EJToday: Top Headlines
EJToday is SEJ's selection of new and outstanding stories on environmental topics in print and on the air, updated every weekday. SEJ also offers a free e-mailed digest of the day's EJToday postings, called SEJ-beat. SEJ members are subscribed automatically, but may opt out here. Non-members may subscribe here. EJToday is also available via RSS feed. Please see Editorial Guidelines for EJToday content.
"Farmers say consolidation in the industry means they're forced to buy more costly seeds. But Monsanto, the world's largest seed firm, says competition 'is alive and flourishing.'""Rising Food Prices May Start With Seeds"
LA Times, 03/12/2010
Those who sold their land to the massive Premium Standard hog-feeding operation in northern Missouri or went to work for it loved it. Those whose property was next door generally did not."Odor Problem Pits Hog Farm Operator Against State, Divides Towns"
Kansas City Star, 03/08/2010
"Natural food advocates are optimistic that the government is committed to a meaningful certification process. They point to an edict that livestock must graze on pasture at least four months a year.""U.S. Is Satisfying a Hunger for Tougher Organic Meat and Milk Rules"
LA Times, 03/04/2010
"The federal government will maximize enrollment in the land-idling Conservation Reserve, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a policy that would reduce U.S. cropland by 1.5 percent if successful.""USDA To Boost Wildlife Habitat, Trim Cropland"
Reuters, 03/02/2010
"Drought-stricken farmers and cities across California were granted a measure of relief on Friday when federal and state officials said they expected to supply significantly more water this year than last.""Desperate California To Get More Water At Last"
http://planetark.org/enviro-news/item/56915, 03/02/2010
"Manure is nitrogen rich, which makes it a great fertilizer. But by applying every last bit of ma nure to their fields, California dairy farmers—and non-dairy farmers as well—are dosing their crops with more nitrogen than the plants can absorb. The excess nitrogen is causing serious air and water pollution problems and may even be threatening the health of the soil."Farm Policies Could Reduce Nitrogen Pollution
Grist, 02/22/2010
"In this special Grist series, we’ll be looking at where synthetic nitrogen comes from and what our reliance on it is doing to our health and to the health of our waterways and climate. We’ll also be looking at ways in which synthetic nitrogen can be used more wisely—and, as much as possible, phased out.""The Nitrogen Dilemma: Is America Fertilizing Disaster?"
Grist, 02/08/2010
"Faced with stiff resistance from ranchers and farmers, the Obama administration has decided to scrap a national program intended to help authorities quickly identify and track livestock in the event of an animal disease outbreak.""U.S.D.A. Plans to Drop Program to Trace Livestock"
NYTimes, 02/08/2010
"Capping a decade-long battle, private companies in Mexico have begun the first legal plantings of genetically modified corn, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday.""Mexico Starts Planting GM Corn, Activists Appeal"
AP, 02/04/2010
"A $10.5 million research project aimed at mapping the DNA sequence of sunflowers could one day yield a towering new variety for both food and fuel.""Sunflower DNA Map Could Produce Plants for Fuel"
AP, 01/22/2010
"Even though deep snowdrifts cover his fields in eastern Kansas, Luke Ulrich, a corn and soybean farmer here, is thinking about spring. It's time to buy seed again, but hundreds of seed companies have gone under in the past two decades.""Monsanto GMO Ignites Big Seed War"
NPR, 01/14/2010
"Out of pride and a reluctance to point a finger at neighbors, ranchers in the vast Great Basin outback where Oregon, Idaho and Nevada come together have been slow to admit that someone in their midst, perhaps even someone they know from barbecues and brandings, has been stealing cattle. Just who is doing it, and how they have gotten away with it for at least three years, remains a mystery.""Rustlers Ride Wide Open Range of Great Basin"
AP, 01/06/2010
"As much as 100 million bushels of U.S. corn could be lost after heavy snowstorms in recent days likely delayed until spring the final stages of an already historically slow harvest, analysts and meteorologists said on Monday.""Yield Loss Eyed As Snow Covers U.S. Corn Crop"
Reuters, 12/30/2009
The practices of feeding farm animals low doses of antibiotics is helping breed lethal new super-bacteria that are resistant to treatment when they infect humans."Pressure Rises to Stop Antibiotics in Agriculture"
AP, 12/29/2009
"A report has found that farmers are using more herbicides on genetically engineered soybeans, corn, and cotton because of resistant weeds.""More Herbicide Use Reported on Genetically Modified Crops"
Christian Science Monitor, 12/23/2009
