Farm Bureau adds youngest to Honor Hall

Date: Sunday, June 22, 2008. By Rebecca Dellagloria , The Miami Herald

Katie Edwards, who was recently inducted into the Dade County Farm Bureau's Hall of Honor, is celebrating five years with the county's largest farming organization, as she prepares to begin law school.
At the age of 27, Edwards was the youngest person and first woman to be inducted in the bureau's Hall of Honor -- a prestigious category traditionally reserved for the area's biggest farmers. More>> (More Farmers News >>)

Fed's challenge: Balance the economy

Date: Tuesday, June 17, 2008. By Kevin G. Hall, The Miami Herald

The tug of economic forces toward both recession and inflation have the Federal Reserve in a regulatory bind.
Not since the 1970s has the U.S. economy faced such an ugly combination of a persistent energy shock, a looming recession threat, and menacing inflation that stays stubbornly high -- even in the face of a screeching slowdown in growth. More>> (More Other News >>)

Global food crisis: Latin America has both abundance and want

Date: Sunday, June 15, 2008. By Pamela Cox, The Miami Herald

Latin American and Caribbean countries face a critical paradox. On the one hand, the region has a rich agricultural tradition, and several countries are among the world's largest food exporters.
As world leaders left the Rome summit with plans to aid the world's poor struggling with record food prices, it is important to consider some unique characteristics of Latin American and Caribbean countries. High commodity prices present an opportunity for the region to increase food supply while confronting the urgent challenge to help those most in need during this crisis. More>> (More Other News >>)

Florida growers work to restore trust in tomatoes

Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008. By Elaine Walker, The Miami Herald

Publix, Winn-Dixie, Burger King and others are bringing tomatoes back. Now the challenge is to restore consumer confidence.
Tomato growers are worried by memories of the spinach industry's experience after an E. Coli outbreak in September 2006. Once spinach was restored to markets, demand for bagged spinach returned at first to about half. Today, overall spinach consumption still isn't where it was. More>> (More Tomato News >>)

Squash blossoms putting bloom on farm's income

Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008. By Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

There seems to be no blooming way to figure out what's going to be trendy. Would you have thought it would be squash blossoms?
For years, squash blossoms were just a pretty byproduct of farmer Nancy Roe's harvest, allowed to melt away after a few hours in the afternoon sun. But now she sells the blooms for as much as $1.25 each, and University of Florida researchers are helping her maximize a crop that has become a popular item in haute cuisine. More>> (More Farmers News >>)

Latin, Caribbean leaders prepare for the economic worst

Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2008. By Jane Bussey and Jacqueline Charles, The Miami Herald

Latin American and Caribbean countries are bracing for repercussions from a U.S. slowdown while urging the Inter-American Development Bank to find ways to boost future lending for countries that may need potential rescues.
The Dominican Republic is boosting its foreign reserves; Ecuador -- which resisted the fading Washington prescription of economic restructuring -- has stretched out debt payments to free up more money for immediate needs; while Chile has been setting aside its windfall copper profits in a national piggy bank. More>> (More Other News >>)

USDA bets on soy, but farmers like corn

Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2008. By David Mercer, Associated Press

American farmers planted 93.6 million acres of corn last year, more than any year since 1944, because of high prices.
The USDA said Monday that it expects American farmers to cut back on corn this year in favor of soybeans. But soybean prices dropped sharply in the days before the projection was released. More>> (More Farmers News >>)

Treasury secretary praises Latin economies

Date: Tuesday, April 8, 2008. By The Miami Herald

Hemispheric leaders, meeting in Miami Beach, got few answers from the U.S. on how their economies might weather a financial fallout.
With the U.S. economy nearing or in recession, financial leaders of Latin America and the Caribbean hoped U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's speech Monday in Miami Beach might provide insight on how their economies will be affected. More>> (More Other News >>)

