Latest Agriculture News
California date palm ranches reap not only fruit, but a permit to host weddings and quinceañeras
COACHELLA, Calif. (AP) — Claudia Lua Alvarado has staked her future on the rows of towering date palms behind the home where she lives with her husband and two children in a desert community east of Los Angeles. It’s not solely due to the fleshy, sweet fruit they give each year....
Wind power can be a major source of tax revenue, but officials struggle to get communities on board
PIPER CITY, Ill. (AP) — In Scott Saffer's science classroom, kids bake cookies in a decked-out kitchen, care for fish, turtles and a snake, and have access to a workshop full of tools. As the gifted enrichment coordinator at Tri-Point School District, Saffer is living his teaching dream, one he...
Tractor Supply: Q2 Earnings Snapshot
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) — BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) — Tractor Supply Co. (TSCO) on Thursday reported second-quarter earnings of $425.2 million. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company said it had profit of $3.93 per share. The results missed Wall Street expectations. The...
A plan to replenish the Colorado River could mean dry alfalfa fields. And many farmers are for it
A plan to help shore up the depleted Colorado River by cutting off water to alfalfa fields in California's crop-rich Imperial Valley is finding support from the farmers who grow it. The Imperial Irrigation District — the biggest user of water from the 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer)...
Farmers in Africa say their soil is dying and chemical fertilizers are in part to blame
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — When Benson Wanjala started farming in his western Kenya village two and a half decades ago, his 10-acre farm could produce a bountiful harvest of 200 bags of maize. That has dwindled to 30. He says his once fertile soil has become a nearly lifeless field that no longer...
Climate change imperils drought-stricken Morocco’s cereal farmers and its food supply
KENITRA, Morocco (AP) — Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco. A six-year drought has imperiled the country's entire agriculture sector, including farmers who grow cereals and grains used to feed humans and livestock. The North African nation...
Silicon Valley-backed voter plan for a new California city won't be on the November ballot after all
FAIRFIELD, Calif. (AP) — A Silicon Valley-backed initiative to build a green city for up to 400,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area on land now zoned for agriculture won't be on the Nov. 5 ballot after all, officials said Monday. The California Forever campaign qualified for...
The “greenhouse effect”: How an oft-touted climate solution threatens agricultural workers
MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — To harvest tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers, to clip herbs, to prune and propagate succulents, people work in oppressive heat and humidity. Some wring out shirts soaked with sweat. Some contend with headaches, dizziness and nausea. Some collapse. Some hover on the brink of...
Takeaways from AP story on dangerous heat threats to greenhouse workers
MOREHEAD, Ky. (AP) — Many farms, from vertical farming startups to traditional specialty crop growers, are marketing greenhouses as a way to shelter crops from climate extremes. But overlooked are the experiences of workers inside, who may swelter under high heat and humidity. The...
Hawaii ag agency won’t get all the money slated for pest management after all
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green last week slashed $10 million from the Department of Agriculture’s budget aimed at limiting the spread of invasive species. Green said the agency likely couldn’t spend the money before it lapsed because the agency didn’t have the staffing to effectively...
