Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey today announced that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship is accepting applications for grant funding through the Specialty Crop Block Grant program. The grants are available to support projects that enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops grown in Iowa.
The federal government has selected the Organic Farming Research Foundation in Santa Cruz as the recipient of a competitive grant, a foundation spokeswoman announced Monday morning. The grant was issued by the United States Department of Agriculture's Farm Service Agency, and is designed to facilitate the increased use of the agency's programs and services among organic farmers.
Hedge funds turned less downbeat over wheat futures ahead of last week's data showing a surprise slump in US sowings, potentially limiting the prospects of further price rises, but appear caught out in cotton. Managed money, a proxy for speculators, hiked its net long position in futures and options in the top 13 US-traded agricultural commodities, from coffee to corn, by more than 95,000 contracts in the week to last Tuesday, analysis of data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission regulator shows.
On Nov. 9, President-elect Donald Trump won the election, and the Dow Jones began its upward march from 18,332 in the wee hours after Hillary Clinton's concession call. The Dow rallied relatively uninterrupted straight through to Jan. 6, when it got within a fraction of a point of crossing the hurdle of 20K, peaking at 19,999.63.
In his annual message, John Deere's Chairman, Sam Allen, described the company's long-term prospects as "bullish," but added, "We don't mean to minimize the challenges we're facing at the present time there are signs that some of our key markets may be approaching a bottom, but we are not anticipating a turnaround in 2017." USDA's most recent World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates released on Jan. 12, provided some credence to Allen's remarks.
Secretary Tom Vilsack left the Agriculture Department a week before his tenure ends and before President-elect Donald Trump has chosen his replacement. Vilsack, who has led USDA for eight years and was President Barack Obama's longest-serving Cabinet secretary, told employees in an email that Friday is his final day.
In the middle of 2016, prices for the pulse crop had plunged from record highs on the outlook for large global harvests. Now, the curry-and-soup food staple has rebounded more than 40 percent since August after rain and snow damaged a bumper crop in Canada, the world's top exporter.
Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey studying Psyche recently detected water on it with a NASA telescope. The new findings suggest that Psyche may not have a metallic core and is likely water rich.
In this Dec. 28, 2016, file photo, customers look at eggs at a discount store in Seoul, South Korea, a day after government officials announced that millions of chickens would be culled because of an outbreak of bird flu. Because of the spreading bird flu outbreak, South Korea has asked the United States for the first time to ship it shell eggs.
CenturyLink has added SDN and NFV to its Defense Research and Engineering Network III contract service lineup, signaling a trend that public sector agencies are advancing their own network virtualization efforts. This deployment is being carried out with the U.S. Department of Defense High Performance Computing Modernization Program .
Schoolchildren watch as the California sea lions are fed fish at the Central Park Zoo in New York on January 10, 2007. Children keep getting more expensive to raise -- fashion is pricier and so are doctor visits and day care, according to the U.S. government.
Children keep getting more expensive to raise - fashion is pricier and so are doctor visits and day care, according to the U.S. government. At least food's still relatively cheap.
The Department of Agriculture says the estimated cost of raising a child from birth through age 17 is $233,610, or as much as almost $14,000 annually. That's the average for a middle-income couple with two children.
Wyoming Republican U.S. Sen. John Barrasso has been elected chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. In a statement, Barrasso says as chairman he will focus on measures that will remove red-tape and bureaucratic barriers to economic development, while ensuring clean air, land and water.
Drones took up a lot of floor space at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year, but one of the most impressive displays of new drone tech came from Qualcomm. The chipmaker showed off the latest iteration of its Snapdragon Flight Drone Platform, which allows for flight control and machine learning in real time onboard a drone.
In 1610, astronomer Galileo Galilei began observing three of Jupiter's moons . On Jan. 7, 1942, Japanese forces began besieging American and Filipino troops in Bataan during World War II.
President-elect Donald Trump's pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency received positive marks from West Virginia senators this week, with one inviting him to the state to discuss issues related to Wood County communities. In a release from Trump's transition team, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he believes Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has the right experience to be the next EPA administrator.
On January 4, 2016, the White House announced the release of the 2017 Update to the Coordinated Framework for the Regulation of Biotechnology . The Update to the Coordinated Framework provides a comprehensive summary of the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , the U.S. Food and Drug Administration , and the U.S. Department of Agriculture with respect to regulating biotechnology products.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a pilot program that would allow participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to purchase groceries online. Seven retailers will begin accepting food stamps online as part of an effort to make healthy food more available to Americans dependent on the SNAP program.