Next spring, farmers in Canada will be able to sow one of the most
complicated genetically engineered plants ever designed, a futuristic
type of corn containing eight foreign genes.
With so much crammed into one seed, the modified corn will be able
to confer multiple benefits, such as resistance to corn borers and
rootworms, two caterpillar-like pests that infest the valuable grain
crop, as well as withstanding applications of glyphosate, a weed killer
better known by its commercial name, Roundup.
The United Farm Workers union sued California's occupational health and safety agency on Thursday, accusing it of doing too little to prevent farm laborers' deaths from heat illness.
The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Los Angeles, says 11 farm workers have died from heat illness since California adopted regulations in 2005 aimed at stopping such deaths. It says that the regulations are too weak and that the safety agency has too few investigators and inspects too few farms, where laborers often work in heat exceeding 100 degrees.
SALINA, Kansas - When
the Agriculture Department released its 2007 census recently, the news
appeared surprisingly good: For the first time since World War II, the
United States did not lose farms, it gained them — 75,810, to be exact,
for a total of 2.2 million.
I have a difficult time accepting genetically modified (GM) foods at
face value. My primary concerns have to do with what we know, and, more
importantly don’t know about how this “promising” technology may or may
not be impacting human health and our environment.
With the economy in shambles and banks closing across the country, a
ray of light has appeared: a former bank in Petaluma, California has
been reborn as a new heirloom seed bank. And the timing could not be
better. From the White House garden to your garden, growth in the good
food movement, coupled with a recession and concerns about food safety,
has led to a resurgence
in seed sales and revived interest in growing, canning and cooking your
own.
California farmers could save enough water each year to fill Yosemite's Hetch Hetchy reservoir 16 times by using more efficient irrigation techniques, according to a study that is bound to be highly controversial among the state's powerful agriculture interests.
I used to find Flaming Hot Cheetos,
bagged pickles, and the occasional plate of fried chicken in my
classroom when I taught Senior English in Louisiana.
I allowed some of my students to eat at their desks after lunch.
I had to; there were three pregnant seniors in my fourth period.
WESTMINSTER WEST - Over the past few weeks, agriculture officials from Vermont and members of the state's Congressional delegation have been pleading with Washington to do something to help the region's struggling dairy industry.
Earlier this month, Vermont Secretary of Agriculture Roger Allbee met with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in Concord, N.H., to ask for an increase to the Milk Income Loss Contract, which provides farmers with a cushion when prices fall below a set level.
Americans are more obese than ever, our current agriculture system
is dependent on oil and other limited resources, our waterways and air
are polluted by factory-like farming operations, and still opponents
try to push sustainable agriculture to the margins.
With
so many high-profile stories in the news lately—the passing of Michael
Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, the Gov. Sanford scandal, post-election protests in
Iran—you may not have heard about the historic victories for animals that
are taking place in American courtrooms. It’s worth noting that two of
PETA’s undercover investigations of factory farms have just resulted in
groundbreaking animal abuse convictions—convictions that are both highly
significant and long overdue.
