Home

agriculture

Dairy Cows Head for Slaughter as Milk Prices Sour

Ray Souza, owner of Mel-Delin Dairy in Turlock, Calif., stands with a few of his Holstein cows on Jan. 10, 2009. As of Feb. 2, the price farmers receive for a gallon of milk has been 80 cents a gallon, less than half the $1.65 a gallon the California Department of Food and Agriculture estimates it costs to produce. 'I don't ever remember being able to produce milk at that price,' said dairyman Souza, who got into the business in 1963. (AP Photo/San Francisco Chronicle, Lance Iversen)

TURLOCK, Calif. - Hundreds of thousands of America's dairy cows are being turned into hamburgers because milk prices have dropped so low that farmers can no longer afford to feed the animals.

Dairy farmers say they have little choice but to sell part of their herds for slaughter because they face a perfect storm of destructive economic forces. At home, feed prices are rising and cash-strapped consumers are eating out less often. Abroad, the global recession has cut into demand for butter and cheese exported from the U.S.

Posted in agriculture, Economy/Trade, Food/Water

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 13, 2009
5:27 PM

CONTACT: Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC)
Kevin Dowling, Communications Director, 406-252-9672, to reach these contacts on Friday, Feb. 13.

After Feb. 13, you can contact them at these numbers: Dennis Olson, Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy, 612-870-3412;
Neil Peacock, National Farmers Union, 306-652-9465,
Gilles Stockton, WORC spokesperson, 406-428-2183;
Patty Lovera, Food & Water Watch, 202-797-6557;
Victor Quintana, Peasants' Democratic Front of Chihuahua, 011-52-1-614-142-1278;
and Alejandro Ramirez González, Confederation of Mexican Hog Farmers, +52-55-5212-1290

Livestock Producers from Mexico, Canada and United States Seek New Trade Policy and Market Reforms

Urge Obama, Calderon and Harper to change NAFTA as Obama prepares to visit Canada

Expanded trade has not helped consumers

BILLINGS, Mont. - February 13 - Representatives of consumer groups and livestock producer organizations from Canada, Mexico, and the United States today called on leaders to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and address concentration in livestock markets.

The groups have been meeting in Billings to address the challenges faced by family farmers and ranchers from trade policy and uncompetitive livestock markets.

###
Posted in agriculture, Economy/Trade

Opportunity Knocks When it Comes to a Local Food Economy

Community-based agriculture has the potential for creating jobs, developing small business entrepreneurships and keeping precious dollars in the community.

"As manufacturing jobs decrease, food jobs are increasing," said Dr. Kami Pothukuchi, associate professor of urban planning at Wayne State University in Detroit.

This is especially good news for a state like Michigan whose economic engine has been dependent on the declining automobile industry.

Posted in agriculture, local

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2009
5:00 PM

CONTACT: Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA)
Margaret Reeves, Pesticide Action Network, (415) 981-1771

California Coalition Urges Obama Administration to Pull Controversial Moth off 'High-Risk' List

SAN FRANCISCO - February 4 - It turns out the controversial “Light Brown Apple Moth” isn’t such a significant threat to crops after all.

In a letter delivered today to newly confirmed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a broad coalition of organic farmers, community groups and pesticide policy reform advocates called on Vilsack to immediately strip the tiny moth from USDA’s “high-risk pest” list.
###
PANNA (Pesticide Action Network North America) works to replace pesticide use with ecologically sound and socially just alternatives. As one of five autonomous PAN Regional Centers worldwide, we link local and international consumer, labor, health, environment and agriculture groups into an international citizens' action network. This network challenges the global proliferation of pesticides, defends basic rights to health and environmental quality, and works to ensure the transition to a just and viable society.
Pesticide Action Network North America (PANNA) Links:
Posted in agriculture, organics

Vote for White House Farmer

Author Michael Pollan suggested last fall that the next president--as part of a broader move to encourage understanding of and support for sustainable agriculture--should appoint a White House Farmer.

Posted in agriculture, farming, food

Better Nutrition Equals Better Education

Cafeteria food has always been the brunt of kids' jokes. Many of us remember the grilled cheese sandwich that stuck to the plate when you turned it upside down, and the egg soufflé that jiggled when you poked it. But even that is a far cry from what's served now.

In the midst of a growing childhood obesity crisis, school food now means federally subsidized chicken nuggets, low-grade hamburgers, french fries, hot dogs and pizza. "Cooking" usually involves a centralized kitchen similar to a fast food assembly line.

Posted in agriculture, Education, food

Ecologists Warn the Planet Is Running Short of Water

A dummy stands near a makeshift tent at a shanty town in the desert of Canete January 21, 2009. Reliable water supplies are difficult to find for the impoverished people living on the sandy desert fringes of Peru's capital, Lima. Clean drinking water is an unattainable luxury for a third of Peru's city dwellers. (Reuters/Mariana Bazo/Peru)

A swelling global population, changing diets and mankind's expanding "water footprint" could be bringing an end to the era of cheap water.

The warnings, in an annual report by the Pacific Institute in California, come as ecologists have begun adopting the term "peak ecological water" - the point where, like the concept of "peak oil", the world has to confront a natural limit on something once considered virtually infinite.

Posted in agriculture, resource wars, water, water quality

Land Rental Deal Collapses After Backlash Against 'Colonialism'

Madagascar was poised to sign a 99-year agreement to rent 1.3 million hectares of land to South Korea's Daewoo Logistics Corporation. (Photo: Getty Images)

TOKYO and NAIROBI - Madagascar was poised to sign a 99-year agreement to rent 1.3 million hectares of land to South Korea's Daewoo Logistics Corporation to plant maize and palm oil for export.

Food-importing countries with little arable land, mainly in Asia and the Middle East, are increasingly looking overseas to secure food supplies after the prices of staple foods rocketed last year.

Posted in agriculture, food crisis, Africa

European Parliament Passes Pesticides Bill

A crop duster plane sprays fungicide. The European Parliament voted Tuesday to tighten rules on the use of pesticides amid fears it is posing an increasing danger to human health and animals like the industrious honeybee. (AFP/File/Romeo Gacad)

STRASBOURG, France - The European Parliament voted Tuesday to tighten rules on the use of pesticides amid fears it is posing an increasing danger to human health and animals like the industrious honeybee.

EU lawmakers approved two laws on licensing and use that will ban the most dangerous, cancer-causing pesticides across the 27-nation bloc.

"Today's decision is a milestone for consumer protection in Europe," German Green Party lawmaker Hiltrud Breyer said.

Posted in agriculture

Can't Eat the View? Wait for Final Vote

flickr photo from The Kitchen Gardener

A Scarborough gardener's proposal to create an organic vegetable garden on the White House lawn is leading one online contest and in the top 15 of a second as Barack Obama's Inauguration Day approaches.

Posted in after bush, agriculture, organics
« first‹ previous…34567891011next ›last »
Syndicate content