agriculture

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Scientists Crack Tomato Genome

Which should allow producers to breed tastier ones

(Newser) - What makes a tomato a tomato? Researchers now know all 35,000 genes that make up the answer to that question, Reuters reports. An international team of scientists has fully mapped the order, orientation, types, and relative position of all those genes inside both a domesticated and a wild tomato...

Is War on Drugs Bad for Chocolate?

Gourmands fight for native Peruvian cocoa

(Newser) - To cut down on production of the coca plants behind cocaine, the US has pushed an alternative crop to Peruvian farmers: a high-yielding cocoa hybrid. And while CCN-51 has had commercial benefits, there's one problem, chocolate experts say—it just doesn't taste that good. Instead, these connoisseurs say,...

Environmentalists Fear New Biotech Corn

Dow's 'Enlist' resists powerful herbicide

(Newser) - Debate is raging over a new biotech corn engineered by Dow Chemical. The corn, called "Enlist," is intended to solve farmers' struggle against tough weeds; that's because it's resistant to a powerful herbicide, also made by Dow. But environmentalists fear that wind, heat, and humidity would...

Sorry, Critics, Sustainable Farming Is Not a Myth
Sorry, Critics, Sustainable Farming Is Not a Myth
OPINION
Apr 21, 2012 11:46 AM CDT

Sorry, Critics, Sustainable Farming Is Not a Myth

Small-scale agriculture provides a path toward real solutions: Joel Salatin

(Newser) - In a recent New York Times op-ed , James McWilliams dismissed the movement toward smaller-scale, sustainable farming as ultimately unworkable in terms of logistics, and nowhere near as good for the environment as proponents suggest. In doing so, he called out one of the movement's leaders, Joel Salatin of Virginia'...

Farmworkers Seize Land in Massive Honduras Protest

Plantations are on public land, activists say

(Newser) - Honduras saw its own kind of Occupy protest erupt yesterday. Thousands of impoverished farmworkers in the Central American nation took over land belonging to major landowners in a coordinated series of protests around the country, reports the BBC . The farmworkers insisted that the land was public land that small farmers...

FDA to Require Prescriptions for Livestock Antibiotics

Strategy aims to battle antibiotic-fueled super bugs

(Newser) - The Food and Drug Administration is trying to slow the rise of drug-resistant super bugs by reducing antibiotic use in livestock. The agency will now require farmers and ranchers to obtain a prescription from a veterinarian before they can give antibiotics to animals, reports the New York Times . Close to...

Ruling Might End Use of Antibiotics in Animal Feed

Judge tells FDA to put process in motion

(Newser) - A decision yesterday by a federal judge could mean that farmers have to stop mixing antibiotics into animal feed, reports the OnEarth blog. The judge ordered the FDA to warn drug-makers of the coming change and give them a chance to prove that the antibiotics are safe and won't...

Monsanto Tests Biotech Corn Resistant to Drought

It could be available commercially next year

(Newser) - Seed giant Monsanto plans large-scale tests this year of the first government-approved biotech crop developed to deal with drought. The new corn is being introduced as much of the US remains abnormally dry and areas in the South and Southwest still face severe drought. The company plans farm trials from...

Seed Shortage Buries Hopes for Record Corn Crop

Corn prices may hit record high this year

(Newser) - American farmers had been planning the biggest corn planting since World War II this spring, but they're being thwarted by a seed shortage. Drought conditions in the Midwest and Great Plains last year have caused what dealers in the corn belt say is the biggest shortage of top-quality seeds...

Economic Ewe-Turn: Recession Spurs Agro-Revival

More people turn to the homestead to make a buck or just save money

(Newser) - Sick of the noise and hassles caused by lawn mowers? Instead, in Oberlin, Ohio, you can rent sheep for just $1 each per day to nibble your grass short. As the United States' economic malaise continues, young people around the country are increasingly turning to small, agriculture-related ventures like that...

