds of rice available in the world today are mostly varieties of either japonica or indica, the two major subspecies of Asian rice, Oryza sativa. It had been a subject of scientific debate whether these two subspecies had a common origin, or developed separately in China and India. "The multiple-origin model has gained currency in recent years...

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -- A group of 25 southeast Missouri farmers is suing the federal government over its decision to blow a hole in a levee, causing their farmland and houses to flood. Cape Girardeau attorney J. Michael Ponder filed the lawsuit Tuesday, less than 24 hours after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers detonated explosives on the Birds Point levee to ease pressure from the swelling Mississippi River. The Southeast Missourian reports that the lawsuit claims that the government violated the farmers' rights by taking their land without adequate compensation. The lawsuit seeks class-action status. Ponder, who is from...

Equatorial Guinea's (Republica de Guinea Ecuatorial) Minister of State for Agriculture and Forestry, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue met with the Ambassadors of China, Wang Shixiong, and Guinea Conakry, Lansana Keita, to discuss the country's development and further cooperation in the agriculture sector... pointed out that agriculture is at the forefront of Equatorial Guinea's efforts to diversify its economy and meet the goals of the government's Horizon 2020 development plan. The country is working to become an emergent and sustainable economy by 2020... Ambassador Keita, who has visited several cities of the country, said, "Equatorial Guinean lands are the black gold...

She should be. She is the Chair of the Agriculture Committee in the Senate, the most liberal Senator of all 100, and she votes with environmentalists 100% of the time. Which of these things don't go together? The National Farm Bureau is very opposed to the ever-increasing power of the EPA, and they are more pro-active about it than ever before. But then, the strangulation of farming interests and industry by the EPA created that friction. Yet Stabenow probably believes she has covered all of her bases in her cover amendment to the small business bill. She delays the EPA...

DES MOINES --- Iowa farmland values shot up 19.7 percent in the past six months and a total of 25.4 percent in the past year, according to the latest survey from the state’s ag land realtors. The Iowa Farm and Land Chapter #2 REALTORS Land Institute released the results of its survey March 22 and it showed just about what everyone expected n land values jumped dramatically in the past few months. That’s no surprise to farmers or realtors, according to Troy Louwagie, a realtor in Mount Vernon who runs the survey. Everyone knew ag land values have gone up,...

We've all seen 'em. You know the ones. The folks who walk into the local big-box garden center looking to fulfill their dreams of growing 4 pound tomatoes or blue ribbon-worthy pumpkins. Whatever their motivation - from a yearning for simplicity, a desire to eat more organically, or frugality - they've now decided to put in a garden. And could there be anything more inviting to a salesperson than the sight of the new gardener staring at the mountains of plants and supplies? Whether they grew up on a farm or could rival Billy Crystal for the lead role in...

Yes, You Can Survive The Coming Economic Nightmare – One Family In California Grows 6,000 Pounds Of Produce On Just 1/10th Of An Acre If you work hard and get prepared, you can survive the economic nightmare that is coming. All over the United States and around the world there are millions of people that are learning how to become more self-sufficient. For example, there is one family that is actually producing 6000 pounds of produce on just 1/10th of an acre right in the middle of Pasadena, California. In fact, they grow so much food that they are able...

When the upswing in commodity prices eventually makes its way throughout the food system in mid-to-late 2011, food prices are sure to spike with levels potentially reaching those of 2008, announced U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) economist Ephraim Leibtag at the agency's annual Outlook Forum. And if conditions escalate rapidly, there is also the potential for food riots and other civil unrest. The USDA is predicting a 3.5 percent increase in food prices in 2011, which is about twice the overall inflation rate but less than the 2008 increase, according to a recent Reuters report. In 2008, food prices rose...

BONAPARTE, Iowa, March 1 (UPI) -- Experts said a 4.1-ounce egg laid by an Iowa chicken is unusual, but not without precedent. Nathan Batten, 37, said Aussie, a black Australorp chicken, laid the egg measuring 3 1/2-inches long and 6 1/2 inches in circumference at his farm near Bonaparte Feb. 18, The Des Moines Register reported Monday. The egg weighs about twice as much as an egg labeled large by U.S. Department of Agriculture standards and exceeds the average 2 1/2 ounces for a jumbo egg. Sean Skeehan, who raises chickens at Blue Gate Farm in Chariton, said egg size...

I have been made aware this week that Chinese investors are either buying or considering to buy dry land farm land in my area of Texas. If it is true and if they don't care what values are, they may be paying more than double what land would sell for locally. Does anyone else know of such activity?

According to Sysco’s notice sent out this week: “The early reports are still coming in but most are showing losses of crops in the range of 80 to 100%. Even shade house product was hit by the extremely cold temps. It will take 7-10 days to have a clearer picture from growers and field supervisors, but these growing regions haven’t had cold like this in over half a century.” At this time of year, Mexico is a major supplier to the US and Canada for green beans, cucumbers, squash, eggplant, asparagus, peppers and round and Roma tomatoes. Compounding the problem...

The world's biggest farm has put up the for-sale sign, after being hit by a collapse in grain prices during the world financial crisis, and then by the droughts and the fires that raged across its territories last summer. Ivolga, a farming conglomerate which controls 1.5m hectares of land across Russia and Kazakhstan, is presently negotiating with Royal Bank of Scotland, which leads its creditors, to restructure a $300m loan it arranged in 2007. The company's immense holding, an area a third the size of Wales, easily outstrips that of El Tejar, the Argentine conglomerate which is the largest farm...