The grants, authorized by the Farmers Market Promotion Program, are to help improve and expand domestic farmers markets, roadside stands, community-supported agriculture programs and other direct producer-to-consumer market opportunities. Entities eligible to apply include agricultural cooperatives, local governments, nonprofit corporations, public health corporations, economic development corporations, regional farmers market authorities and tribal government. Approximately $1 million is...

Farmers are moving acres to corn to take advantage of a 74 percent jump in futures in the past year, which spurred meat producers such as Tyson Foods inc. to raise prices and cut margins for grain processors such as Bunge ltd. Weather and commodity price swings may alter the actual acreage figures. Farmers are moving acres to corn to take advantage of a 74 percent jump in futures in the past year, which spurred meat producers such as Tyson Foods inc. to raise prices and cut margins for...

farmers responded to this market signal by switching acres from crops like cotton, rice and soybeans to corn, according to Francl. There are other crops USDA predicts will see an increase in planted acreage such as wheat, which is expected to increase 5 percent from 2006, to 60. The jump in acres expected to be planted to corn is likely due to farmers responding to an intensifying demand for corn-based ethanol. These numbers all represent a substantial increase, but you also have to look...

The price of soybeans has moved up too, but not as much as the price of corn, as the two crops are competing for acres. Iowa farmers have traditionally led the nation in producing corn, accounting for more than 2 billion bushels of production, in each of the last three years. If realized, this would be our smallest soybean acreage since 1994 and our largest year to year drop in soybean acres ever in the state of Iowa. Thus, the corn price outlook, based on the USDA Planting Intentions...

Though the illegal engineered rice varieties found in conventional rice are unlikely to be harmful to humans or the environment, those contamination cases feed doubts in many consumers' minds, if not industry's, about the desirability of agricultural biotechnology. Though the illegal engineered rice varieties found in conventional rice are unlikely to be harmful to humans or the environment, those contamination cases feed doubts in many consumers' minds, if not industry's, about the...