Scientists Hunt for New Chocolate Flavors

American and Peruvian researchers scour the Amazon for wild cacao trees

(Newser) - In 2008 and 2009, American and Peruvian scientists joined forces on a hunt for sweet treasure—new kinds of chocolate. They explored the Amazon Basin, searching for wild cacao trees—which produce the beans that go into chocolate—and discovered 342 specimens from 12 watersheds, reports NPR . Each new cacao...

Willie Nelson Covers Coldplay in Chipotle Video

Animated short makes case against factory farming

(Newser) - An animated video featuring Willie Nelson covering a Coldplay song is getting some buzz for its message against industrial farming, notes AdWeek . Nelson sings "The Scientist" as the video—commissioned by the Chipotle restaurant chain—shows a farmer inflicting the evils of large-scale agriculture on his pigs before returning...

Uh-Oh: Bugs Develop Resistance to Franken-Corn

Genetically modified crop no longer fends off all pests

(Newser) - Farmers in Iowa who planted corn seeds genetically modified to fend off the dreaded corn rootworm are seeing a troubling sign: The rootworm is apparently developing a resistance to the Monsanto seeds and gobbling up cornfields again, say Iowa University researchers. It's still just a small percentage of rootworms...

Next for South Sudan: Building an Economy

Officials want to wean the new nation off oil

(Newser) - In South Sudan, the world's newest nation , 98% of revenue comes from oil—and one of the first tasks its nascent government must tackle is how to change that, since oil revenue must still be split with the north. Work will begin today on building an economy that's...

Agriculture's 'Most Disgraceful' Problem: Antibiotics

Overuse of antibiotics threatens our entire food supply and our health

(Newser) - Al-Qaeda's attacks on 9/11 killed nearly 3,000 people, completely transforming America's approach to national security. And yet food-borne illnesses kill 5,000 Americans each year and hospitalize 325,000, but there is little interest in improving food safety, writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times . Now,...

We&#39;ve Ruined the Tomato
 We've Ruined 
 the Tomato 
OPINION
Jun 11, 2011 2:36 PM CDT

We've Ruined the Tomato

It's got plenty of weight but no taste: Author

(Newser) - In America’s melting pot of food culture, few ingredients have been as broadly assimilated as the tomato. Whether it’s ketchup, marinara, salsa, or just fodder for salads, our country’s demand for the tomato is extreme. But as journalist Barry Estabrook says in an interview with Salon , America’...

Most Useless College Degree Is ...

Journalism tops the list, and advertising isn't far behind

(Newser) - Parents of high school seniors take note: The Daily Beast has compiled a list of the 20 most useless college degrees, based on salaries, number of jobs available, and general trend of crappiness. The losers:
  1. Journalism: Median starting salary is $35,800; percentage change in number of jobs from 2008
...

Eric Schlosser: Critics of Foodies Who Call Them Elitist Have Things Backward
 Foodies Are Not 'Elitist'  
eric schlosser
Apr 30, 2011 11:09 AM CDT

Foodies Are Not 'Elitist'

It's their industrial critics who are guilty of that: Eric Schlosser

(Newser) - Industrial agriculture honchos like to brand foodies pushing for healthier practices as elitist, but they've got things exactly backward, writes Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser in the Washington Post . "America’s current system of food production—overly centralized and industrialized, overly controlled by a handful of companies,...

USDA Sinks $60M Into Trio of Climate Change Studies

3 projects seek adaptable agriculture for specific regions

(Newser) - The USDA is sinking $60 million into a trio of studies that will investigate how climate change affects crops and forests. The three studies will focus on specific crops in specific regions—Midwestern corn, Northwestern wheat, and pine forests in the South—and aim to help farmers and foresters continue...

Only Rich Will Eat Beef in 2050
 Only Rich Will Eat Beef in 2050 
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Oct 3, 2010 4:00 PM CDT

Only Rich Will Eat Beef in 2050

Production costs could make it the 'caviar of the future'

(Newser) - You might want to have a hamburger while you can—beef is likely to become as pricey and exclusive as caviar over the next 40 years, predicts a UN agriculture expert. The production costs of raising cows, especially for water, are just too high to accommodate inexorable rises in world...

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