nbcnews:

US cuts crop forecast as drought ravages Corn Belt

(Photos top: Scott Olson / Getty Images; Photos bottom: Nati Harnik / AP; Jim Lo Scalzo / EPA)

Federal forecasters are predicting record prices for corn and soybeans, raising fears of a new world food crisis as the worst U.S. drought in half a century continues to punish key farm states.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday said production of U.S. corn and soybeans is expected to be down 17 percent from its forecast last month of nearly 13 billion bushels, and 13 percent lower than last year. It was the second month in a row when the USDA has cut its production estimate.

Read the complete story or view the slideshow.

and so it begins

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The drug war is not a failure; rather it works perfectly for its intended purposes. It generates billions of dollars for government agencies at all levels, employing millions of people. It created and supports whole industries such as drug testing, and has enhanced the drug rehabilitation industry.

The drug war also protects other industries such as tobacco and alcohol, and even legal medical drug companies. It also protects the lumber and oil industries. The drug war even drives this Nation’s foreign policy. The drug war also funds gang violence at home and terrorists abroad, creating even more American jobs needed to combat these threats.

The drug war also has the added benefit of conveniently side stepping Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and liberties, allowing government to control even the most intimate facets of citizen’s lives, increasing government’s control. The drug war also guarantees a ready supply of drugs for children, guaranteeing an endless supply of new participants to support the prison industry, lawyers, law enforcement, etc.

The drug war also provides government the opportunity to marginalize those considered undesirable, take away their ability to vote, find employment, get an education, take their children, seize their property, etc. Who in their right mind could possibly want to do away with this cash cow, and return to a time when there was no illegal drug use in this country?

"

Modern Uses for Cannabis/Hemp

Modern Uses for Cannabis/Hemp


   Pests Are Developing Resistance to Monsanto’s Engineered Supercorn
  
  Some consumers may have a problem with genetically modified food crops, but in at least one case described in an Iowa State University researcher’s paper there’s one customer that’s happy to consume Monsanto’s GM corn: rootworms, the very pest the corn is modified to thwart. According to the paper, western corn rootworms in at least four northeast Iowa corn fields have developed a resistance to the natural pesticide in corn seed produced by Monsanto, marking the first time a major Midwest pest has developed a resistance to GM crops.
  
  That could spell all kinds of trouble for food crops, farmers, Monsanto, and pretty much everyone who isn’t a western corn rootworm. Though based on isolated cases thus far, the problem could be more widespread, and the paper is bound to rouse another debate on the benefits and demerits of GM crop cultivation and current farm management practices.
  
  Read Full Article

Pests Are Developing Resistance to Monsanto’s Engineered Supercorn

Some consumers may have a problem with genetically modified food crops, but in at least one case described in an Iowa State University researcher’s paper there’s one customer that’s happy to consume Monsanto’s GM corn: rootworms, the very pest the corn is modified to thwart. According to the paper, western corn rootworms in at least four northeast Iowa corn fields have developed a resistance to the natural pesticide in corn seed produced by Monsanto, marking the first time a major Midwest pest has developed a resistance to GM crops.

That could spell all kinds of trouble for food crops, farmers, Monsanto, and pretty much everyone who isn’t a western corn rootworm. Though based on isolated cases thus far, the problem could be more widespread, and the paper is bound to rouse another debate on the benefits and demerits of GM crop cultivation and current farm management practices.

Read Full Article


   Pests Are Developing Resistance to Monsanto’s Engineered Supercorn
  
  Some consumers may have a problem with genetically modified food crops, but in at least one case described in an Iowa State University researcher’s paper there’s one customer that’s happy to consume Monsanto’s GM corn: rootworms, the very pest the corn is modified to thwart. According to the paper, western corn rootworms in at least four northeast Iowa corn fields have developed a resistance to the natural pesticide in corn seed produced by Monsanto, marking the first time a major Midwest pest has developed a resistance to GM crops.
  
  That could spell all kinds of trouble for food crops, farmers, Monsanto, and pretty much everyone who isn’t a western corn rootworm. Though based on isolated cases thus far, the problem could be more widespread, and the paper is bound to rouse another debate on the benefits and demerits of GM crop cultivation and current farm management practices.
  
  Read Full Article

Pests Are Developing Resistance to Monsanto’s Engineered Supercorn

Some consumers may have a problem with genetically modified food crops, but in at least one case described in an Iowa State University researcher’s paper there’s one customer that’s happy to consume Monsanto’s GM corn: rootworms, the very pest the corn is modified to thwart. According to the paper, western corn rootworms in at least four northeast Iowa corn fields have developed a resistance to the natural pesticide in corn seed produced by Monsanto, marking the first time a major Midwest pest has developed a resistance to GM crops.

