Pennsylvania Farmers Sued for Saving Monsanto Wheat Seeds

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (PA) Author: Brian Bowling ERIE, PA — An Erie County wheat farmer has become the latest target of a St. Louis agricultural biotech giant’s ongoing effort to protect its patents. Monsanto Co. says in a federal lawsuit filed this week in Pittsburgh that Harold Steve Wiser Jr. of Fairview violated a licensing agreement […]

Arkansas Farmers See Growing Market in Heirloom Tomatoes

Heirloom tomatoes are varieties handed down through generations, perhaps with the seeds passed within families. Mother Nature Network By Suzi Parker, ReutersSun LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A cake with heirloom tomato icing? Don’t laugh. The dessert with a hint of zing was the highlight of an all-tomato feast on Friday in Monticello in southeastern Arkansas […]

UN Says ‘Radical’ Changes Needed to Meet Rising Food Demands

Alaska Dispatch Patrick Wall | The Christian Science Monitor The global food system is environmentally destructive and requires “radical” changes if it is to meet rising food demands, says a new United Nations report. Current farming practices degrade the environment and contribute to global warming, which in turn reduces food production, according to the report. […]

Red Hot Farmland Market

Land Prices to Rise Again in 2011; Case Building for Downward Pressure Later The Progressive Farmer By Linda H. Smith, DTN Markets Editor OMAHA (DTN) — Few investments can match farmland’s returns in the past five years — it has increased as much as 50% depending on location. Agricultural land value has risen as much […]

Adoption of Genetically Engineered Crops in the U.S.

USDA – Economic Research Service Overview U.S. farmers have adopted genetically engineered (GE) crops widely since their commercial introduction in 1996, notwithstanding uncertainty about consumer acceptance and economic and environmental impacts. In terms of share of planted acres, soybeans and cotton have been the most widely adopted GE crops in the U.S., followed by corn. […]

Farther Afield

What Is Shiga Toxin Phage – And Why It Can Be Lethal Tom Willey T & D Willey Farms None of us can remain unconcerned about the tragic food safety drama unfolding in Germany over the last several weeks. Much remains to be learned regarding the origin of another seemingly novel pathogen, its stunning virulence […]

U.S. Won’t Regulate Modified Grass

The Calgary Herald From Herald News Services SCIENCE . An herbicide tolerant Kentucky bluegrass engineered by Scotts Miracle-Gro is not covered by U.S. biotechnology rules nor is it a weed, the Agriculture Department ruled on Friday.

Phage on the Rampage

Antibiotic use may have driven the development of Europe’s deadly E. coli. Nature.com by Marian Turner Women, beansprouts, cucumbers, bacteria, cows: the cast of the current European Escherichia coli outbreak is already a crowd. Enter the phage. Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria, and they are star players in the chain of events that led […]

Help Wanted: Local Field Organizer for Campaign to Save Maryland Organic Farm

LOCAL FIELD ORGANIZER WASHINGTON DC METRO AREA Duration: 6-12 months Application deadline: August 5, 2011 The Executive of Montgomery County, Maryland is proposing to replace a 31-year-old organic farm, operating on public land, allowing a private soccer organization to build non-public fields in Potomac, MD. The community is in an uproar—Nick’s Organic Farm is Montgomery […]