Agriculture

U.S. Department of Agriculture officials warned Americans not to open suspicious and unsolicited packages from China, as they contain unidentified seeds, ABC News reported. And, of course, officials warn even more explicitly not to plant those seeds. Across the country, people have received nondescript packages that wouldn’t otherwise raise an eyebrow. They’re plastic, light gray, […]

California has an $11 billion almond industry that relies on honeybee pollination for survival. As the business continues growing, farmers are renting colonies from beekeepers to keep up with production. However, the exploitation of these bees is leading to billions of deaths every year, according to The Guardian. Almond groves in California’s Central Valley cover […]

On Sunday night, during a speech at the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual conference, President Donald Trump went off-script, changing the subject of his address from agriculture to impeachment. Per CNN, after touting his trade policies — which he claims have helped farmers across the country — Trump complained about not receiving much in return. […]

If you’ve suffered from sticker shock while trying to purchase a fresh, real Christmas tree this season, you’re not alone: prices of real Christmas trees are, in fact, up this year, CNBC reports. And you can thank the 2008 recession for that. In fact, the price of fresh Christmas trees has been trending upward for […]

A group of black farmers in Memphis, Tennessee, are now standing together and taking legal action against Stine Seed Company, who they say intentionally sold them bad soybean seeds. According to reports from WMC Action News, the black farmers attended the 67th Annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show in March of 2017, where they collectively […]

Donald Trump has named former Georgia governor Sonny Perdue as his choice to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Perdue was praised by Trump as being a “great, great farmer.” Trump said that Sonny Perdue was the candidate he kept thinking about, because of his farming and veterinary experience. Houston County native Sonny Perdue was […]

A black teacher was given a Confederate flag and a white robe and hood, similar to what a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) member might wear, on stage at an Oklahoma education conference in a bizarre incident that has Oklahoma educators scrambling for answers. As the Oklahoman reports, the incident happened on August 2 at the […]

Gold n’ Plump is recalling more than 27 tons of chicken after contaminants were discovered in a sample of Gold n’ Plump’s product. Gold n’ Plump is the leading chicken manufacturer in the Upper Midwest and is based in central Minnesota. What sort of contaminants were found in Gold n’ Plump’s chickens? The company reportedly […]

Sometime in the future, astronauts could be planting edible crops on Mars. No doubt inspired by the film, The Martian, starring Matt Damon, researchers in the Netherlands have reproduced Mars-equivalent soil and grown up to ten species of crop with only minor reduced yields. The Martian, based on the Andy Weir novel, tells the story […]

El Niño, the periodic warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that brings sea surface temperatures above average, results in the severe disruption of weather patterns worldwide and causes a relentless reduction in rainfall in South Africa. This, in turn, has devastating effects on the South African Agricultural Industry, with the 2014-2016 episode being the […]

At the beginning of December, an article published on the Inquisitr referred to a claim, which was to be taken seriously, that all bananas threatened by a fungus would eventually lead to the extinction of the fruit. As mentioned in the article, the kinds of bananas threatened are the Cavendish, which in the 1950’s replaced […]

Adults who grew up before the mid-1900s might eat a banana and feel like it just doesn’t taste as good as it did growing up. That’s because today’s bananas are a different variety than the type of bananas sold commercially before the middle of last century. Before today’s bananas, called the Cavendish banana, most of […]

A “French killer” has been hired to do a job no one else have been able to accomplish in Texas — killing carrizo cane. The bamboo-like reed is a formidable enemy of U.S. Border Patrol agents seeking to thwart illegal immigrants crossing into the United States from Mexico. Carrizo cane has been hacked down, poisoned, […]

Drones have been a big buzzword in recent years, with rumors of government drones coming to peek into the backyards of citizens, and vigilantes threatening to shoot drones from the sky on sight. However, we’ve also heard a lot about possible practical implementations of drones in the private sector, and for non-invasive government use, like […]

