The USDA revised its estimates upward on the back of improved sugarcane availability and reduced diversion of cane for production of other sweeteners - khandsari and gur. The ministry of agriculture in India had revised its sugar production data for the year several times, each time hiking the output almost by 10 lakh tonnes. Late monsoon rains in 2006 and generally favourable weather conditions in most sugarcane growing areas resulted in higher cane yields. According to the sugar...

They're expected to jump by larger amounts in 2008 and later years as sharp increases in eggs, meat and other livestock prices kick in, according to the USDA. That's good for farmers, but it means that the USDA has sharply curtailed its purchasing of surplus commodities that help feed the nation's poor. The USDA buys a certain amount of food every year, based on funding and need, and supplements that with purchases of surplus, or bonus, commodities. The USDA commodities aren't free to soup...

agencies found that even under the most extreme scenarios, the potential exposure from consuming meat from hogs and chickens known to have been fed animal feed containing melamine "was about 2,500 times lower than the dose considered safe," said Kenneth Petersen, assistant administrator of the Office of Field Operation in USDA's Food Safety Inspection Service, who also testified. There is no evidence linking human illness to certain Chinese food imports tainted with melamine or...

The Chesapeake Bay watershed covers over 64,000 square miles in six states and the District of Columbia, and is home to 17 million residents, and it is the largest estuary in the country. About 25% of the watershed's land is used for crops and pastures. Dealing with nutrient contributions from agricultural runoff will be one of the agencies' challenges, along with runoff from growing urban and suburban areas, septic systems and municipal wastewater, air pollution, and numerous other...

You thought fat was bad but what about the salt: The USDA has a list of more than twenty-eight hundred different additives that can be treated to meat. The usda allows up to 30 percent of that package of hamburger to contain fat and other seasonings. File USDA not every piece of meat can be tested individually. Salts and sugars for taste, gelatin to make it look thicker and antioxidants to keep it looking fresh. There are 38 countries and thousands of companies that ship meat and polutry...