agriculture

Who's on the hook for nearly $17 billion paid to farmers?

Donna Vestal — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 00:45:36 +0000

Nearly $17 billion has been paid out to farmers in crop insurance indemnities to cover the losses from the catastrophic drought of 2012, the government reported this week.

A new frontier in genetically engineered food

Abbie Fentress Swanson — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 01:12:16 +0000

Kevin Wells has been genetically engineering animals for 24 years.

“It’s sort of like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Wells recently as he walked through his lab at the University of Missouri - Columbia. “You take DNA apart and put it back together in different orders, different orientations.”

Taxing complications for farmers and an April 15 deadline

Amy Mayer — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 00:14:09 +0000

This tax season is an unusual one for farmers.

Generic seeds could have a short lifespan

Grant Gerlock — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 17:15:18 +0000

The patent rights on the first genetically modified seeds expire next year, but it’s not clear how the introduction of “generic” seeds fits into the science and business of GM crops.

The seeds of genetic modification

Amy Mayer — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 16:26:58 +0000

The vast majority of the corn and soybeans in United States grow from seeds that have been genetically modified. The technology is barely 30 years old and the controversy surrounding it somewhat younger. But how did it even become possible?

Technology chips away at influence of prominent ag towns

Jeremy Bernfeld — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 01:56:27 +0000

At the crossroads of industry, railroads and farm country Kansas City has long been a capital of the plains. In recent years, though, Kansas City and other agriculture hubs have seen technology chip away at their importance.

Farmers frustrated by farm bill extension

JEREMY BERNFELD — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:38:10 +0000

Farmers and ranchers across the country expected to start the new year with a new farm bill, the all-important legislation setting agricultural policy for the next five years.

As House and Senate negotiators worked feverishly at the turn of the year to come to a fiscal cliff deal, word leaked that the Agriculture Committees had finally come to an agreement on a long-awaited new farm bill. But the final fiscal cliff deal ditched new legislation and merely extended parts of the bill that expired in October.

Limited progress on animal lab site at KSU

Laura Ziegler — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 02:37:14 +0000

In Manhattan, Kan., the site of National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility is still just a huge hole in the ground nearly a year after the initial ground-breaking.