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Nearly a quarter-million acres worth of contracted federal irrigation deliveries have been cut from the big farms of the west side of the San Joaquin Valley in central California. The water in large part is being diverted to the salty San Francisco Bay and the delta to improve marine ecology. The result of the cutbacks is that many crops in the San Joaquin Valley have gone unplanted. Farm income is down. Thousands of farm laborers are unemployed. Growers and workers are now livid at environmentalists, federal bureaucrats, and judges for worrying more about fish than about people and food growing....

Frank Gwozdz says coyotes have made a meal out of his livestock so often in the past several months that the farmer is thinking of leaving agriculture. “They are wiping me out,’’ Gwozdz said ...from his 110-acre farm in Dartmouth in Southeastern Massachusetts. In the past several months, Gwozdz said, coyotes have killed two cows, four calves, 14 goats, two lambs, two sheep, and numerous geese, ducks, and chickens. “They are getting bolder and bolder,’’ Gwozdz said of the coyotes... Gwozdz said he and his family have tried to deter the animals, sometimes by standing guard into the early morning...

A 6 foot tall Rastafarian rooster, talking cow, and a pedo yoga guy on a farm. This must be where all organic fruits come from...

Dairy farmers in Northeast Wisconsin are feeling the pain at the pump...the milk pump that is. Mark Petersen, a third generation farmer ... tells that prices for his milk have plummeted on the market, and he's really feeling the pinch. Petersen says he's only getting around ten dollars per hundred pounds of milk produced right now. He was getting 20 dollars per hundred pounds not too long ago. And his operational costs exceed his revenue. Not good, of course. consumers have seen milk prices at the store come down, but it's not proportionate to what farmers are losing.

KENYON -- Russ Foss has lived on his 500 acre farm, southeast of Kenyon, for more than 42 years. A dairy farmer, Foss has kept busy serving time on the local co-op board and growing crops in his field. But Foss is clear to say that his 500 acres will never be home to what some are calling a "second crop," -- wind energy. "When they (the turbines) came out, I myself thought it was a good idea," he said. "Wind sounds like a good idea, until you really look into it. Then there are just so many holes in...

Filipino Militants Behead Kidnapped Farmer: Police By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: May 17, 2009 ZAMBOANGA, Philippines (AP) -- Philippine police recovered the severed head of a farm owner kidnapped by Muslim militants and authorities said Monday he was likely beheaded because his family failed to pay ransom. Doroteo Gonzales, 61, was snatched by gunmen April 25 from his house in southern Zamboanga city and brought to nearby Basilan Island, where al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf rebels are holding at least five other people in a surge of ransom kidnappings. The gunmen were believed to have links to the Abu Sayyaf, and Gonzales...

"My country has let me down." That's the assessment of an Arizona rancher who was sued by six illegal immigrants he detained on his property and turned over to the Border Patrol in 2004. On Tuesday an eight-member federal jury in Tucson threw out the claim brought by the six illegal aliens that Roger Barnett violated their civil rights when he detained them at gunpoint on his ranch nearly five years ago. The panel also ruled against the plaintiffs' claims of battery and false imprisonment. But the jury did find Barnett liable on four claims of assault and four claims...

A renegade dairy farmer played the role of a lawyer Monday at the start of his trial for selling raw, unpasteurized milk and suggested his rights have been violated. Spectators crowded into a small courtroom to hear details of an orchestrated,armed raid by about two dozen officers and government officials on a Durham,Ont., farm in 2006. The Crown said it will disclose evidence of a clandestine, undercover investigation into the illegal sale of dangerous substances stored on the farm, sometimes on clear display in open sight. The illicit products, which spawned 20 charges against farm owner Michael Schmidt, were raw...

<p>PLATTEVILLE, Colo. (AP) -- A farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest -- 40,000 people showed up.</p> <p>Joe and Chris Miller's fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of gleaning -- the ancient practice of picking up leftover food in farm fields -- was canceled yesterday.</p>

I need help with a founding father quote.

