The U.S. Department of Agriculture sets an industry definition for family farms. But that definition doesn’t take acreage size into consideration and can include operations where the family may not own the land, or even farm it. It defines what a family farm is for a consistent technical term in res
Once every five years, the farm bill reauthorizes farm and nutrition programs nationwide, covering programs such as healthy food access for low-income Americans and protecting our environment. A conference committee is working on a new one.
With their expansive deck overlooking a pond, Shirley Kidwell and her family used to spend summer days outdoors reading, but the growth of large animal farms in the area has eliminated that pastime.
Last year, according to a University of Missouri survey, dicamba damaged an estimated 3.6 million acres of soybeans across 25 states when it drifted from farms planted with seeds genetically engineered to resist the chemical onto regular soybean fields.
Parents in Page County, Iowa, in 1915 hoped the actions of a local farm girl would cause similar seeds of thought to “germinate in the fertile minds of our youth.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lessened protections for crops and wildlife habitats after Monsanto supplied research that presented lower estimates of how far the weed killer dicamba can drift,
In 1937 newspapers across the country, including the New York Times, ran a story about a 63-year-old Iowa woman who had spent her entire life working a 250-
In the United States alone, air pollution kills about 115,000 people a year — more than three times the number of deaths caused by motor vehicles. Worldwide, some 7 million
Lynda Cochart did not realize her water in Wisconsin was contaminated with coliform bacteria until she contracted MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant skin infection. Another News21 report that puts farm run-off, including some in Iowa, into perspective.
Increased drought, unsustainable irrigation and changing crop patterns are among the impacts that the agriculture sector will confront as the climate changes, according to a draft federal climate report obtained by The New York Times on Monday.
Since 2000, the percentage of genetically engineered corn planted in the United States has grown from 25 percent to 92 percent in 2016. But unless yields increase significantly, experts say the world will not be able to grow enough food to feed itself by 2050, with food shortages anticipated as soon
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday that it will move forward with a controversial set of rules reforming organic standards for livestock and poultry.
