Colorado is one of 10 new states that can now ship seed potatoes to Thailand, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced Tuesday. The newly eligible states are Colorado, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. In 2009, Thailand announced it would accept seed potatoes from California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. “This [...]
Archive for the ‘Specialty Crops’ Category
3 Mar
Honeybee Colonies Rise 7.4 Percent in 2010
The number of honey-producing bee colonies in the U.S. rose 7.4 percent last year and honey production was up 20 percent, according to a report released Friday by the Agriculture Department. About 2.684 million colonies were reported by beekeepers with five or more hives in 2010, USDA reports. Honey production rose to 65.5 pounds per [...]
28 Feb
Battle Over Beets Continues
Environmental groups failed to show that seed plants for Roundup Ready Sugar Beets would cause irreparable harm, a federal appeals court said Friday. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a previous injunction that called for the destruction of the plants. “We conclude the district court abused its discretion in granting a preliminary injunction requiring [...]
7 Feb
USDA Announces Partial Deregulation of Biotech Sugar Beets
The Agriculture Department’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service announced Friday it will partially deregulate biotech sugar beets. The decision means farmers can resume plantings of sugar beets that had been barred by a federal judge. “After conducting an environmental assessment, accepting and reviewing public comments and conducting a plant pest risk assessment, APHIS has [...]
20 Dec
Senate Passes Food Safety Bill
On Sunday, the Senate passed the food safety bill by unanimous consent. The bill now goes to the House where passage is expected this week. President Obama has pledged to sign the bill. The bill will overhaul the nation’s food safety laws for the first time since the Great Depression. The Senate originally approved food [...]
4 Nov
A New Solution for Beets
The USDA has unveiled a plan that would allow the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2011 under strict regulations. According to The Wall Street Journal, the USDA’s proposal represents the preliminary stage of the process and will be followed by a 30-day comment period before the department makes a final decision. The USDA [...]
25 Oct
USDA has a Problem with Potatoes
Potato growers are fighting efforts to ban or limit potatoes in federal child nutrition programs. The USDA, which administers the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program—one of the largest federal food assistance programs—is now finalizing an interim rule that bars participants from buying potatoes with their federal dollars. The agency is also taking steps [...]
11 Oct
Bee Killer Found
It wasn’t pesticides or any mysterious effects of biotech crops that was killing bee colonies. According to research released this week, the complicated reason for the widespread collapse of bee colonies in the United States was a fungus teaming up with a virus. According to a story in The New York Times, a group of [...]
5 Oct
Biotech Sugar Beets on Hold Again
The uncertainty continues over the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2011. A federal judge in California has ruled that USDA has once again violated a federal environmental law by allowing companies to plant Roundup Ready sugar beet seedlings. In August, Judge Jeffrey White ruled that USDA was wrong in deregulating Round Ready sugar beets [...]
24 Sep
Do ‘Real’ Farmers Markets Have a Monopoly on the Term?
Fans of farmers’ markets don’t always agree on the fine points of what defines the folksy bazaars, but they concur on what farmers’ markets aren’t: chain grocery stores selling fruits and vegetables on their supermarket doorsteps. Some states have come up with legal definitions for farmers’ markets, and California even certifies farmers and markets that [...]
15 Sep
SLV Expecting Good Potato Harvest
San Luis Valley potato growers are predicting this year’s harvest will help them rebound from 2009. Last year, a freeze affected the quality and size of the valley’s usually superior potatoes. “We’ve had hot days and cold nights — just absolutely perfect weather for growing conditions,” said Mark Bisel, owner and sales manager of Apex [...]
30 Jun
USDA to Provide Emergency Assistance to Producers
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that disaster assistance will be issued starting today to livestock, honeybee and farm-raised fish producers that suffered losses in 2008 because of disease, adverse weather or other conditions. The aid will come from the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program (ELAP). “American farmers, ranchers and producers should [...]
29 Jun
EBT Machines at Farmers’ Markets Accept SNAP Benefits
A new handbook released by the Agriculture Department provides guidance to managers of farmers’ markets on installing Electronic Benefits Transfer machines and accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. A record number of Americans now receive SNAP benefits. At the same time, the number of farmers’ markets participating in the SNAP program has increased. USDA anticipates [...]
10 May
‘AgJobs’ Bill Needed for Temporary Workers
The Associated Press reports on the difficulty of finding temporary farm workers and the need for Congress to pass an “AgJobs” bill and a simplified temporary worker visa program. The labor shortage is impacting farms across the country. In Appleton, N.Y., Jim Bittner had to cut down a quarter of his cherry and peach trees [...]
4 May
Survey Reports Latest Honey Bee Losses
Losses of managed honey bee colonies nationwide totaled 33.8 percent from all causes from October 2009 to April 2010, according to a survey conducted by the Apiary Inspectors of America and the Agriculture Department’s Agricultural Research Service. Beekeepers identified starvation, poor weather and weak colonies going into winter as the top reasons for mortality. Overall [...]
