Agriculture

WASHINGTON – Last year, roughly 10.5% of all U.S. households lacked access to enough food for “an active, healthy life for all household members,” according to a report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service. This figure is down slightly from... Read More

As the pandemic shut down restaurants this spring, California farmers and ranchers saw their markets drop by half, leaving many with fields full of crops but no buyers. And as millions of people lost their jobs, the state’s food banks... Read More

MIAMI — Decorative landscaping in the early 1900s introduced a new shrub to Florida whose young leaves were pink and whose berries were a deep purple. The plant, called shoebutton ardisia, started invading forests and wetlands within decades. It continues... Read More

NEW YORK - The Rockefeller Foundation has published a paper calling for immediate action to reform the U.S. food system. Amid the pandemic and deep economic downturn the country is facing, food insecurity has escalated, particularly among Black, Indigenous and... Read More

NORTH JEOLLA PROVINCE, South Korea — It wasn’t yet 9 a.m., but Promdeth Phonsrikaew stood sweat-soaked in the field. He was in his third hour of picking tobacco, beginning shortly after dawn at the foot of a mountain in a... Read More

Richard Oswald, still mourning the loss of his family’s homestead to flooding along the Missouri River, is planting corn and soybeans into ground that last year was feet deep underwater. It’s probably good, he said, to not have too much... Read More

When the coronavirus started shutting down livestock markets, Darvin Bentlage knew his farm would take a hit. Springtime cattle sales usually bring in about a third of his ranching income, and cattle prices were already at a low, he said. ... Read More

WASHINGTON — What’s milk? For Jason Gallion, the only full-time farmer serving in the Maryland state Senate, the question is a no-brainer. “It’s always been assumed the definition of milk is that it’s from a mammal,” said Gallion, 43, whose... Read More

MINNEAPOLIS — It’s been more than 91 years since the last crop was pulled from the soil of an old farm field that, hidden away in a science reserve just north of the Twin Cities, has been left to grow... Read More

New federal regulations would make it harder for hemp growers to prove their plants are not marijuana, in what could be a major setback to a promising industry legalized just two years ago, farmers and state officials say. The U.S.... Read More

WASHINGTON - In a strong show of bipartisan cooperation just hours after they were at each other's throats over the impeachment of President Donald Trump, Democrats and Republicans threw their support behind a new trade agreement with Canada and Mexico.... Read More

WASHINGTON — Moving to offset the impact his trade war has had on rural America, President Donald Trump has bypassed Congress to send some $20 billion in aid to farmers, mostly going to a bundle of states that are essential... Read More