Food prices on rise worldwide

Date: Sunday, March 30, 2008. By Katherine Corcoran, Associated Press

Freak weather is a factor. But so are dramatic changes in the global economy, including higher oil prices, lower food reserves and growing consumer demand in China and India.
Soaring grocery bills aren't just a distressing trend that U.S. consumers are facing. From subsistence farmers eating rice in Ecuador to gourmands feasting on escargot in France, consumers worldwide face rising food prices in what analysts call a perfect storm of adverse conditions and new trends. More>> (More Other News >>)

The mounting cost of food

Date: Sunday, March 30, 2008. By Betsy Blaney, Associated Press

One more reason to cut the carbs: Record-high wheat and grain prices are hitting everything from pasta to pizza.
The price of wheat has more than tripled during the past 10 months, making Americans' daily bread -- and bagels and pizza and pasta -- feel a little likAnd baked goods aren't the only ones getting more expensive: Experts expect about 80 percent of grocery prices will spike, too, and could remain steep for years because wheat and other grains are used to feed cattle, poultry and dairy cows. More>> (More Other News >>)

Argentine farmers return to barricades

Date: Saturday, March 29, 2008. By Bill Cormier, Associated Press

Farmworkers resumed highway blockades in four rural provinces -- Entre Rios, Cordoba, Santa Fe and Chaco.
Farmers chafing at export taxes on their crops set up new blockades of rural highways on Saturday after talks failed to end a dispute that has halted grain exports and emptied supermarket shelves of meat. More>> (More Other News >>)

Argentine farm protest enters third week

Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008. By Bill Cormier, Associated Press

Striking farmers built new highway blockades around Argentina's agricultural heartland Wednesday in a standoff with the president over tax increases on major export crops.
The nationwide farm and ranch strike headed into a third week, all but paralyzing one of the leading world exporters of soybeans, beef and wheat. There were no reports of major violence despite tension and fisticuffs at one barricade and huge traffic jams elsewhere. More>> (More Other News >>)

Argentine farmers protest export tax hike

Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2008. By Jack Chang and Vinod Sreeharsha, McClatchy News Service

Argentine farmers angrily protested an increase in export taxes by mounting roadblocks and snarling traffic in parts of the country.
Tensions have simmered since former President Néstor Kirchner began imposing export bans two years ago on some cuts of beef to control rising prices. Price controls and export bans on wheat and other products followed, further enraging farmers. More>> (More Other News >>)

Argentine farm strike tests president

Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2008. By Bill Cormier, Associated Press

South America's second-largest economy - a leading exporter of soybeans, beef and wheat - is in full farmbelt rebellion over a new sliding-scale increase in export taxes.
President Cristina Fernandez refused to ease tax hikes on agricultural exports Tuesday, facing down angry farmers embroiled in a nationwide strike that has all but halted production in one of the world's biggest beef-exporting nations. More>> (More Other News >>)

Argentine farmers lash out at government restrictions

Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2008. By Jack Chang and Vinod Sreeharsha, McClatchy News Service

Farmers set up roadblocks and refused to release their production to protest an export tax increase on some products.
Government officials counter that farmers have earned record profits as international commodity prices soared over the past two years and can afford to pay the higher taxes. The new system raises taxes when prices rise and reduces them when prices fall. More>> (More Other News >>)

Few NAFTA labels for farm chemicals

Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2008. By Blake Nicholson, Associated Press

Farmers have long pushed for chemical "harmonization," saying prices for the same product often differ in Canada and the United States.
A 2005 North Dakota State University study determined that American farmers could save $178 million each year through access to pesticides north of the border that are similar in composition to those on the U.S. side. More>> (More Farmers News >>)

'Yes, we are in a recession' -- just ask your neighbor

Date: Friday, March 21, 2008. By Scott Andron, The Miami Herald

Economists are finally starting to figure out what we working stiffs have known for a while: The recession is already here.
For months, many economists believed neither South Florida nor the nation was in a recession or likely to enter one soon. But in the last few weeks, those optimistic assessments have collided with new statistics showing record-high oil prices and vanishing jobs amid the escalating real estate meltdown. More>> (More Other News >>)