Syrian border guards shot and killed a Lebanese farmer on the Lebanese-Syrian frontier Tuesday, Lebanese police announced in a statement. Abbas Abbas, 15, was returning home on a donkey after working in his land on the Lebanese-Syrian frontier when a Syrian border patrol opened fire on him, killing him instantly, according to an official police statement. Another Lebanese man, Hussein Ali al-Dada, 41, was wounded Sunday when Syrian border guards opened fire on him after breaking into his house on the Lebanese-Syrian border, An-Nahar newspaper reported. (AP)

Working with manure can drastically reduce chances of developing lung cancer, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph. Dairy farmers are five times less likely than the general populace to develop the disease, New Scientist magazine reports. The study found farmers typically breathed in dust that consisted largely of dried manure and all the bacteria that grew in it. New Scientist said adults who had a greater exposure to germs than usual might build up a better resistance to bugs, including cancer. "Some researchers are starting to wonder whether the higher incidence of certain cancers in affluent populations —...

$50,000 REWARD IN DEATHS OF TREE FARMER, 2 OTHERSRobbery may be motive in slayings Authorities describe how shootings occurred Associated Press INDEPENDENCE, Va. --The family of a prominent North Carolina tree farmer has offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible for his slaying, as well as that of his son and an employee. Authorities said robbery was the apparent motive in the shooting deaths Thursday of Ronald Hudler, 75, his son Frederick Hudler, 45, and an employee, 25-year-old John Miller. The three were slain on Ronald Hudler's property in Mouth of Wilson, Va., just...

A federal database of animals to fight disease outbreaks is a threat to privacy and family operations, critics say. WASHINGTON — After days of parading around her beefy black steer in the dung-scented August heat at the Colorado State Fair, Brandi Calderwood made the final competition. For months, the 16-year-old worked from dawn well past dusk, fitting in the work around school, to feed, train and clean her steer. But just before the last round, when the animals are sold, fair officials disqualified her. They alleged that Brandi had not properly followed a new and controversial rule that required children...

NEAR YUSAFIYAH ROAD, Iraq — A farmer’s spilled vegetables led to a lucky discovery — a cache of 58 shells off this rural road. The unidentified farmer will probably be presented an award of $100 for telling a local sheik about the discovery, Capt. Brandon Cave said. The sheik notified Cave’s unit, Bravo Troop, 1st Squadron, 33rd Cavalry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) of the find Thursday afternoon in Iraq. The Fort Campbell, Ky., troop is deployed at Patrol Base Corregidor in a rural agricultural area south of Baghdad. Noting it takes awhile to build trust with the local...

Mexico City — Farmers and activists here are planning a series of protests as NAFTA enters its final stage on New Year's Day, when the last tariffs and quotas on corn, beans, milk and sugar melt away. Opponents of the free trade agreement warn that the final lifting of trade barriers could spark even more migration from Mexico's devastated countryside and leave Mexico dependent on the United States for corn and beans, staple dishes since the age of the Aztecs. At least one peasant group has said the NAFTA expansion could spark armed rebellion in the countryside if President Felipe...

Found in a farmer's field: The 2,000-year-old skeleton of the lost lady of Rome By CHRIS BROOKE Last updated at 09:14am on 23rd November 2007 In her lifetime she was a member of a wealthy family based in a bustling British outpost of the world's mightiest empire. The imperial glory has long faded. But, almost 2,000 years on, archaeologists have discovered a corner of an English field that is forever Rome. They have unearthed a coffin containing a remarkably well-preserved skeleton in the village of Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire - once the site of a major Roman town, Isurium...

German farmer demands cash for lost bodies By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:35am BST 12/08/2007 A German farmer is refusing to allow British families to recover the remains of crew members of a Lancaster bomber shot down during the Second World War - unless they pay him €7,500 (£5,080). The families of the crew are furious at the farmer's demands and are refusing to pay. They say that the farmer, Horst Bender, must not be allowed to make a profit from allowing them to give their dead relatives a proper burial with full military honours. One relative described...

