Free Republic

He was afraid his seasonal migrant workforce might not return for the summer picking season, opting to stay away rather than risk running afoul of Alabama's stringent immigration law. The crew he awaits is picking the Florida harvest. "I had to cut back my planting not knowing if the labor is going to be available," said Copeland, 47, who planted just two-thirds of his 30 acres on the far side of Straight Mountain in northeastern Blount County. "I don't know what we're going to do if they run every illegal out of here. It's going to be hard to stay...

The moment when the hunter-gatherers laid down their spears and began farming around 11,000 years ago is often interpreted as one of the most rapid and significant transitions in human history -- the 'Neolithic Revolution'. By producing and storing food, Homo sapiens both mastered the natural world and took the first significant steps towards thousands of years of runaway technological development. The advent of specialist craftsmen, an increase in fertility and the construction of permanent architecture are just some of the profound changes that followed. Of course, the transition to agriculture was far from rapid. The period around 14,500 years...

It's being called a bold move by Tennessee lawmakers - a vote that announces their intent to essentially ignore federal regulations regarding child labor on family farms. That 70-24 vote came on Monday night. State Representative Jeremy Faison sponsored House Bill 2669, and says he did so because he feels the new federal regulations being considered just don't belong in our state. "My immediate reaction was my goodness! This will affect every farm in Tennessee," he said. "We put this bill together to let the Depart of Labor in Washington, D.C. know that they're so far overreaching that we can't...

How safe are Monsanto's genetically-modified (GMO) food crops? Not so much. A new study shows that both of Monsanto's major products (which the company claims are harmless to people) in fact can cause damage to human kidney cells. Bugkiller + weedkiller On the one hand, the study by Gilles-Eric Séralini at the University of Caen, France, found that despite Monsanto's protestations to the contrary, the Bt toxin can distrupt the cell membranes of human cells, leading to their death. The toxin is only supposed to do that in the guts of the bugs it targets. Bt has been used for...

..Tofteland held the farm together after his father was killed, survived drought and the great flood of 1993. Then, commodity prices sank in the mid-1990s. And like most farmers, he has seen too many friends die young. Such are the hazards of life on a farm. But all that Tofteland has worked for was nearly lost in one fell swoop last October. This time, it wasn't a crisis brought on by tragedy or Mother Nature. It was the work of Wall Street and commodity power players in Chicago, a scandal that has become known simply as MF Global.Tofteland had $253,000...

DAYTON, Texas - The talk of the day among Ray Stoesser and other rice farmers is Iraq's decision not to buy U.S. rice, a stinging move that adds to a stressful year punctuated by everything from drought to unusual heat. Stoesser and other farmers know Iraqis struggled during the U.S. invasion and subsequent occupation. They know most countries , and people , buy based on price. But at the moment, with production costs rising, export markets shrinking and rice prices dropping, it's difficult to be rational and suppress emotions so intimately intertwined with their land and livelihood. "That's just not...

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...

Montana farmers have filed a class action suit against former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine, charging that the failed financial firm run by Corzine stole millions from their accounts to pay off its spiraling debts, and that Corzine's "single-minded obsession" with making MF Global a big player on Wall Street led to the firm's collapse. MF Global's clients included 38,000 wheat farmers, cattle ranchers and others who "hedged" their crop prices by placing millions in MF Global accounts. Those accounts were supposed to be "segregated and secure," according to the federal suit, meaning MF Global could not draw on those...

WASHINGTON – Sacramento attorney Damien Schiff will be carrying the conservative flame Monday when the Supreme Court considers what could become the year's hottest environmental case. For the 32-year-old Schiff, a senior staff attorney with the Pacific Legal Foundation, the hourlong oral argument marks a personal milestone. The Monday morning session will be his first appearance before the famously aggressive questioners of the nation's highest court. "There is a greater intensity of preparation," Schiff acknowledged Thursday, following a moot court session at Georgetown University Law Center. "Everyone knows that (an attorney) is lucky to have 30 seconds to make their...

