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| "Holyland" by John Bratby. 1961. |
This Tuesday news thread is a weekly feature here at Big Picture Agriculture. (For your daily up-to-the-minute agriculture news, go to this site's sister webpage, Agriculture News Daily.)
- Fruit becoming scarcer in growing world market | Fresh Plaza
- Improving the plants that Africans eat and breeders neglect | The Economist
- Philip Brasher’s guide to the farm bill | Food Politics
- Old and new technologies support climate-smart agriculture | Business Mirror Comment: I liked this thoughtful article by a Phillipino journalist following the meeting on CSA (climate smart agriculture). Those in the developing agricultural world take a different view on this subject, less influenced by corporate leanings and existing policy so it is well to pay attention to their insights.
- An environmental “looting” spree is threatening biodiversity and pristine forests across 15 countries in central and eastern Europe, the UN has warned. | The Guardian
- Little Beans including lentils bring Big Farm Losses as Global Glut Mashes Exports | Bloomberg
- Deere's shares surge after earnings beat estimates | Reuters
- China to subsidize grain transportation and storage facilities | Reuters
- What they don’t tell you about climate change - Stopping the flow of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere is not enough. | The Economist Comment: IF, and that's a big IF, politicians ever got behind negative emissions, agriculture and land use would be the low hanging fruit solution and this article brings up agriculture over and over. Corn ethanol would be history, and, how about paying to plant trees in the Midwest, instead of what we are currently doing - paying to remove them?
- Attempting Carbon Capture at an Illinois Ethanol Plant | Chicago Tribune Comment: This is related to the above article. ADM foresees that if they don't make this attempt, the whole corn ethanol scheme could come tumbling down. That said, there are many issues with the process, and the methods being used are all fallible.
- Disrupting sensitive soils could make climate change worse, Stanford researchers find | Stanford.edu
- Can Ethanol Pump Up Commodity Prices & Get Farmers Spending Again? | Farm Equipment Comment: Exporting ethanol was never intended when the program mandates were set up. It is the most environmentally damaging ideal possible, but the program has become the gorilla in the room for policy makers, mainstream media, and farm bill proposers. This article is filled with graphs and data.
- Cranberry glut prompts growers to ask USDA for fruit-disposal program | Bloomberg
- America's Rural-Phone Industry Is Facing a$48 Billion Debt Crisis | Bloomberg Comment: Different states are taxing phone services in different ways to subsidize the service to rural areas.
- Farming the future - From microwaves and robots, to ancient seeds and drones, a once experimental farm is still innovating after 140 years, but these days the agricultural challenges are global | Pursuit Univ. of Melbourne
- Tax reforms eliminate deduction that benefits Iowa farm co-ops | DesMoines Register
- China's pig farmers go north, upending world's top meat, grain market | Reuters
- Forecast of 2017 Net Income on Grain Farms in Illinois: Lower than in 2016 but Better Than Expected | Farm doc daily
- EU renews glyphosate for five years as Germany swings the balance | Euractive
- When soil microbes commune in great numbers, their startling collective talents for solving problems and controlling their environment emerge. | Wired
- A 26-year research project suggests that as global temperatures rise and heat the soil, the released carbon will trigger even more warming, leading to a dangerous feedback loop. | PRI
- Turtle doves 'nearing UK extinction because of farming practices' | The Telegraph
- CHART: Cropland is shifting to larger farms, even as average size changes little | USDA
- Iberian ham has become the latest sought-after luxury from the west in China, but demand is outstripping supply | The Guardian
- Organic farmers in India cultivate native cotton variety | The Hindu
- Pasturebird farm, a Successful "Joel Salatin" type of farming system in Southern California | SanDiego Union Tribune
- Can agroforestry propel climate commitments? Interview with Peter Minang | Mongabay
- Kiss the ground: book and documentary about the hidden power of soil. | The Greenhorns
- Turkey Sector: Background & Statistics | USDA
- Saffron farming is spreading into new regions | Ozy
- Black Cat Farm and Restaurant here in Boulder became a certified biodynamic grower in June and the first biodynamic farm-to-table restaurant in the country. | Boulder Weekly Comment: I did an in depth report on the innovative Eric Skokan's Black Cat farm here.
- This is the world's best cheese, according to experts | Yahoo
- This Food Poisoning Expert Revealed The 6 Things He Refuses To Eat | Healthy Way
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