The couple, owners of Bluegrass Industries, inc., bought the company 10 years ago and did pretty well manufacturing bulk fruit haulers - trucks with slatted sides that carry gigantic mounds of citrus fruit. The trend was accelerated by farmers selling their groves to developers, removal of diseased and damaged citrus trees and another round of hurricanes that hurt the state's fruit harvest again in 2005. Concurrently, Florida has produced fewer and fewer boxes of citrus that need hauling....

Driving past row upon row of softly swaying palms and acres of lush green farmland, you could be a million miles from the smog-choked cityscape of Bangkok. Down a sunbaked track, 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the Thai capital, lies an idyllic rural smallholding where, against a kaleidescope of colour, farm workers in wide-brimmed hats are harvesting organically grown produce. Rai Plook Rak Farm is one of many certified organic farms that have sprung up across Thailand in recent years...

Frozen-out frost antidote-Commentary-The Washington Times, America's Newspaper advertisement Advertise . RSS . Sitemap . About TWT . Contact Us . Subscription Services . Insider Login . News Front Page. Jack Frost taunted farmers across the Southeast last week with blasts of arctic air that devastated spring crops. California is also susceptible: A January freeze here cost farmers more than a billion dollars of losses of citrus, avocados and strawberries, and a 1990 freeze caused about...

The big federal dollars for farm crops have always gone to corn, wheat and soybeans, while fruit and vegetables -- crops Florida produces a lot of -- get zilch. Florida's citrus industry would benefit from the additional research money, which would be used to prevent the spread of canker and greening, Sparks said. The so-called program crops -- corn, wheat, soybeans, rice and cotton -- are used to make products ranging from fabrics to animal feed and get the bulk of federal support. Under...

A federal appeals court in Washington in August 2006 ruled that Mitchell Scruggs, Eddie Scruggs, Scruggs Farm Supply inc., Scruggs Farm Joint Venture, HES Farms inc., MES Farms inc. and MHS Farms inc. violated Monsanto's licensing requirements and its patent for use of the company's seeds. A federal appeals court in Washington in August 2006 ruled that Mitchell Scruggs, Eddie Scruggs, Scruggs Farm Supply inc., Scruggs Farm Joint Venture, HES Farms inc., MES Farms inc. and MHS Farms inc....