The judge ordered the 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. In today's decision, Judge Breyer affirmed his preliminary ruling, which upheld the Center for Food Safety s arguments in their lawsuit against USDA, that the crop could harm the environment and contaminate natural alfalfa. In his preliminary ruling last month...

The Agricultural Research Service scientists are tracking down diseases that attack the root vegetable and finding ways to increase its protection against attack. Scientists see no beauty in sugar beet disease Post Comment The fact that sugar beets are one of California's major crops does nothing to enhance their beauty. For the grower who produced it, a common disease such as rhizomania detracts even further from its appeal because it can reduce his crop and its monetary return. It occurs...

Keystone College Events open to the public this week include: Today: Open house, featuring information on admissions processes, financial aid and scholarship, athletics and student life. According to the article, which was based on a recent annual financial aid survey completed by the College Board, Keystone provided aid packages that met the financial need of 97 percent of students. Brian Snyder, executive director of PASA, will discuss the advantages of regional food systems and what...

Jacqui Goddard in Miami American farmers face a make-or-break summer as the honeybee population struggles to recover from a mysterious killer that threatens to destroy crops and deplete the nation s dinner plates. Officials at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) say that unless the species manages to shake off the shadow of Colony Collapse Disorder over the coming months, the public could find itself stuck with grains and water as fruit orchards and vegetable fields go unpollinated....

So if the collapse worsens, people could end up being "stuck with grains and water," said Kevin Hackett, national program leader for the USDA bee and pollination program. beekeepers in recent months have lost one-quarter of their colonies -- about five times the normal winter losses -- because of Colony Collapse Disorder. While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems particularly alarming. Scientists are struggling...