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agriculture
Future Farm: A Sunless, Rainless Room Indoors
By not in system - AOL NewsDEN BOSCH, Netherlands -- Farming is moving indoors, where the sun never shines, where rainfall is irrelevant and where the climate is always right. The perfect crop field could be inside a windowless building with meticulously controlled light, temperature, humidity, air quality and nutrition. It could be in a New York high-rise, a Siberian bunker, or a sprawling complex in the Saudi desert. Advocates say this, or something like it, may be an answer to the world's food problems. "In order to keep a planet that's worth living on, we have to change our methods," says Gertjan Meeuws, of ...
US Expects Bigger Corn Crop to Ease Food Inflation
By not in system - AOL NewsST. LOUIS -- U.S. farmers are expected to boost the size of this year's corn crop, potentially easing global food inflation. The Agriculture Department reports that farmers intend to plant 92.2 million acres of corn this spring, a 5 percent increase over last year. That would make it the second-biggest corn crop since 1944, after a record-setting planting in 2007. Grain prices are at their highest levels since the food crisis of 2008. New production will help ease concerns over a supply pinch. Worries over a shortage have doubled the price of corn since last summer, from $3.50 to more than ...
Police: Body, Ailing People Found Near Pest-Control Truck
By David Lohr - AOL NewsAuthorities in Florida are trying to figure out why a body was hidden in the back of a pesticide truck parked along an interstate in West Palm Beach. A father and his young son were found alive near the truck and suffering from exposure to a toxic chemical, police said. The case began to unfold early Monday, when authorities were notified that a pickup truck was stopped on the side of Interstate 95, not far from the Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard exit. "We responded a little bit after 7 a.m., to what was reported to us as two occupants in a truck that had been exposed to some type of spilled ...
Farmers Deposit Seeds in Arctic Doomsday Vault, Patrolled by Polar Bears
By Matthew Hall - AOL NewsFarmers from Australia are the latest donors to a polar bear-patrolled Arctic doomsday vault that stores seeds as insurance against an international food emergency. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, a converted mine, is located about 800 miles from the North Pole in Arctic Norway. An Australian delegation of farmers and scientists next week will deposit 301 samples of peas and 42 rare chickpeas in the vault, intending to protect the plant species from extinction by climatic or man-made events. John McConnico, AP Australian farmers and scientists next week will deposit 301 samples ...
In Hard Times, States Still Spend to Protect Farms
By not in system - AOL NewsHAMDEN, Conn. -- Despite tough financial times following the worst recession in decades, some states continue to spend millions of dollars to preserve American farmland and stem its rapid loss to development and suburban sprawl. Advocates say the preservation efforts are needed to ensure food is available locally if the national distribution system is ever disrupted. They also say it helps maintain a way of life important to many Americans. Twenty-five states have farmland preservation programs, and nearly half of them are in the densely populated Northeast, where the loss of fields ...
Helicopters Used to Save Fla. Crops From Rare Chill
By not in system - AOL NewsST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Dec. 14) -- Dozens of helicopters whir above Florida's valuable and sensitive veggie crops, sent up by farmers worried that an uncommon freeze could wipe out their harvests. The choppers hover low over green bean and sweet corn fields, moving back and forth in the early morning hours to push warmer air closer to the plants - and, the farmers hope, save the plants from a deadly frost. Farmers are especially nervous because an 11-day freeze in January wiped out many crops, from corn to kumquats. Florida is the largest U.S. winter producer of sweet corn - the kind people ...
Obama Signs Law Awarding $4.6 Billion to Native Americans, Black Farmers
By Tom Kavanagh - Politics DailySaying the United States was finally righting old wrongs, President Obama signed legislation Wednesday settling two class-action discrimination suits filed by American Indians and black farmers, awarding them $4.6 billion. Obama said the new law "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." The black farmers' component stems from a lawsuit settled in 1999 and involves allegations of widespread discrimination by the Agriculture Department in awarding loans and other aid. ...
Al Gore Mea Culpa: Support for Corn-Based Ethanol Was a Mistake
By Tom Diemer - Politics DailyNow he tells us. Al Gore says his support for corn-based ethanol subsidies while serving as vice president was a mistake that had more to do with his desire to cultivate farm votes in the 2000 presidential election than with what was good for the environment. "It is not a good policy to have these massive subsidies for first-generation ethanol," Gore said at a green energy conference in Athens, Greece, according to Reuters. First generation refers to the most basic, energy-intensive process of converting corn to ethanol for use as a motor vehicle fuel additive. On reflection, Gore said the ...
What Is Organic? USDA Trying to Define It
By Dave Thier - AOL News
(Nov. 7) -- If you've ever wondered exactly what that "USDA organic" seal actually means, you're in good company. The U.S. Department of Agriculture itself has been asking the same question ever since it established the National Organic Program in 2002. "Organic" is intended to mean agricultural products produced without hormones, pesticides, artificial fertilizers or other synthetic additives. But purists have long argued that the USDA standards contain numerous loopholes that have allowed factory-style farms to operate under the letter, if not the spirit, of the organic law. Now, both the ...
Organic Egg Farms May Not Be as Clean as You Think
By Dave Thier - AOL News
(Oct. 13) -- After a massive health crisis like the recent 550 million egg recall for salmonella (which came despite new FDA rules), many consumers may have flocked toward USDA organic hoping to find a safer, more environmentally product. But that little green sticker may not be telling you the whole story. Two weeks ago, James McWilliams wrote in The New York Times about a number of studies suggesting that small-scale egg producers may not have any lower incidence of salmonella infection than their industrial-scale counterparts. But according to a recent report by small-scale farming ...
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