"The pheasant, once king of Iowa’s nearly half-a-billion-dollar hunting industry, is vanishing from the state. Surveys show that the population in 2012 was the second lowest on record, 81 percent below the average over the past four decades."
"WASHINGTON -- Top leaders on both the Senate and House Agriculture committees announced a deal on Sunday to extend the 2008 farm bill by a year, a deal that could avoid a surge in market prices for milk and other commodities."
"FREDERICKSBURG, Pa. — The smell of oregano wafting from Scott Sechler’s office is so strong that anyone visiting Bell & Evans these days could be forgiven for wondering whether Mr. Sechler has forsaken the production of chicken and gone into pizza."
"Most livestock moved across state lines will have to be identified and tracked under a U.S. Department of Agriculture rule that aims to rapidly trace diseased animals to their origin."
"Across the U.S. Midwest, homeowners are restoring their yards and former farmland to the native prairie that existed in pre-settlement days. The benefits can be substantial -- maintenance that uses less water and no fertilizer, and an ecosystem that supports wildflowers and wildlife."
As one city in Japan's radiation-stricken Fukushima prefecture starts serving local rice in school lunches, the long debate over the safety of Fukushima rice seems to be as much a matter of marketing as of science.
"OSLO -- The amount of land needed to grow crops worldwide is at a peak and an area more than twice the size of France can return to nature by 2060 due to rising yields and slower population growth, a group of experts said on Monday."
Congress and the White House seem to be doing an about-face after promising the American public aggressive action on food safety two years ago.
"Drought continued to expand through many key farming states within the central United States in the past week, as scattered rainfall failed to replenish parched soils, according to a report issued Thursday by state and federal climatology experts."
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