A virus has emerged as a strong suspect in the hunt for the mystery disease killing off North honeybees.
Genetic research showed that Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) turned up regularly in hives affected by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).
If IAPV does turn out to be a major factor causing CCD, there may be little that scientists or beekeepers can do about it.
[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6978848.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)
Are chicken houses the next battleground in the war on terror?
Poultry growers are squawking mad over proposed regulations from the Department of Homeland Security that anybody with 7,500 pounds or more of propane gas register with the agency. The threshold is low enough that poultry farmers who use propane to heat chicken houses in the winter may be affected.
The proposal would require many farmers to register with the agency and fill out a risk assessment about their propane tanks. By industry counts, up to 40,000 farms could be affected.
[Read](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3509214 “Read the Story”) (AP via ABC News)
With a persistent drought on, many Loudoun County farmers are preparing to take a financial hit. A local extension agent said the county’s annual gross agricultural revenue could be half the typical $50 million to $70 million if the drought continues.
Loudoun farmers are reporting up to a 50 percent decline in the production of forages and feed grain, and the year’s first hay cutting has supplied only 55 to 60 percent of the usual yield. Hay is the county’s principal crop.
Farmers are dipping into their hay supply — harvested in May and June and typically reserved as winter feed for animals — a move that could lead to financial strain later in the year.
[Read](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073102424.html?nav=rss_metro/va “Read the Story”) (Washington Post)
Organic fruit and vegetables may be better for you than conventionally grown crops, US research suggests.
A ten-year study comparing organic tomatoes with standard produce found almost double the level of flavonoids, which help reduce high blood pressure and lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Writing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, the team said nitrogen in the soil may be the key. New Scientist magazine reported that the different levels of flavonoids in tomatoes are probably due to the absence of fertilizers in organic farming.
[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6272634.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)
So many American farmers are working longer than ever before that one in four is at least 65 years old. Within the next decade those older farmers will be looking for someone to take over their operations and selling millions of acres of land.
Much of that land will be merged into bigger farms with fewer people working on them. Rural communities will lose even more young people, and a few will struggle for survival. Some stores that sell tractors and fertilizer will suffer with the consolidation.
[Read](http://www.columbustelegram.com/articles/2007/07/02/news/news3farmers.txt “Read the Story”) (AP via the Columbus Telegram)
Consumers have noticed a sharp rise in the price of beef and milk, an increase that has some business owners fretting.
Food and beverage prices jumped 3.9% in May, the largest increase in three years. Milk costs could jump even higher this month, based on data from Virginia’s State Milk Commission. In a breakdown for Western Virginia, the report shows that the price paid to farmers for 100 pounds of raw milk will rise 2.5% in July.
[Read](http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/122873 “Read the Story”) (Roanoke Times)
Agriculture was taking root in South America almost as early as the first farmers were breaking ground in the Middle East, new research indicates.
New evidence indicates that squash was being grown nearly 10,000 years ago in what is now Peru.
[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19499488/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)
Farmers are taking the idea of a local food co-op beyond fruits and vegetables, signing up customers for regular deliveries of local, naturally raised meat.
[Listen](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11069930 “Listen to the Story”) (NPR)
Scientists investigating a mysterious ailment that killed many of the nation’s honeybees are concentrating on pesticides and a new pathogen as possible culprits, and some beekeepers are already trying to keep their colonies away from pesticide-exposed fields.
After months of study, researchers are finding it difficult to tie the die-off to any single factor.
[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19233858/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)
Ethanol production has put the Chinese government in an unpleasant bind, as fears rise that the environmentally friendly gasoline additive is also fueling politically dangerous increases in the price of food – particularly pork, a key staple.
With the ethanol industry gobbling up a growing share of China’s corn harvest, authorities have stomped on the brakes to slow what one official report calls “blind” investment in distilleries.
[Read](http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0531/p01s04-wosc.html “Read the Story”) (Christian Science Monitor)
It’s nearly summer and you can practically taste the farm-fresh produce. Local farmers want to get their produce to your table.
The only problem?
Rain — or more correctly, the lack of rain.
[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=25&sid=1154109 “Read the Story”) (WTOP)
While Americans are still recovering from a scandal over poison pet foods imported from China, FDA inspectors report tainted food imports intended for American humans are being rejected with increasing frequency because they are filthy, are contaminated with pesticides and tainted with carcinogens, bacteria and banned drugs.
In the past year, the FDA rejected more than twice as many food shipments from China as from all other countries combined. No country is increasing its food exports faster than China – about 20 percent in the last year alone. China has become America’s leading supplier of apple juice used as a food sweetener, garlic and garlic powder, sausage casings and cocoa butter.
Officials say FDA inspectors examine only a tiny percentage of the food imported from foreign countries – *about 1%* — meaning most of the contaminated products make it inside the country and to the shelves of retailers.
[Read](http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55892 “Read the Story”) (WorldNetDaily)
Kentucky, the horse capital of the world, famous for its sleek thoroughbreds, is being overrun with thousands of horses no one wants – some of them perfectly healthy, but many of them are starving and broken-down. Other parts of the country are overwhelmed, too.
The reason: growing opposition in the U.S. to the slaughter of horses for human consumption overseas.
With new laws making it difficult to send horses off to the slaughterhouse when they are no longer suitable for racing or work, auction houses are glutted with horses they can barely sell, and rescue organizations have run out of room.
Some owners who cannot get rid of their horses are letting them starve; others are turning them loose in the countryside.
[Read](http://www.hpj.com/archives/2007/mar07/mar26/Kentuckyswampedwithunwanted.cfm “Read the Story”) (AP via the High Plains Journal)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration have learned that by-products from pet food manufactured with contaminated wheat gluten imported from China have been used in chicken feed on some farms in the state of Indiana.
As of this writing, the investigation indicates that approximately 30 broiler poultry farms and eight breeder poultry farms in Indiana received contaminated feed in early February and fed it to poultry within days of receiving it.
All of the broilers believed to have been fed contaminated product have since been processed. The breeders that were fed the contaminated product are under voluntary hold by the flock owners.
Read (Southeast Farm Press)
Unlike other fruit crops, which were heavily damaged, North Carolina’s strawberries survived this year’s Easter freeze largely unscathed, thanks to a relatively new technology.
Many strawberry growers protected their crops with spunbonded polypropylene row covers that look like huge, white blankets.
The lightweight “blankets” literally float on top of the entire crop and help insulate and protect the berry plants from freezing temperatures. Row covers can be used to protect low-growing crops like strawberries and vegetable transplants, but not grapes, fruit trees and blueberries.
Read (Southeast Farm Press)