Free Republic

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>

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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...