Agriculture

Agriculture

As a master gardener, I've spent decades digging in the dirt and have made my fair share of mistakes doing it. But I've also learned a lot, including which plants I'll never add to my yard again. Even as someone with tons of experience, there are some plants that are just more trouble than they're worth, and I'm here to save you from the headaches I've had along the way. Here are the four plants that are permanently banned from my yard - and why you should consider skipping them, too.

One of Ireland's leading livestock marts was fined €4,250 for animal welfare breaches after a Department of Agriculture review was triggered by an RTÉ Investigates programme into the mistreatment of calves. The programme broadcast in 2023 was entitled Milking It and involved both photographic and video evidence of young animals being mistreated.

And, well, it worked remarkably well. The plants carrying all the genes for the McG cycle weighed two to three times as much as control plants that only had some of the genes. They had more leaves, the leaves themselves were larger, and the plants produced more seeds. In a variety of growing conditions, the plants with an intact McG cycle incorporated more carbon, and they did so without increasing their water uptake.

Deciding on the best bulbs to plant in September is one of the most enjoyable autumn jobs. An afternoon spent pushing bulbs into the soil now means you'll be rewarded early next year when your flowers spring to life in little groups all over the garden. Planting bulbs is easy to do and an affordable way to enhance your planting, so it's a great task to add to your list of September garden jobs.

In 2001, Don and Bo Sosebee picked a spot for their house on a small hill overlooking a pasture where their horses and cattle roamed. They spent the next three years building a one-story cabin there. Don hauled in 6×12 logs from Mount Juliet, Tennessee, for the frame. He lined the interior walls with lumber from his old barn and nailed white pine across the ceiling.

Our goal is to reduce emissions, promote healthy soils and help farmers improve yields," said Nicolas Pinkowski, co-founder and chief executive officer. "There's a lot of concern right now in the US about chemicals in and on foods. More and more people care not just about getting enough calories every day, but about making sure what they eat is healthy and safe.

Between the rows of chestnut and pistachio saplings, a mix of grasses covers the ground where a stretch of bare dirt would typically be - a deliberate attempt to prevent erosion. To retain water, Jorge has wrapped a blanket of wood chips around the base of each sapling. And among the young trees grow yellow lupin flowers, known as tremocilha in Portuguese, that have a special power: they capture nitrogen and store it underground.

Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer and president of the American Soybean Association, is warning of an agricultural crisis as China has placed zero soybean orders for the upcoming harvest. It's a departure from typical patterns, where 25% of the U.S. crop goes to China. With prices 40% below three-year highs and production costs rising, hundreds of thousands of farmers face losses unless there's a trade resolution between the two countries.

No matter the type of farm, there's an advantage to planting soil-feeding cover crops ahead of fall and winter. The assistance provided depends on the crops you plant. But there is definitely one out there to help you accomplish your desired soil conditions. Whether it's soil tilth, an increase in nitrogen, or phosphorus availability, a cover crop's purpose is to improve and enrich the foundation of your farm.

"We support our farmers' calls on the government to do more to support farming, and that includes supporting their call for a rethink on inheritance tax," Freudmann said.

The federal budget allocated a record-setting $170 billion for immigration enforcement. The money is set to go toward expanding detention facilities and hiring new agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. After pledging in June to protect the agriculture industry from crackdowns, President Trump reversed course a few days later. Now, as California's annual grape harvest begins, the state's wine community is on edge.

Trying to do the math around the actual value of the produce from your garden is never easy. Not only does it mean tracking all of your expenses - and potentially trying to put a value on the time you spend on this hobby - but you also have to plug in the ever-changing value of the fruits and vegetables found at the grocery store.

I got to meet fruit professors who are the best in the world at what they do,

If the trial is a success, each plant will bypass sexual reproduction and will set seed to thousands of clones in each flower head. The Hy-Gain sorghum trial is the culmination of decades of work for plant physiologist Anna Koltunow at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, who began research to make 'sexless seeds' in the early 1990s. The technology exploits a quirk of nature - known as apomixis.

Most grocery stores across the West trace back to a few major corporations. Whether you're visiting King Soopers in Colorado, Smith's in Utah or Fred Meyer in Oregon, you'll find the same Kroger-brand products. The original names of the once-locally owned grocers might remain, but the shops are now just part of one of the nation's largest grocery corporations. A handful of companies control the production and distribution of most of our food, and the West plays a leading role in that system.

If you had to list out three crops you'd think of growing in the UK, I'd wager shiso, agretti and watermelon would be quite far down the list, but these are just some of the plans that grower Jack Jeans is pointing out to me inside a greenhouse round the back of a residential street in Deptford. This unexpected oasis of abundance is the Culpeper Family's Deptford Little Farm.

A cold frame consists of a bottomless box frame with a top made of glass or clear plastic that allows the sunlight in but protects plants within from cold air. According to Bronx Green-Up , you can build your cold frame to any dimensions you desire. However, their guide recommends a wooden frame that is three feet wide and four feet deep - using untreated lumber if you're planning to grow food.