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German farmer angry with police for trying to confiscate his tractor wrecked three patrol cars and evaded capture for seven hours before an elite unit managed to arrest him, a police spokesman said Wednesday. The farmer, 53, was pulled over by police for driving his tractor without a license, despite several previous warnings. The officers called in three patrol cars for help before asking the farmer to get out of his vehicle. He refused, and proceeded to ram the cars with his tractor, making full use of its attached muck spreader and hydraulic fork. Officers were...

Zimbabwe farmers wait out Robert Mugabe By Stephen Bevan, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:52am BST 29/07/2007 For Rod Swales and many of Zimbabwe's 4,000 white farmers forced off their land by President Robert Mugabe's chaotic and violent land reforms, the chance to start afresh somewhere else was too good to pass up. Resilient: Rod Swales hopes to return his farm in Zimbabwe to profitable production Neighbouring countries welcomed them with open arms and furnished them with land, while the agricultural companies provided them with cash incentives. But five years later, 52-year-old Mr Swales is back in Zimbabwe at the forefront...

RAMADI — Polishing a gun, and sitting behind a counter in the Jazeera Police station, it’s hard sometimes for people to imagine that Sgt. 1st Class Falah Hassan was a farmer. “I didn’t think I’d be an Iraqi policeman either,” he laughs. “I wanted to continue farming but I had to change that because my city needed me.” He said that while he was farming one day he noticed things were getting real bad around Ramadi so he heeded the call and joined the growing police force around Al-Anbar province. “I did it because I wanted the terrorists out of...

As if a light were switched off, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, portrayed for 20 years as a progressive modern ruler by Islamic standards, was suddenly, in 1977-1978, turned into this foaming at the mouth monster by the international left media. Soon after becoming President in 1977, Jimmy Carter launched a deliberate campaign to undermine the Shah. The Soviets and their left-wing apparatchiks would coordinate with Carter by smearing the Shah in a campaign of lies meant to topple his throne. The result would be the establishment of a Marxist/Islamic state in Iran headed by the tyrannical Ayatollah...

KUMBAKONAM: A farmer in a Tamil Nadu village loved his car so dearly that when he died, his relatives decided to bury his old Morris Minor along with him as per his wishes. Narayanswami, headman of Sivapuram village near Kumbakonam, in southern India died last week at the age of 64. A wealthy farmer with three sons and daughters, he bought his prized Morris Minor in 1958. According to reports, Narayanswami was spiritually inclined but lavished his affection on his vintage car. He had earlier expressed the wish that he be buried with his car when he died. When his...

It’s been only a few hours since the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) made its voluntary-to-required debut in Michigan, and already a farmer is challenging its underpinnings. The Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA) quickly responded by quarantining his farm. Here is what happened: Greg Niewendorp, owner of a 160-acre farm in East Jordan in the upper peninsula, made good on his pledge, stated in my “Farmers Say No to Animal Tags” BusinessWeek.com article in December, to resist all MDA orders related to NAIS.

NEW WESTMINSTER, British Columbia - A Canadian pig farmer confessed to killing 49 women and was caught before he could reach his goal of making it an even 50, prosecutors told jurors at the start of his murder trial Monday. Robert William Pickton, 56, has been charged with killing 26 women, mostly prostitutes and drug addicts who vanished from Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside neighborhood in the 1990s. Prosecutor Derrill Prevett stunned the courtroom by saying that Pickton told investigators, including an undercover officer planted in his jail cell, that he had slain 49 women. "I was going to do one...

Hundreds Demand Release of Farmer Who Killed Cattle Thief Tuesday, January 16, 2007 / 26 Tevet 5767 Hundreds of farmers protested Tuesday in front of the Beersheva courthouse, calling for the release of Shai Dromi, the Negev farmer who shot and killed a thief who broke into his farm. In the north, as well, a protest was taking place. A few dozen farmers demonstrated at an Upper Galilee junction in support of Dromi. They blocked the intersection, and accused the authorities of not properly dealing with crime. Dromi's remand was extended for four days on Sunday by the Beersheba district...

