Latest Agriculture News

Too early to prep the garden for spring? Nope

Jan. 14, 2025 07:11 AM EST

As I write this, snow is falling outside my suburban New York window, and I feel like I just stored my gardening tools and patio umbrella for the season. And yet, with the winter solstice in the rearview mirror, it’s already time to start preparing for spring. Testing Seeds ...

Farming tech is on display at CES as companies showcase their green innovations and initiatives

Jan. 09, 2025 09:36 AM EST

LAS VEGAS (AP) — When Russell Maichel started growing almonds, walnuts and pistachios in the 1980s, he didn't own a cellphone. Now, a fully autonomous tractor drives through his expansive orchard, spraying pesticides and fertilizer to protect the trees that have for decades filled him with an...

Major Florida grower to end citrus operations after years of hurricanes and tree disease

Jan. 07, 2025 11:49 AM EST

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A major grower said this week it was abandoning its citrus growing operations, reflecting the headwinds Florida's signature crops are facing following a series of hurricanes and tree diseases. Alico Inc. announced Monday that it planned to wind down its citrus...

Indonesia launches free meals program to feed children and pregnant women to fight malnutrition

Jan. 06, 2025 02:14 AM EST

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's new government started an ambitious project on Monday to fight malnutrition by feeding nearly 90 million children and pregnant women that is expected to cost $28 billion through 2029, although critics question whether the program is affordable. ...

'We fall and we rise': Some amputees in Sierra Leone turn to farming to combat discrimination

Dec. 27, 2024 00:44 AM EST

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — Lahai Makieu struck the bamboo with a machete until it cracked and fell. Balancing on his crutch, he reached to pick it up. But colleagues pulled the bamboo's other end, and he tumbled into the dense grass. “They forgot I had one leg,” the...

Farmers are still reeling months after Hurricane Helene ravaged crops across the South

Dec. 21, 2024 09:04 AM EST

LYONS, Ga. (AP) — Twisted equipment and snapped tree limbs still litter Chris Hopkins’ Georgia farm more than two months after Hurricane Helene made its deadly march across the South. An irrigation sprinkler system about 300 feet (92 meters) long lay overturned in a field, its...

US wins ruling in a trade dispute with Mexico over its bid to ban genetically modified corn

Dec. 20, 2024 18:15 PM EST

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The United States won a ruling on Friday in a trade dispute with Mexico, which had sought to ban imports of genetically modified corn for human consumption. U.S. growers, who had worried about the potential loss of the single biggest export market for U.S. corn,...

Florida agriculture hit with $190M losses from Hurricane Milton

Dec. 20, 2024 15:46 PM EST

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Florida agriculture suffered more than $190 million in losses from Hurricane Milton, making it the costliest for farmers and ranchers of three cyclones that pummeled the state in 2024, according to University of Florida researchers. When all the data is...

Zimbabwe launches new land policy to empower Black farmers with direct farm ownership

Dec. 20, 2024 13:04 PM EST

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Friday launched a new policy that will allow beneficiaries of land taken from white people under contentious land reforms to sell it and to be able to borrow from banks using it as collateral. This marks a major...

Farmers, business owners, fire survivors face uncertainty after $100B in disaster relief flounders

Dec. 19, 2024 20:38 PM EST

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — American farmers, small business owners and wildfire survivors are among those who will suffer if Congress cannot agree on a new spending bill after President-elect Donald Trump abruptly rejected a bipartisan plan that included more than $100 billion in disaster aid. ...