agriculture
Branford (United States) (AFP) - Bren Smith and his GreenWave organization are helping lay the foundations for a generation of seaweed-growing farmers in the United States, while working to build a network of producers and buyers. Seen from a boat, GreenWave's farm seems unimpressive -- little more than lines of white and black buoys, a few hundred yards (meters) off the Connecticut coast. But beneath the dark Atlantic waters, suspended from ropes tied between the buoys around six feet (two meters) down, seaweed in varying shades of brown undulates. GreenWave, which uses no pesticides or herb...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - When is a vegetable not a vegetable? When it's a potato, according to a new US government proposal to reclassify the starchy staple that has infuriated lawmakers in rural districts. US senators Susan Collins and Michael Bennet -- a Maine Republican and a Colorado Democrat -- are spearheading a bid to convince government officials to back away from plans to call the root vegetable a grain, a move they fear would hurt farming. "Since the inception of the US Department of Agriculture, it has classified potatoes correctly as a vegetable," Collins and Bennet said in a letter to b...
AFP
Vinton (United States) (AFP) - At his snow-covered farm in Iowa, Lance Lillibridge holds a newborn calf in his arms. The animal's name? DeSantis, in honor of his chosen presidential candidate. On Monday, when the Midwestern state kicks off the 2024 White House nomination race with its caucuses, Lillibridge says he will choose Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over frontrunner and former president Donald Trump. The 53-year-old farmer -- who lives not far from the town of Vinton, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northwest of the city of Cedar Rapids -- says he backed Trump in the last two elections, b...
AFP
Mattituck (United States) (AFP) - When New York authorities gave him a license to cultivate cannabis in the spring of 2022, Marcos Ribeiro thought he'd hit the big time. Since then his plants have flowered, but like other producers he has amassed a stockpile which still he hopes to sell. In a greenhouse in Long Island, two hours from Manhattan's gleaming skyscrapers, Ribeiro was surrounded by hundreds of leafy, pungent plants, each of which can produce pounds worth of flowers, tending to a harvest of "Blue Dream" strain. "It's a West Coast variety, very popular. It's a good daytime smoke... ...
AFP
Concord (United States) (AFP) - From a distance, everything looks normal: neat rows of peach trees, their green leaves fluttering in the wind, near a pretty little American farmhouse. But Georgia farmer Stuart Gregg searched in vain among the branches, unable to find a single piece of fruit. "We have no harvest this year," he said. Gregg's prized peaches, like those on farms across Georgia, have been decimated, a rare event for the southern state that is so closely associated with the fruit that it is nicknamed the "Peach State." Last winter was unusually mild, causing peach blossoms to blo...
AFP
Paris (AFP) - The European Food Safety Authority said on Thursday it had not found "any critical areas of concern" preventing the controversial and widely used herbicide glyphosate from being reauthorised for use in the EU. Environmental groups lashed out at the announcement, saying there was scientific evidence that glyphosate may cause cancer, poison aquatic life and can be fatal to key pollinators like bees. The European Union agency's long-awaited assessment report noted there were gaps in the data in some areas, and that it had "identified a high long-term risk to mammals in 12 out of 23 ...
AFP
London (AFP) - The world's biggest chocolate makers are failing on promises to improve pay for farmers in major cocoa producer Ghana despite strong profits, charity Oxfam said in a report on Thursday. It said earnings for US companies Hershey, Mars and Mondelez in addition to Italy's Ferrero and Swiss peers Lindt & Spruengli and Nestle had increased since the onset of the pandemic in 2020, a period when inflation has soared. At the same time, an Oxfam survey of more than 400 cocoa farmers in Ghana -- the second-largest global producer of the commodity -- found their net incomes had fallen by a...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - Funding for a global initiative aimed at creating more environmentally friendly and climate-resilient farming has grown to $13 billion, co-leaders the United States and the United Arab Emirates said Monday. That money means the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate, launched in 2021, now exceeds its $10 billion target for the COP28 climate talks, to be hosted by the UAE in November and December. "Climate change continues to impact longstanding agricultural practices in every country and a strong global commitment is necessary to face the challenges of climate chan...
AFP
Fulton (United States) (AFP) - From her century-old home, Susan Burns has watched the sun set over her cousin's field every day for 75 years. Now her cousin has agreed to have solar panels installed on the field, and an unhappy Burns finds herself in a fight. Huge solar farms are being planned in this corner of Missouri, and as in other rural areas of the United States, residents sometimes are yanking the welcome mat. Foreseeing vast expanses of solar farms replacing cropland, Burns began raising the issue with other community members at the Baptist church across the road. She fears much may ...
AFP
Coral Gables (United States) (AFP) - Melissa Sorokin sees herself as "a bee advocate," deeply passionate about helping to rescue the at-risk creatures that play such a critical role in biodiversity. Often called in by spooked or concerned residents, she acts as emergency responder for the vital pollinators, spending the substantial time it takes to move threatening or threatened hives to safer locations. Sorokin, who lives in Florida, says rescuing hives is infinitely better than homeowners or businesses allowing pest control services to swoop in and simply kill the bees. "If they don't call m...
AFP
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