As Southwest Florida prepares for a cold snap, farmers are bracing for potential damage to their crops. ... Sorrells says that fog, created through an intricate web of irrigation lines, should raise the temperatures in the groves an estimated 3 to 5 degrees. The water will flow all night into the early morning until the temperatures reach above freezing ... the length of time the oranges and trees remain frozen, and says four hours can damage the fruit and six hours can damage a tree

As 2011 draws to a close, so do opportunities for farmers to take advantage of certain provisions of the federal tax code.... "The ability for bonus depreciation is changing, so if you're looking to make capital expenditures, this is the year to do it," ... "You can depreciate 100 percent now, it will go to 50 percent next year, and after that it could go away completely depending on what Congress does." ... The other significant impending change to the federal tax code involves Section 179, which according to Marrison, works somewhat similarly to the bonus depreciation allowance.

NOTE The following text is a quote: http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2011/alleged-terrorist-indicted-in-new-york-for-the-murder-of-five-american-soldiers Alleged Terrorist Indicted in New York for the Murder of Five American Soldiers U.S. Attorney’s Office December 09, 2011 Eastern District of New York NEW YORK—Today, a federal grand jury in Brooklyn, N.Y., returned an indictment charging Faruq Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa, 38, aka “Faruk Khalil Muhammad ‘Isa,” “Sayfildin Tahir Sharif” and “Tahir Sharif Sayfildin,” with aiding in the murder of five American soldiers in a suicide-bomb attack in Iraq in April 2009. Specifically, he is charged with the murders of Staff Sergeant Gary L. Woods, 24, of Lebanon Junction, Ky.; Sergeant First...

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...

The Occupy movement came to Los Angeles aiming for Wall Street titans, but farmers market vendors are the first to take a real hit. Two weeks ago, about 40 vendors who sell on the City Hall lawn every Thursday were forced off the property after protesters refused to remove their city of tents. .. Since that relocation, profits have plummeted, vendors have pulled out and shoppers have become scarce. "The cause is good," said Genaro Lopez, a vendor who initially helped protesters with free sodas and burritos. "But this is our bread and butter, and we've taken a huge hit."...

Would you buy your organic yoghurt from one of these hunky Somerset farmers?

Alabama farmers frantically looking for workers to replace those that have fled the state in the wake of its tough new immigration law should just stop by their local prison, according to the head of Alabama’s agriculture department. John McMillan, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries, told the Montgomery Advertiser on Thursday that inmate labor through the state’s work-release program offers a short-term solution to the sudden labor shortage that has hit Alabama since enforcement of its illegal immigration law kicked in. Some farmers have said the state’s new law has driven away Hispanic migrant farm workers...

NEW YORK (AP) — Northeastern states are facing a jack-o'-lantern shortage this Halloween after Hurricane Irene destroyed hundreds of pumpkin patches across the region, farmers say. Wholesale prices have doubled in some places as farmers nurse their surviving pumpkin plants toward a late harvest. Some farmers are trying to buy pumpkins from other regions to cover orders.

It is possible to create jobs, have healthier diets and improve the local economy by re-birthing local agriculture on small plots of land. Each pound of lettuce or eggs or beef shipped from California, Latin America or Mexico raises our dependency on foreign oil. And buying food from far away costs us jobs locally. Some communities have figured out a new path forward that fixes all that. North Carolina’s Rutherford County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Yet some 6,000 families own between 5 and 20 acres of land, and chefs in nearby Charlotte are in...

A new rule being proposed by the federal Department of Transportation would require farmers to get commercial drivers licenses. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is a part of DOT, wants to adopt standards that would reclassify all farm vehicles and implements as Commercial Motor Vehicles, officials said. Likewise, the proposal, if adopted, would require all farmers and everyone on the farm who operates any of the equipment to obtain a CDL, they added. The proposed rule change would mean that anyone who drives a tractor or operates any piece of motorized farming equipment would be required to pass...

National Farmers Union (NFU) submitted comments to Thomas Yager of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) about a possible reinterpretation of the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984, and the Commercial Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1986. The FMCSA is exploring the possibility of categorizing "implements of husbandry and other farm equipment" as commercial motor vehicles, thus requiring a commercial driver's license (CDL) to operate. "Most farmers have little, if any, control or knowledge of the final destination of the commodities they produce," said NFU President Roger Johnson. "As such, it is inappropriate...

WRAY, Ga., - One of the toughest laws yet to fight illegal immigration went into effect today in Georgia. A federal judge has temporarily blocked the most controversial provision - requiring police to check the immigration status of suspects who don't have proper identification. But it is now a felony to use false documentation to apply for a job. CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann says Georgia farmers have been anticipating this day, and the law is already having a big effect. In south Georgia, it's a banner year for blackberries - but a bad year for berry farmer Gary Paulk....

