Latest Farmer Stories

By JJ LEVINE contributed to this article. A farmer in the middle of a hard day's work strolls over to a plant and grabs a juicy tomato to eat. That could hardly be more than a pastoral vision for most chemical-intensive farms, where the produce must be seriously washed before consumption to rid it of harmful pesticides. But for organic farmers, that vision is not far from reality. Today's organic farmer looks to substitutes for the phosphate- based pesticides that have dominated...

By Paul Grimaldi Consumers grousing about the high cost of food have more to grumble about as milk prices are likely to go up -- again. Milk prices hit a record a year ago, when Americans paid an average of $3.80 a gallon, and have stayed high ever since. By January, the cost of a gallon of milk rose to $3.87 a gallon, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, up more than 36 percent from last year. Prices vary widely in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts. Over the holiday...

By Jessica Legge, The Times West Virginian, Fairmont Jul. 6--FAIRMONT -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service looks for the country's 2008 net farm income to reach a record level. The USDA forecasted that this year the average farm operator household income would rise 6.3 percent to $89,434. Most specialties are expected to experience an increase in 2008. But in the June 2008 edition of "The Market Bulletin," a publication of the West Virginia Department of...

By Tom Faure, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn. Jul. 3--Each Tuesday in summer, Signal Mountain Farms owner Thomas O'Neal opens his tent-covered stand at the mountain's Bachman Community Center and fills it with green diva cucumbers, dark-purple cabbage, yellow squash and about 60 other varieties of produce. Customers mingle among quickly filling boxes, remarking how "beautiful" the vegetables are. Mr. O'Neal walks around genially, refilling the racks with certified organic produce and...

By Chris Kick We often read media reports concerning professional people who wish to be labeled "citizen" first followed by their professional identity. There are few, if any, professions more deserving of that designation than farmers. Annually I am reminded of this commitment by farmers when Farm Bureau begins working on its spring/summer program of developing policies to guide our efforts in the coming year. Part of this process is to solicit suggestions from virtually every community...

By Patrick Anderson, Gloucester Daily Times, Mass. Jun. 26--With conjecture about a rumored pregnancy pact at Gloucester High School waning, school officials yesterday reiterated their intention not to speak to any of the students who became pregnant this year about the subject as they begin crafting a new policy to reverse the surge in teen pregnancies before the beginning of next year. "Our focus is going to be on what the community needs to do and what the schools need to do to avoid...

By GALLOWAY, Jill Federated Farmers new provincial president for Manawatu/ Rangitikei Gordon McKellar wants to make sure he can make a difference. Jill Galloway went to talk to him about farmer politics. -------------------- Gordon McKellar is a farmer first and a rural politician after that. That puts him in good stead to take on the top job in Manawatu/Rangitikei Federated Farmers. He follows Ruth Rainey, who after three years has retired from the top job. The new vice president is dairy...

By Sabrina Tavernise David L. Stern contributed reporting from Tajikistan. * Salt crunches underfoot like frosty soil on this bare stretch of land in western Uzbekistan. "Thirty years ago, this was a cotton field," said a 61-year-old farmer who has lived near this city all his life. "Now, it's a salt flat." Uzbekistan, a landlocked country that was once part of the Soviet Union, is home to one of the biggest man-made disasters in history. For decades, its rivers were diverted to grow...

By Sabrina Tavernise David L. Stern contributed reporting from Tajikistan. * Salt crunches underfoot like frosty soil on this bare stretch of land in western Uzbekistan. "Thirty years ago, this was a cotton field," said a 61-year-old farmer who has lived near this city all his life. "Now it's a salt flat." Uzbekistan, a landlocked country that was once part of the Soviet Union, is home to one of the biggest man-made disasters in history. For decades its rivers were diverted to grow...

If that carrot traveled across state lines, I'm not eating it! Even if it costs more to buy one that didn't. That's the attitude of more and more foodies, and a new study finds that grocery store shoppers, in general, are willing to shell out more money for locally-grown foods than they would for the same product trucked, shipped or flown in from farther away. The effect was even more pronounced among shoppers at farmers markets. "This is an indication that...