soybean acreage is expected to slide 11 percent and cotton production 20 percent this year alone, the Agriculture Department said. The thing that should make people cautious is the irrational exuberance, that somehow ethanol is going to be the silver bullet that gets us out of our energy woes. They worry, too, about ethanol s fuel efficiency lower than traditional gasoline and its effects on the environment and food prices as corn chews up more farmland. The corn-for-ethanol boom, however,...

If you're like me, you probably would like to have lunch or dinner while you're there and maybe even visit a dairy in nearby Odessa where you can watch the owners make cheese. She's the most affable cheese maker I've ever met and she will, with great personal pleasure, talk you through her process, too. You're invited to watch, and Ron, one of the most affable farmers I've ever met, will, with great personal pleasure, talk you through the process. At the end of the meal, our friendly...

While the pig's makeover is partly a triumphant tale of producers meeting demands for leaner, more healthful meat, there's a cautionary message here, too. As a child, I spent many hours playing in hog barns in the Midwest, scratching the massive animals behind their ears while they nibbled the toes of my sneakers. I've discovered this the hard way, having despaired of pork roasts that are as dry as a Presto log. That trend accelerated in the 1970s, when consumers began abandoning beef and...

Lobbyists for corporate agribusiness such as the American Farm Bureau; giant food manufacturers such as Cargill, Smithfield and Con-Agra; and supermarket chains have handed over millions of dollars to an industry-indentured Congress to keep us in the dark about the country of origin of the hundreds of billions of dollars of foods we buy every year in supermarkets or consume in restaurants. Recent food poisoning scandals, linked to contaminated pet, pork and poultry food ingredients from...

CHINA Toxic environment: soil with heavy metals and cancerous fish - Asia News Asia News CHINA Toxic environment: soil with heavy metals and cancerous fish china economy pollution land rivers food poisoning deaths hong kong Pollution is poisoning cultivated land and being absorbed by fish. CHINA Toxic environment: soil with heavy metals and cancerous fish - Asia News Asia News CHINA Toxic environment: soil with heavy metals and cancerous fish china economy pollution land rivers food...