The avian flu is continuing to spread across the Midwest. The crisis has analysts predicting dire consequences for breakfast, with the price of eggs set to skyrocket. The flu outbreak is one of the largest in U.S. history, hitting farms in 16 states and forcing authorities to cull about 40 million birds, according to the […]

Bird flu has hit Iowa farms with a vengeance. Approximately 5.3 million Iowa birds have been affected by the recent wave of avian flu, according to USDA statistics. Iowa is just the latest state to face a possible agricultural downfall due to the various strains of bird flu. Both Minnesota and Wisconsin also lost millions […]

Portland banned pesticides in an effort to protect the honeybees. Elected officials in the Oregon city passed the pesticide ban ordinance on Wednesday. The law prohibits any insecticide use on public lands within the municipality. Some Portland farmers argued that pesticide or insecticide use is integral for their crop production. The Portland City Council voted […]

Superweeds have become a significant problem for farmers in recent years. The invasive weeds can reportedly grow up to 10 feet tall at an inch-a-day rate. Asian carp and pigweed are the two most common forms of superweeds impacting farmers across the United States. Superweeds take nutrients, rain, and sunlight away from other plants and […]

California is in the middle of a serious drought, and many media outlets and state residents are finally taking notice. The state has been in a drought for years, but it hasn’t been until recently that residents have seen an influx of articles citing statements from scientists and the promotion of water conservation efforts. Only […]

The “New MacDonald” video has gone viral. A group of children got creative and developed a new take on “Old McDonald Had a Farm” to highlight what they feel are the dangers of GMOs and other industrialized agriculture tactics. The New Macdonald Movement was sponsored by Only Organic. The groups worked in conjunction with a […]

Bee hive thefts and another year of significant honeybee population declines has many agriculture researchers anticipating a big hike in fruit prices and almond prices this spring and summer. A definitive answer to why colony collapse disorder has been occurring since 2005 has not yet been reached. The varroa mite may surely have played a […]

Can farm animals and other livestock commonly found in the villages help connect the rural world with internet? The question is being tackled by a team of researchers at a university. A project that wants to turn farmers’ fields into digital smart zones with the help of livestock has been launched in North Wales. The […]

A massive march occurred in Germany protesting GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) and other harmful farming practices from the United States yesterday. The massive march in Berlin saw over 50,000 protesters and included participation from over 120 different organizations including farmers, ethical consumers, and activists who want to send a message loud and clear that they […]

Honeybees have been disappearing at an alarming rate since 2005. Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has sparked increased efforts to preserve the pollinating insects. Approximately 70 percent of our food supply is pollinated by honeybees — if the bees die, the human race will not be far behind. Although many long, cold weeks of winter remain, […]

In a small victory against GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms), a mayor of a town in Florida has called for GMO free vending machines in all the city owned buildings. Peter Bober, the mayor of Hollywood, Florida, has passed a new mandate that will require all of the 45 vending machines that the city owns to […]

In a 5 to 4 decision, Hawaii County Council voted yesterday to appeal the decision of a U.S. Magistrate Judge who has ruled to protect Monsanto and GMOs testing and production on the Big Island, and will continue their battle in a higher court. Recently, an overwhelmingly popular vote of direct democracy in Hawaii County […]

The United States has an obesity problem this year, and it’s not just Americans that are overweight. Now, American pigs are too fat, too; too fat even to be the holiday ham, say ham producers. The American meat industry has long been criticized for the unnaturally plump livestock, but this year pigs grown in the […]

Doomsday Seed Vault has already preserved multiple types of marijuana seeds to ensure their survival in case of Armageddon. Buried inside a mountain on a remote Norwegian island, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is an ultra-secure facility that is harboring the most precious resource of our planet besides water. The vault, built in collaboration with […]

The Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi has come up with an interesting solution to help the country’s farmers. He has recommended that soft drink giants like Pepsi and Coca Cola should add fruit juice to their fizzy drinks. Speaking at a function, Mr. Modi said multinational cola giants PepsiCo and Coca-Cola should help augment […]

