Author: staff

Cotton is woven into the very fabric of our lives, from soft T-shirts to comfortable jeans and cozy bedsheets. It’s the world’s leading renewable textile fiber and the backbone of a global industry worth billions. As climate change intensifies, cotton farmers face increasing challenges from drought and heat. However, new research offers hope for developing more resilient varieties that can maintain high yields even under water-stressed conditions. An interdisciplinary team of researchers examined how different cotton plants respond to drought at the genetic level in a study recently published in the Plant Biotechnology Journal. They grew 22 varieties of upland cotton…

The Biden administration issued 43,244 payments to eligible farmers and ranchers today as part of the Inflation Reduction Act’s Financial Assistance Program. These recipients were spread across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa. This one-time initiative targeted farmers and ranchers who had experienced discrimination in U.S. Department of Agriculture farm lending programs before January 2021. DFAP addressed various forms of discrimination, including race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and religion. The program distributed $2 billion to those affected by discriminatory USDA loan processes. “Farmers and ranchers work around the clock…

Childcare challenges might not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about farm business viability, yet according to a new study led by a Penn State researcher, childcare challenges can negatively impact farm businesses and the farm family. The research — a collaboration between Florence Becot, Nationwide Insurance Early Career Professor in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, and Shoshanah Inwood, associate professor of community, food, and economic development at Ohio State University — focused on understanding how children and their needs shape the farm enterprise. To assess the extent to which childcare arrangements, farm individuals and…

Over 100 employees at John Deere’s Seeding and Cylinder operations in Moline, Illinois, face layoffs in the coming weeks.  John Deere confirmed the layoffs to News 8 on July 29. Deere has notified employees at the operations in Moline, Illinois, of indefinite layoffs effective in three phases on the following dates: August 16: 43 production employees August 30: 55 production employees October 4: 36 production employees The city of Moline has acknowledged the wave of layoffs in a social media post. In the past three months, John Deere has laid off more than 1,000 employees company-wide. This includes approximately 345…

California is a state that has never shied away from extreme agricultural policy. This happens despite the fact that the state is quite dependent upon its agricultural industry — it’s home to over 400 different ag commodities, grows over a third of the country’s vegetables and nearly three-quarters of the country’s fruits and nuts, and has the only Mediterranean climate in North America. Yet there is a lot of disconnect between the history of farming and ranching and certain groups of people who don’t agree with the practice of producing food. The gap between anti-agriculturists and those who rely on…

New data from George Washington University is pointing the finger at dozens of cocoa-based products for containing heavy metals — such as lead and cadmium — that surpass levels that the researchers consider safe. The 72 products the research team analyzed, including dark chocolate, were done over a span of eight years. They tested for lead, cadmium, and arsenic, which are heavy metals that pose a significant health hazard in sufficient amounts. Consuming excessive amounts of these metals have been linked to such things as neurological and development problems, kidney issues, and skin or lung cancers. Though none of the…

For the second year, the Ohio Pork Council presented the Breaking Boundaries Pig Show at the Ohio State Fair, giving participants between the ages of 9 and 22 with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities the opportunity to shine inside the show arena. With help from youth who participate OPC’s OH-PIGS swine exhibition program, each Breaking Boundaries participant was paired with their own onsite mentor. This provided quick lessons on how to care for, handle, and show a pig in front of a live audience of supporters and the event’s guest judge, Ohio Department of Agriculture Director Brian Baldridge. “When youth with…

State and county fairs are a summer tradition for many, filled with fun, games, and, of course, food. But amid the elephant ears and deep-fried ice cream, how can fairgoers make healthier food choices? Jenny Lobb, a family and consumer sciences educator for Ohio State University Extension offers some advice. “It’s not likely you’ll gain 12 pounds in a day of overindulgence, but that doesn’t mean it’s a great idea to have an elephant ear for breakfast, stromboli for lunch, bacon-on-a-stick for dinner, and deep-fried ice cream for dessert,” she said. “Your gastrointestinal system would probably have a hard time…

California-based Wonderful Nurseries and United Farm Workers have been fighting to prove their side in a major legal battle over farmworkers union certifications. Their contention came to a head earlier this month when a Kern County Superior Court judge ruled in favor of Wonderful. Wonderful Nurseries, part of The Wonderful Co., claims that the UFW used the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm and Food Worker Relief Grant to entice Wonderful employees to sign union cards. The company contends that the signup process happened during union meetings that were only advertised to help farm workers apply for the grant. Wonderful also…

Greece has implemented a ban on moving sheep and goats from farms in an effort to control the spread of a viral infection known as “goat plague,” according to a statement from the agriculture ministry on Monday.  The virus, officially named Peste des Petits Ruminants, is highly contagious among goats and sheep but does not affect humans. It has a mortality rate of up to 7 percent in infected animals.  According to Reuters and other news sources reporting on the issue, approximately 8,000 animals have been culled and over 200,000 tested, primarily in the central Thessaly region where the outbreak…