That could spell all kinds of trouble for food crops, farmers, Monsanto, and pretty much everyone who isn’t a western corn rootworm. Though based on isolated cases thus far, the problem could be more widespread, and the paper is bound to rouse another debate on the benefits and demerits of GM crop cultivation and current farm management practices.

Read Full Article

mothernaturenetwork:


Will Allen is an urban farmer and the co-founder and CEO of Growing Power, a national nonprofit organization that helps bring healthy food to underserved urban areas. Recognizing that the unhealthy diets common in low-income, urban populations can create problems like diabetes and childhood obesity, Allen began developing farming methods and educational programs that could give these people access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables.
12 African Americans who are greening the nation

mothernaturenetwork:

Will Allen is an urban farmer and the co-founder and CEO of Growing Power, a national nonprofit organization that helps bring healthy food to underserved urban areas. Recognizing that the unhealthy diets common in low-income, urban populations can create problems like diabetes and childhood obesity, Allen began developing farming methods and educational programs that could give these people access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables.

12 African Americans who are greening the nation

Weed facts: One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as four acres of trees.

A real shame our government prefers to expend the trees despite there being safer means of filling our already dangerous consumption. There are more logically expendable plants such as hemp we can use, it just seems environmentally right to go about it this way. If we can create huge hemp farms that are better at meeting our vicious consumption cycles it seems like a no-brainer to want to go about it the most rational way, which would be going for the resource that is not only easy and cheap to produce from, but also as quality if not better than trees. Aside from the the other obvious gem, that we, well, we breathe, and so.. we need trees around. Why can’t we have more scientific literacy in congress now not later? :/ make my brain hurt sometimes.

Weed facts: One acre of hemp will produce as much paper as four acres of trees.

A real shame our government prefers to expend the trees despite there being safer means of filling our already dangerous consumption. There are more logically expendable plants such as hemp we can use, it just seems environmentally right to go about it this way. If we can create huge hemp farms that are better at meeting our vicious consumption cycles it seems like a no-brainer to want to go about it the most rational way, which would be going for the resource that is not only easy and cheap to produce from, but also as quality if not better than trees. Aside from the the other obvious gem, that we, well, we breathe, and so.. we need trees around. Why can’t we have more scientific literacy in congress now not later? :/ make my brain hurt sometimes.

mothernaturenetwork:

Farmers markets spur job growth, new report findsAs the economy limps along, farmers markets are showing record growth, and that growth could bring thousands of jobs with it.



Oh wait you mean now there is more statistical data showing we should have embraced the farmer’s market rather than corporate run food processing industries? /sarcasm

mothernaturenetwork:

Farmers markets spur job growth, new report finds
As the economy limps along, farmers markets are showing record growth, and that growth could bring thousands of jobs with it.

Oh wait you mean now there is more statistical data showing we should have embraced the farmer’s market rather than corporate run food processing industries? /sarcasm

"Water availability is gradually declining. Even 30 years ago we had probably twice as much water as we have now."

Quote by Glenn Schur, Farmer from Plainview Texas.  Quote found online in article “Digital cloud lets farmer know when to water” published by BBC NewsGlenn Schur (via smarterplanet)
Old Amoebas Spawn Their Farms

Round spore-forming structures atop slender stalks of a social amoebas contain starter kits of bacteria to grow food crops for the next generation, a simple form of agriculture.

© Owen Gilbert

Old Amoebas Spawn Their Farms

Round spore-forming structures atop slender stalks of a social amoebas contain starter kits of bacteria to grow food crops for the next generation, a simple form of agriculture.

© Owen Gilbert

This could be big for the future of agriculture and growing crops in abundance.

A surprise discovery about how seeds germinate could boost the development of drought and flood-resistant crops.

How seeds absorb water before sprouting has long been queried; the proteins that help create water channels in the cell membranes of mature roots and shoots are absent in germinating seeds.

Now Lorenzo Frigerio’s team at the University of Warwick in Coventry, UK, has the answer. They studied the genes expressed as thale cress (Arabidopsis thaliana) germinated and found that growth of water channels on the surface of seed cells is controlled by the same genes that create channels deep within the cell, around water-filled chambers called vacuoles (Molecular Plant, DOI: 10.1093/mp/ssq051). The “unexpected finding” gives us a genetic target to manipulate to improve germination in extreme conditions, says Frigerio.

Old Amoebas Spawn Their Farms

Round spore-forming structures atop slender stalks of a social amoebas contain starter kits of bacteria to grow food crops for the next generation, a simple form of agriculture.

© Owen Gilbert

Old Amoebas Spawn Their Farms

Round spore-forming structures atop slender stalks of a social amoebas contain starter kits of bacteria to grow food crops for the next generation, a simple form of agriculture.

© Owen Gilbert