As Wal-Mart and other supermarket chains follow the high-end grocer's lead and promote local produce, farmers are becoming the new American idols After being pushed out of the spotlight for years, the local farmer is emerging as a new celebrity. From the foothills of Maine, through North Carolina in the South, the plains of Idaho, and the lush green valleys of California, a movement to celebrate the local farmer is sweeping the country. At the forefront of the movement has been supermarket Whole Foods (WFMI), which for years has put up photos of local farmers in its stores promoting their...

An Orange County attorney filed a lawsuit Monday accusing a Kern County farmer of hiring illegal immigrants to undercut his client's contract to provide blueberry pickers during harvest. The suit on behalf of farm-labor contractor AgriLabor is the first in a series of suits that attorney David Klehm of Anaheim says he has undertaken since quitting his stable job as a medical-malpractice lawyer two months ago to take on California companies that he says skirt immigration law. Klehm, 42, said his goal isn't to go after undocumented immigrants but rather the employers that make it tough for businesses to compete...

BOGOTA, Colombia - After a two-year search among more than 300,000 candidates nationwide, Colombia on Thursday unveiled the new Juan Valdez, the country's iconic coffee ambassador to the world. His real name is Carlos Castaneda. Like his two predecessors, the 39-year-old sports the leather bag, bushy mustache and straw hat typical of rural Colombia where the world-famous arabica coffee is grown. But unlike those other Valdezes — who were played by a Cuban-born actor and a silk-screen artisan — Castaneda knows a thing or two about growing coffee. The oldest of 10 children born on a coffee farm, he picked...

May 15, 2006 Monday of the Fifth Week of Easter Psalm: Monday 21 Reading 1Acts 14:5-18 There was an attempt in Iconiumby both the Gentiles and the Jews,together with their leaders,to attack and stone Paul and Barnabas.They realized it,and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbeand to the surrounding countryside,where they continued to proclaim the Good News. At Lystra there was a crippled man, lame from birth,who had never walked. He listened to Paul speaking, who looked intently at him,saw that he had the faith to be healed,and called out in a loud voice, “Stand up straight on...

ST. ISIDORE OF MADRID, LABORER, PATRON OF MADRID Feast: May 15 It is a misfortune which deserves to be lamented with floods of tears, that ignorance, obstinacy, and vice should so often taint a country life, the state which of all others is most necessary and important to the world; the most conformable to a human condition and to nature; the state which was sanctified by the example of the primitive holy patriarchs, and which affords the most favorable opportunities for the perfect practice of every virtue and Christian duty. What advantageous helps to piety did the ancient hermits...

In England a farmer is being prosecuted and sent to prison for a cow that lost an ear tag. NEWS-FLASH #1: Animals lose their ear tags a lot. NEWS-FLASH #2: Ear tags do not stop disease.Texas wants $1,000 per incident per day fines to enforce compliance. NEWS-FLASH #3: It could only take weeks for this to add up to more than the value of a small farm or homestead.In Vermont our Agriculture Department plans to enforce mandatory Premise ID, and probably eventually NAIS, "right down to the backyard level" in the words of our state vet Dr. Rood. When asked...

A lone milkman is delivering misery to the doorstep of the giant dairy industry. Hein Hettinga was once a simple dairy farmer who sold raw milk from his farm in Chino, Calif. Today the Dutch immigrant has expanded his operation so much, so fast, that some of the biggest dairy companies and cooperatives in the U.S. have banded together against him. They are lobbying for federal laws to close loopholes they claim he exploits. Mr. Hettinga counters that the only purpose of the proposed legislation is to kill competition -- and keep milk prices high. "That's not right," says the...

China bird flu farmer is arrested By Richard Spencer (Filed: 09/12/2005) A farmer who reported an outbreak of bird flu in poultry to China's agriculture ministry has been arrested. The case in central Anhui province casts doubt on government claims that it will be open about the disease. The farmer, Qiao Songju, feared that local officials would cover up the death of 200 geese on a farm owned by a friend of his father, so he rang the ministry in October. An investigation confirmed that avian influenza was the cause. Mr Qiao became a celebrity, and was nominated by state...