Can you believe it? Apple picking season is upon us. And while the start of the school year isn't always easy, there's something special about fun fall activities like apple picking that makes this transition a little easier. These farms in Westchester (and the surrounding areas) offer fun experiences for kids of all ages with delicious apple cider donuts, rides, animal experiences, and, of course, apples! Check out our list below of the best places to pick apples in the area!

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Various types of pineapples and mangoes are commonly incorporated into cherished recipes, from pineapple upside-down pound cake to mango coconut pudding. But there are so many other intriguing tropical fruits around the world that are not as renowned or as globally consumed. Let's take a closer look at soursop, which goes by several different names, such as Brazilian pawpaw, evo, prickly custard apple, sirsak, graviola, corossolier grand, sorsaka, or guanabana.

Flowers: The Electric Pink globe amaranth (Gomphrena globosa) will dazzle you with its flowers that explode like a fireworks finale magenta shooting stars tipped in gold. This reseeding annual needs no deadheading as the plant thrives and flowers proliferate in summer's heat. Electric Pink also contributes ongoing color to dry flower arrangements . Fruit: Peppers (whether bell or chili) are the last of the summer fruit-bearing crops (peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, and squash are actually fruits) in the vegetable category that you can comfortably plant,

Instead, Robertson said, voters are distracted by the political noise of President Donald Trump's policies, while the real drivers of grocery sticker shock- labor shortages, and tariffs-continue to tighten their grip. Deportations have thinned fields and stripped farms of undocumented workers who "overwhelmingly" make up the agricultural workforce. At the same time, new tariffs on staples like tomatoes, coffee, and orange juice are pushing up costs on imports, leaving few affordable alternatives.

The rice weevil is a stowaway that sneaks into pantries as an egg inside a grain of rice, leading to potential destruction of stored grain.

Mexico has reported a 53 percent increase in cases of flesh-eating screwworm in animals over the past month, as the parasite continues its northward trajectory towards the United States border, according to government data. Mexican government data indicate that there were 5,086 cases as of August 17, including 649 active ones, the Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, citing updated data not yet made public.

The most rewarding gardens grow from deep attention to where we live, not just the postal address, but the watershed, the soil community, the seasonal rhythms, and the complex web of relationships that make a place unique. These seven books offer starting points for a journey into the intimate knowledge that honors the land's inherent patterns and our human need for beauty, nourishment, and connection.

meet fascinating individuals who share a common interest expand your knowledge of dahlias by working with seasoned growers and hybridizers hear from talented and skilled speakers at our monthly meetings participate at all levels of our society from committees to our demonstration garden work days show your very own dahlias at annual flower shows Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.

First, the best variety of peach for the job is one grown locally, so it's better suited for growing in your particular climate. Second, make sure you're ready to get your hands dirty. Growing a peach tree is a long-term project that requires preparation. Further, the fruits of your labor (literally) won't appear for two to five years - though the time to harvest fruit varies.

Since then, soil preservation via conservation programs has come to the fore. With strategies like planting prairie strips, soil nutrient loss is reduced. This is possible for farms with large acreages, and for smaller market farms too. Prairie strips do not need to be installed all at once, and can be introduced to the farm in stages. There are plenty of other reasons for planting prairie strips - soil nutrient loss being one factor.

Piled next to lines and lines of identical Roma and Beefsteak tomatoes, the colors and lumps of heirlooms give way to a host of questions. What exactly is an heirloom tomato anyway? Do they taste better? Or are those misshapen tomatoes just another form of visual produce marketing? The answer to that last question is "kind," but in the best way possible. Ultimately, heirloom tomatoes' unique shapes and colors are their natural form because they were passed over for genetic modification.

Here in the far north of France, we are calling it "the new south of France" because we have had one of the sunniest summers anyone can remember. We've had a fair bit of rain too so the Seven Valleys where I live are lush and green, and nature has had a ball - everything is ripening; apple, plum and pear trees are bursting with fruit, big juicy blackberries are dangling from hedges, and the fields are full of bales of hay waiting to be stored.

Thorson, a 20-year-old from the town of Waverly, was crowned as the 72nd Princess Kay of the Milky Way on Wednesday night. And her first official duty as the goodwill ambassador for the state's 1,800 dairy farm families was to bundle up and sit in a rotating glassed-in studio at 40 degrees F (4 Celsius) as fairgoers gathered to watch Kulzer turn a 90-pound (41-kilogram) block of salted butter into art.

Various fruits and vegetables have been prohibited from entering the U.S. at different times, typically in an attempt to keep pests and diseases from entering the nation's agricultural system. Presently, even cooked products like bologna and ham from Mexico are restricted due to the potential of harboring diseases like classical swine fever. This does not prevent the import of Mexican pork products into the U.S., but the law requires that these products be accompanied by veterinary documentation showing them to be disease free - not the sort of thing that someone with a trunk full of bologna is likely to have on hand.

Businesses that rely on exports, like wheat growers, are growing increasingly nervous as well. This was apparent following a recent trade delegation visit through the Pacific Northwest that included mill operators and grain buyers from four Southeast Asian countries: Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. Such visits are routine, especially at harvest time. Washington state is the nation's top wheat exporting state - about 90% of the dryland wheat grown here is trucked or shipped by river barge to west coast ports.