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+16 +1
Monsanto Owns Us: The Monopoly of Seeds and Intellectual Property Rights
For plants designed in a lab a little more than a decade ago, they’ve come a long way: Today, the vast majority of the nation’s two primary crops grow from seeds genetically altered according to Monsanto company patents.
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+16 +1
Inside the Milk Machine: How Modern Dairy Works
Milk has always stood for motherhood and for life. According to Greek mythology, the Milky Way was formed when Hera, the Greek goddess of marriage and womanhood, spilled milk while breast-feeding Heracles, known to the Romans as Hercules.
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+19 +1
Bugs Have Already Evolved Immunity to GMO Corn
Well that certainly didn't take very long. According to a study published Monday, the Western Corn Rootworm (actually a beetle larvae) has already developed a resistance to not one but two strains of generically modified corn thanks to the over-reliance and improper implementation of the crops by farmers in Iowa.
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+5 +1
Breaking America’s meat monopoly
In the past 60 years, the United States has fallen deeply in love with meat. What was once a treat is now expected at every meal to the point where we can get it in a tube. The demand for meat has increased dramatically, and the largest meat companies have found ways to fulfill that demand cheaply. It’s not a surprise that the path to the six cent Chicken McNugget was built at the expense of not only the chickens themselves, but farmers and smaller meat plants.
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+18 +1
California Drought: San Joaquin Valley sinking as farmers race to tap aquifer
So wet was the San Joaquin Valley of Steve Arthur's childhood that a single 240-foot-deep well could quench the thirst of an arid farm.
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+4 +1
Beef prices reach highest level since 1987
The highest beef prices in almost three decades have arrived just before the start of grilling season, causing sticker shock for both consumers and restaurant owners — and relief isn't likely anytime soon. A dwindling number of cattle and growing export demand from countries such as China and Japan have caused the average retail cost of fresh beef to climb to $5.28 a pound in February, up almost a quarter from January and the highest price since 1987.
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+18 +1
Death on the Farm
American farmers are a dying breed, in part because they’re killing themselves at a shocking rate.
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+23 +1
China just revealed a major state secret: nearly 20% of its farmland is polluted
Almost one-fifth of China’s farmland is polluted, according to a government report released this week. Officials have acknowledged the country’s problems with water and air pollution, but the extent of soil contamination has been a closely guarded “state secret,” for fear of incriminating certain provinces or companies.
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+16 +1
Face of American Farmer Changing
The average American farmer is now 58 years old, and farmers 65 and older are the fastest growing segment of the population. It’s a troubling trend signaling big changes ahead for America.
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+7 +1
USDA tries to contain virus killing millions of pigs
Porcine epidemic diarrhea has killed millions of pigs in 27 states since showing up in the U.S. last May
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+20 +1
Doh! Government Proposal Could Make Beer Prices Soar
There’s a lot to hate about changes proposed by the FDA, which could push prices higher not only for beer, but for milk and meat as well. The new regulations are being bashed as wasteful and anti-recycling to boot.
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+12 +1
With Farm Robotics, the Cows Decide When It’s Milking Time
Something strange is happening at farms in upstate New York. The cows are milking themselves. Desperate for reliable labor and buoyed by soaring prices, dairy operations across the state are charging into a brave new world of udder care: robotic milkers, which feed and milk cow after cow without the help of a single farmhand.
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+24 +1
Glyphosate is a disaster for human health
Extensive, long running evidence for the cancer-causing effects of glyphosate, and other toxic impacts, have been ignored by regulators. Indeed as the evidence has built up, permitted levels in food have been hugely increased, writes Dr Mae Wan Ho.
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+20 +1
Onward: Underground Farming in a London Bomb Shelter
There's a farm one hundred feet below London's streets. In an old World War II bomb shelter, innovators Steve Dring and Richard Ballard are growing salad greens with reclaimed water and lights powered by wind turbines. Finding ways to grow more food using less space will be key to feeding Earth's growing population.
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+20 +1
Salads in space as astronauts get to grow their own vegetables
Most people associate Nasa with rocket science but now the American space agency has turned its attention to rocket salad. A portable greenhouse to grow lettuces was taken to the International Space Station (ISS) during last week's SpaceX Dragon supply mission. Until now, all supplies have been delivered from Earth. But according to Dr Gioia Massa, a payload specialist at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, there is no reason why this has to be the case.
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+18 +1
Vermont approves GMO labelling law
As hundreds of people cheered, Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a law Thursday that puts the small liberal state on the path to be the first to require labelling of genetically modified foods and promptly announced an online fundraiser to battle expected legal challenges from the food industry.
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+30 +4
The True Cost of Cheap Clothing
As cotton has evolved into one crop among many for Mississippi Delta farmers, it remains a central force in the vast, tangled, global textiles market—a market that includes producer/retailers like the United States, pure retail markets like the European Union, and the ligament between them: garment manufacturers like China and India, both of which also grow significant portions of the global cotton supply.
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+20 +4
Monsanto plans to patent genetically modified marijuana brand in Uruguay
U.S. corporation Monsanto plans to launch production of genetically modified marijuana, and companies such as Drug Policy Alliance y Open Society Foundation are going to create our own brand,
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+14 +3
Denmark: Three Deaths from Drug-Resistant “Pig MRSA”
A troubling and also kind of odd story came out of Denmark this weekend. In a court proceeding, a microbiologist has disclosed that three residents of the country who had no known connection to farming died of MRSA infections caused by ST398, the livestock-associated strain of drug-resistant staph that first appeared among pig farmers in the Netherlands in 2004 and has since moved through Europe, Canada and the United States.
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+21 +3
Child Workers Are Getting Nicotine Poisoning on US Tobacco Farms
Officials often tackle cigarette-related health issues from the consumer’s perspective — pushing for public smoking bans and increasing age restrictions. But a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released today indicates that a major health concern is looming in the tobacco fields of the US, where children as young as seven can be found working each summer.
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