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) makes and guarantees loans to approved socially disadvantaged applicants to buy and operate family-size farms and ranches. A socially disadvantaged (SDA) farmer, rancher, or agricultural producer is one of a group whose members have been subjected to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice because of his or her identity as a member of the group without regard to his or her individual qualities. SDA groups are women, African Americans, American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. http://www.fsa.usda.gov/FSA/webapp?area=home&subject=fmlp&topic=sfl

Minority farmers have complained for decades that the U.S. Department of Agriculture denied or delayed giving them farm loans because of their ethnicity or gender, costing them their crops and land. Now, the USDA has acknowledged the discrimination. It is urging Hispanic and female farmers who can prove they were wronged to apply for settlements of up to $50,000. Frederick Pfaeffle, the department's deputy assistant secretary of civil rights, recently met with farmers and ranchers in Kissimmee and South Florida to promote the program. The settlement, which some Hispanic farmers have criticized for offering too little and placing the burden...

MIAMI -- U.S. Department of Agriculture officials are in Florida publicizing a new program to address discrimination claims by women and Hispanic farmers. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Fred Pfaeffle (FEF'-ell) spoke Friday with farmers in south Miami-Dade County about the program. The effort follows the federal government's agreement last year to provide $4.6 billion for black and American Indian farmers' class action claims of discrimination. Pfaeffle said the women and Hispanic farmers who have filed claims have not been able to get class action status.

In Texas, nearly 8,200 farms and ranches back up to the Mexican border. The men and women who live and work on those properties say they’re under attack from the same drug cartels blamed for thousands of murders in Mexico. “It’s a war, make no mistake about it,” Texas Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples said. “And it’s happening on American soil.” Texas farmers and ranchers produce more cotton and more cattle than any other state, so Staples is concerned this war could eventually impact our food supply, and calls it a threat to our national security. “Farmers and ranchers are being...

provocation organised by peace activists using an arab farmer(who doesn't care at all about the water) to steal water from a well that belonged to a jewish farm, in Sussya, Har-hevron. A woman there is acting with agressivity and faces a stubborn and rather calm jew, given the circumstances.

American ingenuity still alive and well in the heartland... Gracias Roberto~ More at Reaganite Republican

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ruling by the Obama administration allowing the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol is running into legal hurdles from trade groups opposing the plan. The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday over the decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing higher blends of corn-based ethanol, the second major group to protest the ruling. The Obama administration said in October that gas stations could start selling the ethanol blend for vehicles built since the 2007 model year, increasing it from the current blend of 10 percent ethanol.

“All these people who got MBAs made a mistake,” according to Jim Rogers, the commodities investor, at the Reuters Investment Outlook Summit last month. “The City of London and Wall Street are not going to be great places to be in the next two or three decades. It’s going to be the people who produce real goods in charge – the farmers and the miners.” With commodities up 42pc since the beginning of last year, according to a basket tracked by Reuters, his words certainly ring true for 2010. An array of metals from gold to copper have hit record...

GAUHATI, India (AP) -- In this humid, lush region where an important part of the world's breakfast is born, the evidence of climate change is — literally — a weak tea. Growers in tropical Assam state, India's main tea growing region, say rising temperatures have led not only to a drop in production but to subtle, unwelcome changes in the flavor of their brews. ...

A federal judge Tuesday threw out much-disputed delta smelt protections that have cut water shipments to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley, finding that federal biologists failed to justify aspects of the restrictions. But the ruling in a long-running legal battle was not a clear-cut victory for water contractors, who lost some of their fundamental arguments against the pumping reductions. The decision by U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger means that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will for the second time have to rewrite the endangered species document that regulates operation of the huge state and federal pumps that...

The public choice school of economics describes how the government and special interests collude against the public good, and it's hard to think of a better model than the ethanol industry. Despite opposition from an emerging left-right anti-boondoggle coalition, the Senate version of the White House-GOP tax deal preserves the corn fuel's multiple subsidies. One measure of ethanol's political clout is that reformers merely hoped to cut the tax credit for blending ethanol into gasoline to 36 cents per gallon from the current 45 cents that was due to expire at the end of the year. Instead, the deal keeps...

WASHINGTON – American Indians and black farmers will be paid $4.6 billion to address claims of government mistreatment over many decades under landmark legislation President Barack Obama signed Wednesday.At a signing ceremony at the White House the president declared that approval of the long-delayed legislation “isn’t simply a matter of making amends, it’s about reaffirming our values on which this nation was founded: the principles of fairness and equality and opportunity.” Obama promised during his campaign to work toward resolving disputes over the government’s past discrimination against minorities.

