Articles

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is evaluating whether or not to take action in the case of a Washington state farmer whose alfalfa crop was contaminated with a genetically modified trait that some export customers will not accept, a spokesman said on Monday. "We're still in discussion with the Washington State Department of Agriculture to determine what if any actions are warranted, what our next steps will be," said USDA spokesman Ed Curlett.

Agriculture officials in Washington state are testing samples of alfalfa after a farmer reported his hay was rejected for export because it tested positive for a genetically modified trait that was not supposed to be in his crop. If it is confirmed that the alfalfa in question was genetically modified, it could have broad ramifications, said Hector Castro, spokesman at the Washington State Department of Agriculture.

A group of U.S. farmers, seed companies and others challenging patents on genetically altered crops held by biotech seed giant Monsanto Co. on Thursday appealed their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. The group, made up of 73 organic and conventional family farmers, seed companies and public advocacy interests, sued Monsanto in March 2011 seeking to prohibit the company from suing them if their fields became contaminated with Monsanto's patented genetic traits for corn, soybeans, cotton, canola, and other crops.

U.S. agriculture regulators pushing to overhaul food safety inspections at poultry slaughterhouses have not thoroughly evaluated several pilot projects, which critics have said could be jeopardizing food safety, according to a report released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Wednesday. The GAO report also said the U.S. Department of Agriculture failed to disclose accurate information about the data the department used to promote what the government calls "modernization" changes at the plants.

Researchers in the key corn-growing state of Illinois are finding significant damage from rootworms in farm fields planted in a rotation with a genetically modified corn, a combination of measures that are supposed to protect the crop from the pests, according to a new report. "It's very alarming," said Joe Spencer, an insect behaviorist with the Illinois Natural History Survey who is researching the issue.

Researchers in the key corn-growing state of Illinois are finding significant damage from rootworms in farm fields planted in a rotation with a genetically modified corn that is supposed to protect the crop from the pests, according to a new report. Evidence gathered from fields in two Illinois counties suggests that pest problems are mounting as the rootworms grow ever more resistant to efforts to fight them, including crop rotation combined with use of the biotech corn, according to the report issued by Michael Gray, a professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois.

A critical water source for U.S. farmers and ranchers is being depleted at a rapid rate and nearly 70 percent of it will disappear within the next 50 years if the current trend does not change, according to a report issued this week. Thirty percent of the groundwater from a critical portion of what is known as the High Plains Aquifer already has been pumped and another 39 percent will be depleted over the next five decades, according to the report by environmental science and engineering experts published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

More than 150 U.S. farm and food businesses and organizations on Wednesday called for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to strengthen its oversight of field trials of experimental, genetically modified crops. The group includes organic and natural food industry representatives as well as family farm and trade policy players. It said the disarray in international markets after an unapproved genetically modified wheat developed by Monsanto Co was discovered growing unchecked in Oregon this spring is the latest example of the need to change GMO field trial regulations.

Farmland prices in key U.S. crop regions surged more than 25 percent over the past 12 months as demand for land remains strong despite a decline in farm income, two Federal Reserve bank reports said on Thursday. Prices paid for irrigated cropland in a central U.S. region that includes Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Oklahoma jumped 25.2 percent from a year ago, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

U.S. chemical and seed company DuPont said on Wednesday it completed its three-year effort to buy a majority stake in South Africa's largest seed company, overcoming that country's stiff opposition to the foreign ownership with pledges to keep a rein on pricing and to aid small South African farmers. The deal with privately held Pannar Seed Ltd, a 55-year-old seed company, should provide immediate financial gain to DuPont, with new products expected to be on the market in August and September, according to Paul Schickler, president of DuPont Pioneer, DuPont's agricultural seed unit.