agriculture
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Canola gone wild! Uh-oh, transgenic plants are escaping and interbreeding
Scientists have found novel strains of canola, genetically modified to resist multiple pesticides, that are growing wild along North Dakota roads.
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The Governator defends a farm-labor regime that dates back to the days of lynchings
By vetoing a bill that would have given farm workers equal footing with other workers, California's governor has defended an injustice that lies at the heart of our food system.
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More corn for meat and ethanol, less habitat for Gulf fish
As if the Deepwater Horizon disaster weren’t enough, this year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest ever.
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Philly chef gets his hands dirty for his farm-to-table restaurant [SLIDESHOW]
I recently spent a morning with a Philadelphia chef, Mitch Prensky of Supper, who takes the concept of farm-to-table seriously enough to enter into an unconventional partnership with nearby Blue Elephant Farm.
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House Ag Committee to USDA: Take your livestock reform and shove it
The USDA tries to level the playing field for small poultry producers, but the House Ag Committee plays block and tackle on industry's behalf.
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How trains replaced solar-powered transport and gave rise to the Farm Belt
Greens like me tend to fetishize trains. And for good reason. Why risk your life in a private, energy-intensive pod, negotiating traffic and the dubious decisions of hundreds of other drivers, when you could be comfortably reading on a subway? Who would endure the indignities of the airport for a short flight, if a high-speed […]
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Stephen Colbert’s going on a hot, sweaty field trip
A few weeks ago, to inspire realistic discussion of immigration reform, the United Farm Workers launched a tongue-in-cheek campaign called Take Our Jobs — a website where American citizens can sign up for work in the field. Experienced farm workers were standing by to train legal residents and place them on farms in California, Florida, […]
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Pennsylvania cattle quarantined from gas fracking contamination
Natural gas drilling operations in Dimock, Pa.(Helen Slottje, Shaleshock.org via Flickr)Via ProPublica: Agriculture officials have quarantined 28 beef cattle on a Pennsylvania farm after wastewater from a nearby gas well leaked into a field and came in contact with the animals. The state Department of Agriculture said the action was its first livestock quarantine related […]
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FDA takes steps to limit use of antibiotics in livestock
Updated June 30 The FDA took a significant step yesterday toward restricting the routine feeding of subtherapeutic (medically unnecessary) doses of antibiotics to livestock. As Grist has detailed in previous coverage, this practice — which by some estimates consumes nearly 70% of all antibiotics administered in the U.S. — has been linked to the rise […]