31 Mar
Organic Food Poised for Comeback
While sales of organic food have taken a hit in recent months, new research shows that consumers will be purchasing more of the product in the next few years. The natural and organic food and beverage category saw rapid growth of more than 24 percent from 2006 to 2008 but stalled during the recession in [...]
25 Mar
Nutritionists: No Need to Eat Organic to be Healthy
USDA, which runs the National Organic Program, considers organic agriculture a “production philosophy” and has stated that an organic label does not imply that a product is superior to conventionally produced foods. Nutritionists are saying there is no need to eat organic to be healthy, and it is more important to choose less processed food [...]
16 Mar
Farm Bureau Asks Court to Delay Worker Program
The American Farm Bureau Federation believes the nation’s immigration system is broken and only Congress can fix it. The organization is asking a federal district court to delay the Obama administration’s final rule on a crucial foreign worker program because the administration failed to properly consider the impacts on small businesses. “The solution offered by [...]
22 Jan
2010 Legislative Conference
TENTATIVE AGENDA February 2-3, 2010 Crowne Plaza Downtown 1450 Glenarm Place Denver, Colorado Tuesday, February 2 9:30 a.m. Advisory Committee Meetings (Animal Ag, Crops, Specialty Ag, Water, & Wildlife/Environment) 12:00 p.m. Break for Lunch 1:30 p.m. CFB Legislative Conference Welcome Former Congressman Scott McInnis, Candidate for Governor Legislative Updates [...]
11 Dec
Banner Year for Beets
Its a great year for the beet crop in Colorado. As the Denver Post reports… “This is the best sugar beet crop we’ve ever had here,” said Richard Seaworth, whose family works 600 acres. He and the Western Sugar Cooperative said a variety of factors have boosted this fall’s harvest, including a season of ideal [...]
8 Dec
Bees Will be Tough to Keep Alive Again This Year
A University of California at Davis bee expert warns that the nation’s beekeepers again will experience difficulties keeping their honeybees alive this winter. “It really does appear as though across the country we’re going to see a significant loss of bees again,” apiculturist Eric Mussen told the California Farm Bureau Federation. Twenty-nine percent of U.S. [...]
12 Oct
Colorado YF&R Member on Biodiesel
CFB YF&R Member Grant Allen sits down and talks to NPA Reporter Adam Burke about switching to Sunflowers on his Dove Creek Colorado farm. YF&R members visited the bio-diesel plant during their State Leadership Conference in Cortez last year.
1 Sep
Boulder Leaves Door Open for Roundup Ready Beets
The Boulder County (Colorado) Commission voted last Wednesday to delay action on a farmer’s eight-month-old application to cultivate biotech sugar beets on county land. The delay comes at the request of the 6 member-growers of sugar beets on Boulder County Open Space land. In a letter to commissioners the growers said, “We would like to [...]
1 Sep
Training the Next Generation Of Aerial Applicators
The Wall Street Journal Online has done a short piece on the ever increasing shortage of aerial applicator pilots.
31 Jul
Boulder Council Says ‘No’ to Biotech Crops
After 7 hours of testimony and debate, members of the Boulder County Food and Ag Policy Council recommended against allowing the cultivation of Roundup Ready sugarbeets on county open space land by a vote of 10-3 With dozens of citizens present for the hearing, public testimony began at 5:30 and stretched well into the 11 [...]
30 Jul
Study: ‘Organic Has No Health Benefits’
The BBC writes… Organic food is no healthier than ordinary food, a large independent review has concluded. There is little difference in nutritional value and no evidence of any extra health benefits from eating organic produce, UK researchers found. The Food Standards Agency who commissioned the report said the findings would help people make an [...]
29 Jul
Activists Step Up Opposition to Roundup Ready Sugarbeets
Anti-Agriculture activists in Boulder County have stepped up their efforts in the media to slander and malign sugarbeet production on open space land. Activists are lining up to attack the Roundup Ready Sugarbeets that local farmers have requested permission to produce on county-owned open space land. The Boulder Daily Camera has a story on sweeteners [...]
27 Jul
Biotech Controversy Grows in Boulder County
Boulder County owns a significant number of acres of farmland. Called “open space” the program seeks to preserve the county’s agricultural heritage by leasing that farmland back to producers. A controversy has been growing over the county’s ban on the use of biotech sugar beets on open space land. Farmers leasing the acres are under [...]
24 Jul
USDA Releases New Ag Satellite Imagery
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) today released new satellite images depicting agricultural land cover for the 2008 crop year. The images, referred to as the Cropland Data Layer (CDL), identify geospatial crop locations in three U.S. regions: the Mid-Atlantic and, for the first time, the Southwest and Southeast.
22 Jul
Weld County Farm Wiped Out by Storm
Joe Miller is used to having a big crop on his vegetable farm in Platteville. But this year it will be slim pickings as the July 20th storm hailed out most of his crop. Miller says two storms Monday night damaged his home, his cars and most importantly, his crops. Two-inch hail punched holes in [...]
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