Agriculture
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Agriculture
Organic Dairying Is on Upswing, But No Panacea
Some small dairy farms are making the switch to organic operations to increase profits and distinguish their products from undifferentiated commodities.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Cow Power
To improve the dire economics of dairying, some farmers are looking to generate commercial quantities of electric power.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Demand for Ethanol May Drive Up Food Prices
The production of ethanol from corn and other crops for fuel could drive up food prices.
By Ben Harder -
Agriculture
Farm Fresh Pesticides
For people who live near croplands, traces of agricultural chemicals can find their way into homes by hitchhiking on windblown dust.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Biotech cotton: Less spray but same yield
The way farmers grow transgenic cotton in Arizona lets them skip some of their regular spraying but end up with the same yield as traditional farmers, as well as the same impact on ants and beetles.
By Susan Milius -
Agriculture
Organic Doesn’t Mean Free of Pesticides
Even organic produce, especially root crops, can carry trace residues of long-banned pesticides.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Wheat Warning—New Rust Could Spread Like Wildfire
A new, yield-slashing wheat blight has emerged in East Africa and could spread far beyond that part of the world.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Using Light to Sense Plants’ Health and Diversity
Laser scanners may help farmers better tailor when and how much to fertilize their crops, with side benefits for the environment.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Feds pull approval of poultry antibiotic
The FDA has announced its intent to ban an antibiotic used by poultry farmers because of concerns that continued use of the drug could make it harder to successfully treat food poisoning in people with products from the same class of antibiotics.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Soy-protein quality versus quantity
New tests show that as the protein yields of soybeans rise, the growth-enhancing quality of that protein as a food or feed decreases.
By Janet Raloff -
Agriculture
Insecticide Inside: Gene-modified rice cuts chemical spraying in China
In the hands of Chinese farmers, varieties of rice genetically modified to fend off insects reduce pesticide use and increase crop yields.
By Ben Harder -
Agriculture
Illegal cigarettes pack toxic punch
Tobacco used in counterfeit cigarettes is apparently grown using metal-laced fertilizers, making the fake products even more harmful than the real things.
By Ben Harder