Farmer set on fire in Zimbabwe By Peta Thornycroft at Ngawarati Farm, Norton (Filed: 28/11/2005) One of Zimbabwe's last remaining white farmers was strangled and burned to death in an attack inside his home yesterday. Don Stewart, 68, was set upon shortly before dawn in the bedroom of his tightly-guarded homestead near Norton, 25 miles west of Harare. He was one of the last 300 white farmers left in Zimbabwe. There were 4,000 five years ago.Police insisted that Mr Stewart's murder was the work of common criminals and had no political motive. His assailants were unable to penetrate the barred...

Posted: 7/7/05 Farmer survives night trapped in baler machine By Dawn Slade Mille Lacs County Times Harold Dee Magnuson, 48, of Onamia, was caught in a hay baler for 20 hours before milkman Ronald Hess spotted the farmer and rescued him. Magnuson was working in his field around 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, June 23 when temperatures were nearing 100 degrees. Magnuson, who lives alone on a dead-end road (262nd Street) south of Onamia, smelled something burning and stopped after a round bale rolled out of the machine. The rear portion of the baler was open and Magnuson was cleaning out...

New Delhi, March 18 : Eco-friendly bio-diesel, a possible alternative to petroleum-based diesel, is suddenly finding support from farmers and states like Haryana and Gujarat, which are already using it for public transport. While farmers see a good source for generating additional revenue through cultivation of jatropha seeds and manufacture of bio-diesel by blending bio-fuel with diesel, state governments see it as a mean to reducing transport pollution, say experts. In April 2004, Haryana started operating 20 buses with a five percent blend of bio-fuel with diesel. "Haryana has now decided to operate the entire fleet of around 200 buses...

A Wantage dairy farmer has become the first Sussex County farmer -- and only the fourth ever from New Jersey -- to be named a winner in the 49th annual National Outstanding Young Farmer competition. He also is the first dairy farmer in New Jersey to win the award, said Lynne Richmond, a spokeswoman with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture. "The recognition means a lot to me. I was just happy to be there," said Jeff VanderGroef, who operates the 337-acre Havendale Farm, one of the largest dairy farms in New Jersey. VanderGroef, 37, received the New Jersey 2005...

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) - Pollutants carried in runoff from farms affect the water supply of more than 20 million Californians and taint prime fishing grounds across the state, according to a recent report. The pollution is the byproduct of pesticide use, but it doesn't have to be, said Gary Wolff, chief economist at the Oakland-based Pacific Institute, an environmental research group. Wolff, who wrote the institute's "Investing in Clean Agriculture" report, said educating farmers is key to cleaning the state's water. But he acknowledges that education doesn't come cheap, so Wolff's study suggests raising taxes on pesticides to pay for...

SUNBURG, Minn. - A man died after being attacked by a bull on a farm near this small town about 20 miles northwest of Willmar, authorities said. Kandiyohi County Sheriff Dan Hartog said Brian Olson, 53, was wounded by a bull at his farm and taken to a Willmar hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Deputies said Olson was either kicked or butted by the bull.

MARTIN - Brad Johnson told his awful story late Tuesday afternoon, remembering in a soft, unsteady voice the rifle shot that took a stranger's life and changed his own forever. "I have a lot of questions to God about why this thing had to happen," the 51-year-old Martin-area farmer said during a telephone interview from his home. "It's a terrible thing. It's a freak thing. To me, it's impossible that it could even happen." But it did happen last Friday afternoon, in a blurred convergence of poor judgment and fickle chance that left 39-year-old Jay Torgerson of Custer lying in...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

MERCED, Calif. - The deaths of two dairy workers who were asphyxiated by gases rising from a fetid stew of cow manure could have been prevented if the farmer responsible for their safety had given them the proper training and equipment, prosecutors said Monday during opening statements in a case against the farmer. Patrick Joseph Faria, from the small farming town of Gustine, has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the 2001 deaths of Enrique Araisa and Jose Alatorre. Prosecutors said Faria failed his workers in a number of ways, including failing to warn the...