A win for homeowners in citrus canker lawsuit

Date: Friday, February 22, 2008. By Phil Long, The Miami Herald

A jury will decide in April how much compensation the state should give 72,000 Broward residents whose citrus trees it felled, a judge ruled.
Broward Circuit Judge Ronald Rothschild rejected the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' insistence that the trees were a valueless public nuisance because they had been exposed to citrus canker and might spread the disease. More>> (More Citrus News >>)

Guided tour offers a taste of farm life

Date: Sunday, February 17, 2008. By Jessica Kirschner, The Miami Herald

The AGRI-Council Farm Tour will bring attendees to two fish farms, two ornamental nurseries and on a tomato-picking. A luncheon will honor the Finocchiaro and Talarico families.
This year, the guided tour on Feb. 27 will take participants to two fish farms and two ornamental nurseries. The day will end with a tomato-picking. More>> (More Farmers News >>)

South Dade avacado grower to be awarded for work

Date: Sunday, February 10, 2008. By Risa Berrin, The Miami Herald

Avocado grower medora krome is being honored for her shrewd business sense -- and for being a woman of distinction in farming.
On Friday, the Women's Committee of the Dade County Farm Bureau will honor Krome as its Woman of Distinction in Agriculture during the third annual Women in Agriculture Luncheon 11 a.m. Friday at Schnebly Redland's Winery, 30205 SW 217 Ave. More>> (More Farmers News >>)

Study: Ethanol may add to global warming

Date: Friday, February 8, 2008. By H. Josef Hebert, Associated Press

The widespread use of ethanol from corn could result in nearly twice the greenhouse gas emissions as the gasoline it would replace because of expected land-use changes.
The researchers said that past studies showing the benefits of ethanol in combating climate change have not taken into account almost certain changes in land use worldwide if ethanol from corn - and in the future from other feedstocks such as switchgrass - become a prized commodity. More>> (More Other News >>)

Cold snap squeezed Fla. orange harvest

Date: Friday, February 8, 2008. By Ron Day, Bloomberg News

Florida's orange harvest, the world's second largest, will be 1.2 percent smaller than forecast after an early January cold snap damaged some fruit.
Growers will harvest 166 million boxes of oranges this season, down from a previous estimate of 168 million, the USDA said. However, a crop of that size would be 29 percent bigger than a year ago as trees recover from hurricane damage. More>> (More Citrus News >>)

WTO rules for US against EU on bananas

Date: Friday, February 8, 2008. By Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press

The confidential decision - distributed earlier this week to the parties and confirmed by trade officials - is an important development in a decade-old WTO dispute pitting Latin American countries and the United States against the EU.
The WTO has consistently ruled against how Brussels sets tariffs for bananas, forcing it to overhaul a system that grants preferential conditions for producers from African and Caribbean countries, mainly former British and French colonies. More>> (More Banana News >>)

Costa Rica requests trade-pact delay

Date: Wednesday, January 30, 2008. By Phil Long, The Miami Herald

Although Costa Rica approved CAFTA late last year, it said it still hasn't passed necessary accompanying laws.
Costa Rica approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement in October, but its Congress has only passed four of 13 laws needed to launch it. More>> (More CAFTA News >>)

Greening sours Florida's citrus growers

Date: Thursday, January 24, 2008. By Phil Long, The Miami Herald

Florida's days of boom crops of citrus may be in the past, at least until the industry overcomes one its worst challenges so far: citrus greening.
Unlike the decade-long citrus eradication program where every tree the state cut down was recorded, nobody is tracking, statewide, how many greening-infected trees have been cut down and burned. More>> (More Citrus News >>)

Shipping of Florida citrus trees banned

Date: Friday, January 11, 2008. By Associated Press

The action on citrus greening is another blow to Florida's citrus industry.
The U.S. Agriculture Department on Friday extended a quarantine zone to prevent the spread of a major citrus disease, preventing the shipment of all Florida citrus trees outside the state. More>> (More Citrus News >>)

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