Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
In Namibia a country of meat-lovers, vital expertise is needed to stop livestock spreading diseases
Wreathed in barbecue smoke, Vetjaera Haakuria gestures at the men butchering meat and cooking it over hot coals behind his back. “What have you learned about the risks of eating this?” he asks his young audience, spotless in their white lab coats. “It might contain drug residues, right? And what about diseases?”
It’s nearly noon in Windhoek, Namibia’s capital, and the market is preparing grilled meat – known locally as kapana – for the lunchtime rush. Everyone comes here, from construction workers to members of parliament. Namibians love to eat meat, and he is no exception: his tribe, the Herero, traditionally eat nothing else.
Biosecurity concerns raised over import from Canada as Australia’s winter crop forecast to drop 20% below 20-year long-term average
Australia is planning to import wheat for the first time in 12 years after drought across the eastern states saw grain production fall 20% last year.
The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources confirmed this week it had issued a bulk import permit to allow wheat to be brought in from Canada to be processed for the domestic market.
China’s leaders have championed milk as the emblem of a modern, affluent society – but their radical plan to triple the nation’s consumption will have a huge environmental cost.
By Felicity Lawrence
Beijing-based film-maker Jian Yi, now 43, clearly remembers the arrival of fresh milk in his life. It was an image of it, not the real thing. “It was the 1990s, and I first saw it in an advert on TV. The ad said explicitly that drinking milk would save the nation. It would make China stronger and better able to survive competition from other nations.”
Like most ethnic Han, who make up about 95% of the population, Jian was congenitally lactose-intolerant, meaning milk was hard to digest. His parents did not consume dairy at all when they were growing up; China’s economy was closed to the global market and its own production very limited. Throughout the Mao era, milk was in short supply and rationed to those deemed to have a special need: infants and the elderly, athletes and party cadres above a certain grade. Through most of the imperial dynasties until the 20th century, milk was generally shunned as the slightly disgusting food of the barbarian invaders. Foreigners brought cows to the port cities that had been ceded to them by the Chinese in the opium wars of the 19th century, and a few groups such as Mongolian pastoralists used milk that was fermented, but it was not part of the typical Chinese diet.
Farmers say change ‘a good first step’ but separate agricultural visa still needed
Australia’s visa rules have been relaxed to make it easier for farmers to hire skilled workers.
Farmers have described the changes as a good first step but warned they are unlikely to dampen calls from the sector for a separate agricultural visa because labour shortages are mainly in lower skilled harvesting roles.
Under the baking sun, workers toil for €2 an hour. And the country’s hard-right authorities keep turning the screw
The dawn was about to break as I arrived, with a team of workers in the farmer’s van, at the vast fields that stretch out for miles around Campobello, the “handsome fields”, in western Sicily. Everyone got out, and immediately started to work on their line of olive trees. It would take the team several weeks to harvest them.
A technique developed by a Jesuit priest is producing bigger harvests – and reducing emissions of a crop responsible for 1.5% of greenhouse gases
The fragrant jasmine rice growing on the left side of Kreaougkra Junpeng’s five-acre field stands nearly five feet tall.
Each plant has 15 or more tillers, or stalks, and the grains hang heavy from them. The Thai farmer says this will be his best-ever harvest in 30 years and he will reap it four weeks earlier than usual.
Joining me is Wendy Zellner, research associate professor at the University of Toledo. Wendy received her Ph.D. from the University of Toledo in 2012 with a focus in cellular and molecular biology.
The Trump administration is setting out to do what this year's farm bill didn't: tighten work requirements for millions of Americans who receive federal food assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday is proposing a rule that would restrict the ability of states to exempt work-eligible adults from having to obtain steady employment to receive food stamps.
The Trump administration is setting out to do what this year's farm bill didn't: tighten work requirements for millions of Americans who receive federal food assistance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday is proposing a rule that would restrict the ability of states to exempt work-eligible adults from having to obtain steady employment to receive food stamps.
A major agriculture bill passed by the U.S. Congress last week could legalize hemp at the federal level, allowing farmers across the country to cultivate hemp, but that doesn't necessarily spell good news for Humboldt County. The bill, which now awaits President Donald Trump's signature, includes a provision that lifts hemp off of a list of federally criminalized drugs.
The recall of raw turkey products from Jennie-O due to their association with an outbreak of salmonella has been expanded. The initial recall was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service on Nov. 15. 1-lb.
The latest Federal Reserve quarter of a percent interest rate hike may seem insignificant, pushing the federal funds rate to a still relatively low 2.25 percent, but the increase comes on top of other hikes since January and likely will be followed by another .25 percent in December with others to follow in 2019. "It's hard to estimate the magnitude of the latest increase on farm budgets," says Keith Coble, department head, Mississippi State University agricultural economics at Starkville.
Hurricane Florence has left another memorable mark on our region with damage sustained from significant rain and wind over a three-day escapade. Many residents and businesses, including our agricultural industry, are now in the midst of making some tough decisions on how to best move forward to getting things back to normal.
As the global produce community comes together in Orlando at the Produce Marketing Association's Fresh Summit, let me rank the top ten reports from the USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service this year. If you are not familiar with the USDA FAS, the agency issues Global Agricultural Information Network reports that provide market intelligence from global growing regions and U.S. export markets.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is assisting with response and recovery efforts in the wake of Hurricane Michael. The department is providing Search & Rescue crews, Chainsaw Strike Teams, and securing food and water for impacted areas, among other efforts.
Gov. Mike Parson is applauding the United States Department of Agriculture for its grants that will be impacting southeast Missouri. Some of the local recipients will be the Stoddard County Development Corporation, East Prairie Municipal Corporation, and the Steele Municipal Improvement Corporation.
President Donald Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese imports , officially launching his long promised trade war. Beijing retaliated immediately, imposing levies on American exports like soybeans and pork-goods reportedly selected to hit Trump country.
A video recording has emerged of Democrat Sen. Claire McCaskill telling supporters that she doesn't care about losing votes in the state's "bootheel," the southeastern most tip of the state that is rural and solidly conservative. Republican challenger Josh Hawley featured the video recording in a new TV ad that hit the airwaves Thursday, using Ms.