Monthly Archives: October 2015

The USDA’s agency of Food Safety and Inspection Services is joining the Ad Council and Alvin and the Chipmunks (new movie: The Road Chip) to promote food safety with a video PSA targeted for children. The PSA discusses the importance of safe food handling through the four steps to food safety: Clean, Separate, Cook and Chill.  

By Whitney Forman-Cook The House Agriculture Committee heard from the private sector Wednesday on how it plans to safely use the “big data” American producers collect with farm equipment during their day-to-day operations. “Big data has what seems like a boundless potential to improve the efficiency, profitability and competiveness of our nation’s farmers and ranchers,” Chairman Mike Conaway said in …

From Sustainable Conservation: After a harrowing string of dry years, California pines for wet weather. With summer in the rearview mirror, our farms, communities, and wildlife sure could use a hydrating boost this winter. The Golden State’s record-breaking drought has prompted widely voiced concerns about farming’s use of water. At the same time, our agricultural sector helps feed the nation. …

Cooperatives are at the very heart of agriculture. Cooperative systems emerge at all levels of production and extend through many facets, from harvesting to marketing. Co-ops can be complex operations that serve as supportive foundations for farmers and ranchers, and they can be as simple as direct marketing between farmers and consumers. Co-ops enable many small family farm operations to …

By Geoffrey Mohan Bob Lombardi, 70, went ahead and planted two acres of baby bear pumpkins in a corner of his shut-down ranch this year, just to say he had farmed for 50 years. He hoed them every day by hand, too, the way he and his wife, Joann, did in the beginning, when they had youth, hope and water. …

When autumn temperatures begin to cool, many people like to warm themselves with a cozy fire. When choosing firewood, natural resources experts ask that people use local firewood to avoid moving harmful insects and plant diseases into and around California. “Buy firewood from a local source close to your home to prevent the spread of insects and diseases, such as …

By Ken Christensen Honeybees need a healthy diet of pollen, nectar and water. But at a bee laboratory in eastern Washington state, Steve Sheppard fills their feeding tubes with murky brown liquid from the forest. His bees are getting a healthy dose of mushroom juice. “If this does what we hope, it will be truly revolutionary,” says Sheppard, who heads …