President Missouri 8/18/2004 Bush (R) 48% Kerry (D) 47% Other/Undecided 5% Data Collected 8/15/04 - 8/17/04 Geography State of Missouri Sample Population 643 Likely Voters Margin of Error 4.0% Client KSDK-TV St. Louis KOMU-TV Columbia President -- Washington 8/18/2004 Kerry (D) 51% Bush (R) 43% Nader (I) 2% Other/Undecided 3% Data Collected 8/15/04 - 8/17/04 Geography State of Washington Sample Population 602 Likely Voters Margin of Error 4.1% Client KING-TV Seattle KHQ-TV Spokane Senate - Missouri U.S. Senate, MO 8/18/2004 Bond (R) 55% Farmer (D) 38% Other/Undecided 8% Data Collected 8/15/04 - 8/17/04 Geography State of Missouri Sample Population 639...

MANCHESTER, NH – Today, in the face of John Kerry’s flipped position on the Northeast Dairy Compact, members of the New Hampshire Bush-Cheney ’04 Agriculture Leadership Team questioned John Kerry’s ability to make decisions which address the concerns of farmers in the state and across the country. “How can New Hampshire voters trust any decision John Kerry makes when he’s willing to change his position based on what’s politically advantageous? When he needed votes from Massachusetts farmers, John Kerry declared he would fight for the Northeast Dairy Compact. Now that he’s running for another office, he’s made it very apparent...

Here comes Brazil!Thursday, February 26 @ 18:10:31 (So you want to be a farmer) A farmer's perspective of BrazilAgWeb - ProFarmerPropertyRightsResearch Jerry Carlson For some really sobering reading, the following notes -- taken during an evening with Iowa farmer Tim Burrack -- will leave you wondering about your future as a competitor on the world corn and soybean scene. In the spring of 1999, our trips to Brazil warned, "Here comes Brazil!" But we didn't quite have the impact of a full-time farmer and a first-person report, speaking directly to farmers face to face. We saw that impact last...

Farmer Builds Helicopter From Scratch Associated Press HANOI, Vietnam - With directions from the Internet and an old Russian truck motor, a Vietnamese farmer fulfilled his dream of making his own helicopter. The job took two friends, seven years and $30,000. Now, military officials say he can't fly it, because he didn't get approval to build it, and they confiscated the makeshift copter. "It's my hobby," farmer Le Van Danh complained by telephone Monday from his hometown of Tay Ninh, in Vietnam's southwest. "I will do whatever I can, including going to the prime minister, to get the permission." True,...

<p>Missouri Treasurer Nancy Farmer formally launched her U.S. Senate campaign Thursday by repeatedly lambasting the man she sees as her chief opponent - President George W. Bush.</p> <p>Only twice during her speech did Farmer mention the man she's hoping to oust, incumbent Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond, R-Mo. One of those times, it was to point out that Bond had voted Bush's way "98 percent of the time."</p>

Vet Sue Potter had to hold her breath under the slurry A farmer who held a terrified vet's face under 18 inches of slurry has been found guilty of affray. Judge Stephen O'Malley released farmer Roger Baker on bail while a pre-sentence report was carried out, but warned him he faced jail. The jury at Taunton Crown Court could not agree on a second charge of threats to kill and the case was dropped by the prosecution. Susan Potter, 46, and animal health inspector Jonathan McCulloch, 27, were videoing a dead lamb and emaciated cattle on Baker's land at...

BOB FARMER, treasurer for Democractic Massachusetts Senator John Kerry's newly resurgent Presidential campaign, used "discretion" about his sexuality while serving as a popular US Consul General in Bermuda.In a wide-ranging profile that appeared in The Advocate – the national gay magazine in the US – shortly after he retired as the top US diplomat in Bermuda, Mr. Farmer revealed he was the first homosexual to avoid being ensnared in a battle with conservative lawmakers during his confirmation hearings before the US Senate."Five years before the James Hormel debate, gay Democratic fund-raiser Robert Farmer served in the diplomatic corps," wrote The...