The American Farmer
The man is a worker. He is strong. His calloused hands grip the axe, and he drives the blade into the tree. He looks up to see that the tree is wavering. One final blow brings the great tree to the ground where even there, fallen, it is beautiful.
The man is …
The government of Bangladesh is advancing plans to install a coal-based thermal power plant in the area of Rampal in the Bagerhaat district. This project is only 10 kilometers away from the Sundarbans, an environmentally critical area, and threatens its very existence. The Rampal power plant will have hazardous impacts on agriculture and food security,…
Last month, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a bill that will enforce the nation’s toughest restrictions on hydraulic fracturing, a process through which oil and natural gas is extracted from rock deposits in the earth. The technique – commonly known as “fracking” – had not been regulated in the state until the signing…
The United States currently leads the world in food production; but in order for this to remain true, the government must invest more in agricultural research, says a committee of the nation’s leading scientists and technology experts in a new report to the president. The document, issued Friday by the President’s Council of Advisors on…
More than 150 scientists and 50 farmers came out this week in support of stricter limits on antibiotics used in animal agriculture as part of a broader effort to tackle the “health crisis” caused by growing antibiotic resistance. Earlier this year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finalized a voluntary guidance for farmers on the…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is seeking comments on a proposal to make changes to the reporting requirements for antimicrobial sales and distribution. The agency said in a Federal Register notice that it is considering revisions to the regulation to incorporate the requirements of section 105 of the Animal Drug User Fee Amendments of…
Another newspaper has weighed into the debate over antibiotics in agriculture. In a piece titled “Meat and ‘superbugs,'” the Washington Post editorial board argued for “a more concerted effort” from industry, regulators and scientists to help combat antibiotic resistance.
The article, published in Sunday’s paper, follows last week’s editorial in the journal Nature and…
The prestigious journal Nature this week called for reining in the use of antibiotics in agriculture, adding to the growing chorus of scientists and public health advocates seeking reforms. “If farmers do not rein in the use of antibiotics for livestock, people will be severely affected,” read one of the weekly journal’s editorials. “The…
A Missouri Senate committee will hear and likely recommend approval of House Bill 1860, the so-called ag-gag bill the lower chamber already approved on a 124-29 vote.
If that happens, HB 1860 will get a final up or down vote on the floor of the Missouri Senate, possibly before the end of the week.…
Last Friday and Saturday, the crew at Roxbury Farm in New York’s Hudson Valley prepared for the hurricane by stowing machinery and hay bales above the floodplain. Jean-Paul Courtens and his workers harvested ripe delicata squash, secured tomato plants against the wind, and pulled irrigation equipment from the Kinderhook Creek. However, there was no way …
