Dangerous Pesticide’s Hasty Approval Spurs Appeal
It’s used to fight a disease that kills Florida citrus trees, but the pesticide aldicarb also carries the risk of hurting farmworkers as well as children.
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Agriculture
China Pineapple Ban Sparks Sour Rebuke From Taiwan
Taipei slammed a sudden Chinese ban on Taiwanese pineapples, describing the move on Friday as “economic intimidation” and likening it to recent tariffs Beijing slapped on Australian wine.
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Covid Safety
The San Francisco County Superior Court rejected the National Retail Federation, the Western Growers Association and other retail and agricultural industry groups’ requests for an injunction to block the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board from enforcing safety measures adopted to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
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Senate Approves Vilsack for Agriculture Department Again
The Senate voted 92-7 Tuesday to confirm Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary, his second run at the Cabinet post.
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Nuts
A federal court in Georgia ruled that a blogger who runs a site about the global pecan market must pay the owner of a business that sells nuts $60,000 in damages for making libelous statements about the owner, including that he co-founded a business that was accused of stealing millions of dollars’ worth of pecans from growers.
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Covid an Excuse to Strip Tropical Forests: Indigenous Groups
Governments worldwide are using the Covid-19 pandemic to push through destructive development projects and roll back protections of indigenous groups, according to a global report on deforestation and rule of law released Thursday.
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Texas Farmers and Ranchers Struggle Through Freeze
There are 35 types of fruits and vegetables grown in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. Freezing temperatures may financially ruin some of the region’s growers because they cannot get insurance for their crops.
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France Claims Culinary Coup With Italian White Truffle Harvest
French researchers announced Tuesday that they had succeeded in cultivating the rare white truffles mainly found in Italy, a breakthrough that could spur more widespread efforts to grow the prized delicacy.
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Jamaica Faces Marijuana Shortage as Farmers Struggle
Heavy rains followed by an extended drought, an increase in local consumption and a drop in the number of marijuana farmers have caused a shortage in the island’s famed but largely illegal market that experts say is the worst they’ve seen.
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India Clamps Down on Free Speech to Fight Farmer Protests
As farmers camp out at the edges of India’s capital, protesting new agricultural laws they say will devastate their earnings, the mainstream and social media have come under unprecedented attacks from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
Read moreNew Parasite Could Wreak Havoc in Chinese Vineyards
Researchers hope identifying a new species of parasitic round worm will help protect China’s vineyards.
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Agriculture Nominee Gets Warm Welcome at Senate Hearing
Former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack is on his way to bipartisan confirmation returning him to America’s top agricultural job.
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Out-of-This-World Wine Back in Bordeaux After Space Station Trip
Twelve bottles of Bordeaux wine and dozens of vine shoots are back at home in southwest France after spending months on the International Space Station (ISS) for an unusual astrochemistry experiment.
Read moreCow Caper
The owners of an organic produce farm were properly awarded enhanced damages in their suit against the owners of a neighboring farm, an appeals court in Oregon ruled. The plaintiffs’ newly planted crop of organic salad plants was damaged when the defendants’ cows escaped from their enclosure and trampled and defecated on the plants.
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Denmark to Pay Billions Over Virus Shutdown of Mink Industry
Denmark has said it could pay out more than 3.1 billion to its mink farmers after it closed down the industry over coronavirus fears.
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Angry Farmers Storm India’s Red Fort in Huge Tractor Rally
Tens of thousands of protesting farmers drove long lines of tractors into India’s capital on Tuesday, breaking through police barricades, defying tear gas and storming the historic Red Fort as the nation celebrated Republic Day.
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Judge Unlikely to Ban Hydroponic Crops From Organic Label
Arguments that Congress intended to ban hydroponically grown crops from organic certification did not appear to persuade a judge overseeing a legal dispute over what foods can be labeled “organic.”
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A Law to Crow About: France Upholds Rural ‘Sensory Heritage’
From crowing roosters to the whiff of barnyard animals, the “sensory heritage” of France’s countryside will now be protected by law from attempts to stifle the everyday aspects of rural life from newcomers looking for peace and quiet.
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Trump Restores Grazing Rights to Men Convicted — and Pardoned — of Arson
In its final moments Wednesday, the Trump administration granted two 10-year grazing permits to the father-son duo whose convictions and imprisonment for setting fires on public lands gave rise to the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon.
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Czechs Make Large Shops Sell Mostly Local Food
Czech lawmakers passed an amendment Wednesday ordering large shops to sell mostly Czech food as of next year, despite an expected backlash from partners in the European Union.
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