Latest Agriculture and the environment News
Washington bans fish-farming net pens, citing salmon threat
SEATTLE (AP) — Washington banned fish-farming with net pens in state waters on Friday, citing danger to struggling native salmon. Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz issued an executive order banning the aquaculture method, which involves raising fish in large floating pens...
Foundations call for cooperation, some new pledges at COP27
As communities around the globe press their case at the COP27 conference in Egypt that climate damage is forcing migration and causing suffering as never before, philanthropic foundations pooled their resources to donate more than $2 billion to support climate adaptation projects. Overall, though...
Israel and Jordan agree to team up to save Jordan River
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel and Jordan signed a declaration of intent on Thursday at the U.N. climate conference to conserve and protect their shared Jordan River — a sacred waterway nearly running dry because of climate change, pollution and other threats. The agreement, struck at...
Nigeria floods 80 times more likely with climate change
SHARM EL SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — Heavy rains and flooding that swamped Nigeria, Niger, Chad and the surrounding region between June and October this year was made 80 times more likely because of climate change, a rapid analysis by international climate attribution experts found. ...
Lettuce again on the Florida menu to slow manatee starvation
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Lettuce will be on the menu again this year for Florida manatees as part of an effort to slow the starvation deaths of the beloved marine mammals, wildlife officials said Wednesday. Plans are already in place to resume an experimental feeding program at...
Washington won't renew leases for Puget Sound fish farms
SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state Department of Natural Resources said Monday it will not renew a fish-farming company’s last remaining leases on net pens in Puget Sound. Department officials said Cooke Aquaculture has until Dec. 14 to finish steelhead farming and start...
New Zealand targets cow burps to help reduce global warming
PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand (AP) — How do you stop a cow from burping? It might sound like the start of a humorous riddle, but it's the subject of a huge scientific inquiry in New Zealand. And the answer could have profound effects on the health of the planet. ...
Cocoa farmers fear climate change lowering crop production
KOREAGUI, Ivory Coast (AP) — For more than 40 years, Jean Baptiste Saleyo has farmed cocoa on several acres of his family's land in Ivory Coast, a West African nation that produces almost half the world's supply of the raw ingredient used in chocolate bars. But this year Saleyo...
Droughts, rising seas put Cuba's agriculture under threat
BATABANO, Cuba (AP) — Yordán Díaz Gonzales pulled weeds from his fields with a tractor until Cuba's summer rainy season turned them into foot-deep red mud. Now it takes five farmhands to tend to Díaz’s crop. That shrinks Diaz’s profit margin and lowers Cuba‘s agricultural...
In dry, unreliable weather, Indian farmers restore arid land
ANANTAPUR, India (AP) — Ramesh Hanumaiya digs a few inches into his field with his hand and examines the soil. There is movement in the thick, brown earth: Tiny earthworms being disturbed from their homestead. A handful of dirt filled with earthworms might not seem like much, but...