WASHINGTON - Congress gave the final go-ahead Tuesday to a landmark $1.2 billion settlement compensating black farmers for decades of discrimination, even as Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann and other conservatives charged that the deal is riddled with fraudulent claims. The long-delayed package, negotiated by the Obama administration, could award some $50,000 each to thousands of African-Americans who claimed they were unjustly denied loans and assistance from the federal Agriculture Department in the 1980s and '90s. Right up until the final 256-152 vote in the House, Bachmann -- along with Iowa Republican Steve King and others -- called for an investigation...

The House approved settlements today for black farmers whom the federal government had discriminated against in the past. In the debate beforehand, however, Rep. Steve King compared this to "slavery reparations" from the "very, very urban" Barack Obama. The Senate last week finally approved the multi-billion-dollar funding for the Pigford II and Cobell settlements, which will allow the government to pay out claims to African-American farmers and American Indians who were discriminated against in recent decades by government agencies. Now, the House — which has passed the funding several times over — will have to approve it, probably this week....

The House of Representatives approved a decades-old settlement worth $4.6 billion Tuesday that resolves two class-action suits filed against the federal government by black farmers and Native Americans. The thousands who joined the suit argued that the government discriminated against them as they applied for loans for agricultural ventures. The House approved the package 256-to-152. Black farmers would receive $1.2 billion, after they alleged they were cheated out of loans from the Agriculture Department. The government will direct $3.4 billion to American Indians who say the Interior Department swindled them out of royalties from natural resources like gas and timber.

As millions across the country prepared for their annual Thanksgiving feast, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) was busy taking shots at Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) over food safety, claiming in a letter from a Reid spokesman that Coburn, a physician who has delivered more than 4,000 babies, doesn’t care if children get sick. Coburn is offering amendments to, and opposing the current form of, Senate Bill 510, the so-called “Food Safety Modernization Act.” According to Coburn’s camp, this bill, which could come to a vote as early as next week and which is being heavily pushed by Reid and...

Energy Policy: If we're serious about cutting wasteful spending and reining in government, the abolition of subsidies for ethanol production and the ending of mandates for its use would be a good place to start. The Bush tax cuts aren't the only thing that expires at the end of the year. Also set to expire is the mother of all corporate welfare: ethanol subsidies to Big Agriculture coupled with tariffs protecting domestic ethanol production that benefit farm-state senators and congressmen but few others. Ethanol is the perfect tax-spend-and-elect mechanism. Illinois-based Archer Daniels Midland, the nation's second-largest ethanol producer, has operations...

Atsushi Kono considers it the gravest threat to his family’s farm in a century of rice-growing: a free-trade initiative that could dismantle Japan’s sky-high protective farming tariffs, finally opening up the country to cheap, foreign produce. In a move pitting Japanese farmers against the nation’s export industries, Prime Minister Naoto Kan is pushing to join negotiations for an American-backed free-trade zone called the Trans-Pacific Partnership that would span the Pacific Rim. The new zone would give Japanese exporters of cars, televisions and other manufactured goods greater access to the United States and other markets. Free trade is high on the...

The Obama administration agreed Tuesday to pay up to $680 million to American Indian farmers to settle an 11-year-old class-action lawsuit alleging discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who took office promising to address longstanding complaints by minority farmers against the department, said eligible farmers and ranchers can receive up to $250,000 each for showing that USDA discrimination caused them economic losses. However, most farmers will probably opt for a uniform $50,000 payment, which involves less red tape. In the class-action suit, American Indian farmers allege that USDA bureaucrats denied them the low-interest rate loans

Today's gasolines include up to 10 percent ethanol. Automakers are opposing a move to boost the ethanol content to 15 percent. Automakers are seeking to head off an EPA ruling that would allow gasoline to contain 15 percent ethanol, up from 10 percent now, and they've won some bipartisan congressional support. The two main automaker industry lobbies have argued that the U.S. Department of Energy has done insufficient testing to assure that gasoline containing up to 15 percent ethanol won't harm vehicles. Increased ethanol composition could affect engine durability, emissions, driveability and on-board diagnostics systems, the Association of International Automobile...