Farmers are losing their battle against superweeds. Glyphosate pesticides created by biotech giants like Monsanto, DuPont, Dow, Bayer, and Sygenta appear to no longer be effective against the rapidly growing and extremely tall weeds. When farmers are forced to apply more chemical pesticides and herbicides to their fields, the cost of produce can skyrocket as […]

India is an agriculture-centric country. In simpler terms, almost 2/3rd of the Indian population either directly or indirectly depends on farming as its primary source of livelihood. However, the plight of the farmer is quite horrific and suicide rate among the farmers is alarmingly high. An ordinary farmer in the newly formed state of Telangana, […]

The makers of pesticides have long since known that certain types of pesticides are more harmful to bees than others. Contact pesticides, which are directly sprayed onto the plants can kill bees when they land on them, and dust or wettable powders are even worse because these types of pesticide stick to the bee and […]

The Michigan Small Farm Council has been busy during the last week since the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development’s ruled that the Right to Farm Act protections will no longer apply to many homeowners who keep small numbers of livestock. Backyard and urban farming were previously protected by Michigan’s Right to Farm Act, […]

Michigan residents lost their “right to farm” this week thanks to a new ruling by the Michigan Commission of Agriculture and Rural Development. Gail Philburn of the Michigan Sierra Club told Michigan Live, the new changes “effectively remove Right to Farm Act protection for many urban and suburban backyard farmers raising small numbers of animals.” […]

A killer pork virus has wiped out 10 percent of the hog population in the United States. The PEDv virus has been sweeping around the country for less than a year and has had a devastating impact on the pig population and pork prices. Minnesota hog nutritionist John Goihl said one farmer in his state […]

Main raw milk farmer Dan Brown will soon be pleading his case in front of the state supreme court. The Gravelwood Farm owner of Blue Hill is accused of selling unpasteurized milk without a license, and two other violations, in 2011. The Maine Department of Agriculture and Brown were able to settle the matter during […]

This month, Rep. Mike Pompeo introduced The Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014 and consumer groups have already coined the bill the “Deny Americans the Right to Know” – or DARK – Act. The bill is being called a “Bipartisan food labeling reform,” by Pompeo. Pompeo’s press release says that the bill would […]

Organic farmers and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) appear to be at odds once again. The federal agency’s National Organic Program (NOP) has been accused of engaging in a “power grab” that will allegedly alter the decision making process in the organic food and agriculture industry in a fundamental manner. National Organic Program […]

High-end grocery store Whole Foods shook up the industry Friday by announcing a new requirement for all GMO foods in their US and Canadian stores to come with labels by 2018. This is a move that other stores may adopt someday, making consumers better aware of how their food is produced. Genetically modified foods are […]

Farming is poised to be one of them the most profitable career fields over the course of the next two decades. The fiscal outlook should be good news for agriculture professionals – but it just might not be. There has reportedly been a drastic drop in the number of folks interested in operating a farm,not […]

The “I’m Farming and I Grow It” video created by three country boys from Kansas became and Internet sensation and went viral on You Tube and Facebook. The video’s producer Greg Peterson told the Kansas City Star that he cannot stand the LMFAO song, “Sexy and I Know It” which inspired the popular spoof and […]

Sen. Ron Wyden has gained an ally in his fight to legalize industrial hemp for farmers—Republican Rand Paul. The senator from Kentucky is joining Ron Wyden in sponsoring an amendment to the senate’s omnibus farm bill, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. If passed, the amendment would allow industrial hemp to be excluded from that plants now […]

As China continues to produce more products and grow its economy the country must also deal with a larger, more hungry population and for that reason buyers have been gobbling up US soybeans. According to a recent report US exports of soybeans have increased by 50% since 2008. China favors soybeans over feed grain because […]

Placenta tree! Placenta tree! Matthew McConaughey is planning on honoring both his son and tribal customs by planting son Levi’s placenta in an orchard to “bear some wonderful fruit.” (That nobody will want to eat.) “When I was in Australia, they had a placenta tree that was on the river … and all the placentas […]