In a release, the DRC and Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC) said the court ordered USDA to make the location of these plots "publicly available as soon as practicable" so that growers of organic and conventional alfalfa "can test their own crops to determine if there has been contamination. Another take on the Roundup Ready alfalfa ruling. Several organic farming and environmental groups have a different take than Monsanto's on a U. District Court ruling that has halted...

A typical inspection consists of looking for the queen inside the hive, scanning for mites or other serious pests and taking note of over-wintering issues. But what is known is that bees are incredibly sensitive organisms which is why credibility lends itself to any number of theories attempting to explain their plight. Depending on which report about the disappearing act of honeybees you read, the nationwide problem can be traced to pesticides, infestations, fungus, weather, cell phone...

Agriculture and Interior departments, which jointly monitor for avian influenza, told Reuters they plan to take about 77,000 samples from wild birds during the April 2007 to March 2008 period. As part of an effort to rapidly boost domestic surveillance following the spread of the virus overseas, USDA and Interior worked with states to collect more than 111,000 samples during the same period a year ago. Interior will test about the same number of birds, 27,000, but this time it will spend...

The virus was found in about 20 percent of fire ant fields, where it appears to cause the slow death of infected colonies. Researchers have pinpointed a naturally occurring virus that kills fire ants, which arrived in the U. The massive fire ant colonies destroy crops, damage farm and electrical equipment and hasten soil erosion. Fire ants have been detected in 13 states, covering 320 million acres, and are spreading northward. The agency is now seeking commercial partners to develop the...

Agriculture Department subsidizes the premiums paid by farmers, reimburses the companies for administrative expenses and pays them underwriting gains when premiums exceed indemnities, as they usually do. Industry officials say that companies need to save some earnings for years when indemnities exceed the premiums and that the last few years happened to be especially good ones for the business. The strong profits encourage companies and agents to sign up farmers, and the premium subsidies...