Doctors warned that getting on a tractor could kill Don Goodman. Neighbors knew grounding the 70-year-old sugar beet farmer during harvest was medicine Goodman wouldn’t take. So Thursday afternoon, friends and family from as far as 30 miles away gathered in Goodman’s fields south of Fromberg with a cure of their own. They rolled up in tandem-axel farm trucks and semitrailers, brought beet diggers and bushels of good will. As Goodman watched, uncomfortable being idle, they harvested the 80-acre crop doctors forbid him from doing himself. By 4 p.m. they had more than 400 tons of beets loaded up and...

Ralph and Wynona Passow bought their first camels a decade ago to rid their farm of weeds. The camel herd has grown to more than 30.Lanky legs and neck sprawled too far forward, then too far backward. That black, furry newborn was going to stand and nurse somehow, Passow decided. The mother camel blinked long, dreamy eyelashes and watched carefully as Passow coaxed the big baby to the mother's side. "The females are lovely," Ralph Passow said, watching his wife try to turn the baby toward the patient mother. "But the male camels will kill you." About 30 minutes earlier,...

This bill was considered in committee which has recommended it be considered by the Senate as a whole. Although it has been placed on a calendar of business, the order in which legislation is considered and voted on is determined by the majority party leadership. Keep in mind that sometimes the text of one bill is incorporated into another bill, and in those cases the original bill, as it would appear here, would seem to be abandoned.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is considering a crackdown on farm dust, so senators have signed a letter addressing their concerns on the possible regulations. Many in the Oklahoma farming industry are opposed to the EPA's consideration. One farmer said the possible regulations are ridiculous. Roberts, a fourth generation farmer and rancher in Arcadia, said regulating dust in rural areas will hurt farmers' harvest, cultivation and livelihood. "Anytime you work ground, you're going to have dust. I don't know how they'll regulate it," Roberts said. "The regulations are going to put us down and keep us from...

African-American lawmakers are irate that the Obama administration has promised Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) $1.5 billion in farm aid while claiming it can’t pay a landmark legal settlement with black farmers. Six members of the Congressional Black Caucus wrote to President Obama on Thursday calling on him to find a way to compensate black farmers who suffered discrimination in government loan programs during the 1980s and 1990s. The letter was spurred by behind-the-scenes deal-making in the Senate as part of an effort to pass small-business legislation. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel promised Lincoln, who sponsored the provision, that...

BAGHDAD – A group of dedictaed Connecticut Army National Guard engineers is working diligently here to construct a new bridge spanning the Tigris River near Salman Pak. As U.S. and Iraqi forces secure the area, the 250th Engineers’ Multi-Role Bridge Company, Connecticut ANG, is working night and day to construct what’s called a Mabey Johnson Panel Bridge across the storied waterway. Capt. Chuck Taylor, commander of the 250th, is overseeing the operation. His troops are accomplishing the project by moving equipment into place during the day, and then performing the majority of construction at night to escape the sun’s heat....

Washington, D.C. – U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today praised the U.S. Department of the Interior’s announcement that the Bureau of Reclamation’s 2010 Central Valley Project Water Supply allocations continue to increase throughout the San Joaquin Valley. The allocations were the result of increased water supplies due to favorable weather conditions, and better water management. Senator Boxer said, “I am pleased that water allocations to the San Joaquin Valley have continued to increase throughout this spring. The Congress and the Administration must continue to work together on efforts to provide relief to farmers and communities facing water shortages.” The...

At the present time the federal government has listed 2,269 species on the official “endangered or threatened” species list. The list includes plants, insects, mammals, birds, crustaceans and anything alive that is facing an uncertain future as a species, through no fault of its own. To be listed, and thus given special protection and benefits, a species must be diminishing in numbers, whether due to problems in reproducing, to diminishing habitat, encroachment by other species, predation, changes in environment or other threats to its survival. The specific benefit to us in protecting a specific species seems to be irrelevant....

PARIS (AFP) – French farmers turned the Champs Elysees into a vast farm covered with plants, trees, flowers and livestock on Sunday to draw attention to the crisis hitting the country's agricultural sector. Dubbed Nature Capital, over a stretch of 1.2 kilometres (0.8 miles) from the Arc de Triomphe halfway to the Place de la Concorde, more than one hundred varieties of grain, fruit and vegetables dotted Paris' most famous avenue. Cows, pigs, goats and lambs were also out on the Champs, but in small numbers with a view to showcasing some of the famous breeds such as the enormously...