Environmental News Network

USDA Denies Dequest to Delay Almond Pasteurization Rule; Provision to Take Effect September 1
A new rule requiring all California almonds to be pasteurized will go into effect Sept. 1, despite farmers' requests to postpone the provision for six months, federal agricultural officials said. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to implement the rule stemmed from salmonella outbreaks in 2001 and 2004 that were traced to raw almonds. >> Read the Full Article
Rubbish Heaps Helped Crops Evolve
Rubbish heaps and backyard gardens helped early farmers domesticate crop plants, according to Oxford University scientists. Their research confirms that seeds and fruits gathered in the wild and then discarded or planted at home created a â€˜backyard melting potâ€™ that gave rise to novel hybrids. Ancient people were quick to spot useful hybrids and start growing them as crops as the first village farms were established, around 4,000 years ago. >> Read the Full Article
Palm Oil Not A Field Of Dreams For All Indonesians
Palm oil prices might be going through the roof and making investors and businessmen rich, but the soaring prices have not improved the lot of pickers and locals working on the fringes of the palm oil industry. On the island of Sumatra, one of the main palm oil-growing islands in Indonesia, the world's second-largest producer after Malaysia, 52-year-old Minah salvages unspoilt fruit from partly rotten palm branch that have fallen to the ground. >> Read the Full Article
Uganda Agricultural Effort Gets $12M From World Bank
Agricultural research in Uganda has received a US$12 million boost from the World Bank. The bank's board of directors approved the loan for Uganda's Second Agricultural Research and Training Project this month (August). "Raising agricultural productivity is a key area for the [Ugandan] government's Poverty Eradication Action Plan and a flagship operational area for the bank's Africa Action Plan," said John McIntire, the World Bank's country director for Tanzania and Uganda, in a press release. >> Read the Full Article
Mom Always Said "Eat Your Veggies", But What About Your Whole Grains?
Every cause has a day, or month, and why should grains be any different? So, courtesy of the Whole Grains Council, and the US Rice Federation, September is now, officially, the first-ever National Whole Grains Month. >> Read the Full Article
Fish Farms Help Families In Africa Hit By AIDS
Tiny fish farms have helped 1,200 poor families hit by AIDS in Malawi to raise their incomes and improve their diets in a scheme being expanded to other African nations, a report showed on Monday. About $90 can enable construction of a small rain-fed pond that can be stocked with juvenile fish costing $10. Once the fish grow and reproduce, the ponds produce food with far less back-breaking work than subsistence farming. >> Read the Full Article
Bat Breath Reveals The Identity of a Vampireâ€™s Last Victim
Vampire bats that live in Latin America have switched to blood meals from cattle instead of from rainforest mammals, Farmers are now observing vampire bats satisfying their need for blood by attacking their own livestock. >> Read the Full Article
Ohio Orders New State Policy: Grow 'Local' Food Sales
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has signed an executive order to create a new policy for the state's $93 billion food and agriculture industry focusing on beefing up sales of local foods. Its mission will be to analyze food production, processing and consumption in Ohio, and link producers and consumers in local food systems to ensure citizens in need have greater access to fresh and nutritious food. The council also said it will assist farmers and businesses in marketing their products to encourage the growth of Ohio food products. >> Read the Full Article
The Regreening Of The Himalayas - Community Forestry
Leafy forests replanted by communities in Nepal are flying in the face of accepted conservation practice. Now, something called "Community Forestry" aims to mix pine with more broad leaf plants and restore forests. >> Read the Full Article
Dupont Presents Views To Wall Street On Its Ag And Biofuels Markets
The synergies among agricultural biotechnology, biofuels and biomaterials are creating potential game-changing solutions to the global challenges we face today and significant growth opportunities for DuPont. >> Read the Full Article