Agriculture News

Times are good for wheat farmers, but they should resist the urge to harvest their crop residue and sell it for ethanol production, a federal researcher says.

By Jonathan Lynn and William Schomberg

GENEVA (Reuters) - A latest round of talks to salvage a global trade deal made "some progress" on Thursday, ministers said but officials said the mood behind closed doors was somber.

"Things are very fluid and there are a lot of things that have not been decided," Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told reporters after talks between seven of the World Trade Organisation's most important members met into the early hours.

European Union trade chief Peter Mandelson said further talks were needed.

Associated PressNEW YORK -- Only a month ago, sizzling commodities prices seemed destined to soar higher with record-breaking rallies in crude oil and corn.

State agriculture officials are trying to ease concerns about the safety of North Carolina peppers after federal health officials warned buyers to avoid fresh jalapenos.

Florida tomato growers want compensation from the federal government for millions of dollars lost because of an investigation that originally focused on raw tomatoes after a salmonella outbreak in parts of the ...

Argentina's agriculture secretary has resigned following the Senate's rejection of a government-backed farm export tax increase.

Virginia's 2008 peach crop is expected to make growers forget all about last year's freeze-damaged season.

Tests from two mosquito pools show the first presence of West Nile virus this year in Nevada.

A Woodlands-based fuel company is accused of cheating customers at the pump, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.

Farmers and ranchers in 14 northwest Oklahoma counties, including the three Panhandle counties, will be eligible to receive federal assistance, the governor's office announced today.

Dahir Abdi Salah used to feed his children three meals a day - pancakes for breakfast, spaghetti for lunch and beans for dinner.

GENEVA (Reuters) - The United States is ready to cut its ceiling for trade-distorting farm subsidies to $15 billion a year to help unblock talks for a global trade deal, U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said on Tuesday.

The long-awaited offer was contingent on other partners at the World Trade Organization making offers to open up their markets for agricultural and industrial goods, Schwab said.

The United States currently has a limit on subsidies which stands at more than $48 billion, although actual payments last year were only around $7 billion because soaring food prices meant U.S. farmers were in less need of support.

Corn prices sank to a seven-week low Monday as crops extended their rebound from last month's flooding, promising some relief at the grocery store for consumers who had faced higher prices for meat, dairy and ...

Crops in Minnesota got a boost from warm weather and rain last week. The Minnesota field office of the U.S. Agriculture Department says small grains continued to ripen, while half of the soybean crop reached ...

A dozen animals died during experiments at Loyola University's medical school between 2006-2007, the result of untrained lab workers and inadequate care, according to federal documents.

California is seeking nearly $1.7 million from an import company for allegedly smuggling fruit that could contain a harmful pest.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Recovery from a cyclone that tore into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta in May, leaving at least 138,000 dead or missing, will cost more than $1 billion, a report by the United Nations and Southeast Asian nations concluded.

The estimate, released on Monday at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations, covers the most urgent needs such as food, agriculture and housing for the next three years.

"While significant progress has been made to date, we are still in the relief phase for this aid operation," John Holmes, U.N. under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters.

The European Union said Monday it would be willing to slash farm tariffs by 60 percent as part of a new global trade pact, the deepest cut it has ever offered.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture says it has identified two beetles collected in Bloomington as adult emerald ash borers, the pest blamed for the destruction of millions of North American trees.

Every inch of Rivilade Filsame's body hurt, from his swollen, empty stomach to his dried-out, wrinkled skin. The 18-month-old had been crying for so long in the hospital malnutrition ward that his mother no longer tried to console him.

After soaring food prices led to deadly riots in April, the U.S. and the U.N. promised millions of dollars in aid to poor families like Rivilade's, as well as help for farmers to break Haiti's dependence on imported food.

But three months later, The Associated Press has learned that only a fraction of a key U.S. food pledge _ less than 2 percent as of early July _ has been distributed.