With the approaching 2007 farm bill debate and increased focus on the higher corn demand and prices brought on by expanding ethanol production, it would be helpful to review some facts on farm policy and prices as we move forward. Not only will the Kool-Aid peddlers pass out the Dixie Cups again, they have added a new wrinkle to their solution: the elimination of the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) as a measure to increase corn acres to keep prices low in order to expand exports and...

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Relatively strong export demand, reduced plantings, dry weather and hopes for a future biodiesel boom sent July soybeans futures 30 cents a bushel higher at the Chicago Board of Trade this week, hoisting national average cash prices to their loftiest level since late February. Relatively strong export demand, reduced plantings, dry weather and hopes for a future biodiesel boom sent July soybeans futures 30 cents a bushel higher at the Chicago Board of Trade this week, hoisting national...

The Los Angeles Times food writer explains how today's Frankenstein vegetables, creatures of the laboratory, have seen remarkable improvements thanks to horticultural scientists in disease resistance, color, yield, durability and shelf life though at the expense of flavor. Every August, big wicker baskets overflowed with majestic Jersey tomatoes in all their sweet and pulpy grandeur, followed by tree-ripened peaches as akin to today's fuzzy bocce balls as a church picnic is to Mardi Gras....

The family also is eyeing cellulosic ethanol, which is extracted from the sugars in cornstalks, leaves, agricultural and forest wastes, and other crops that are turned into fuel. Agriculture officials say they can raise those fees and retire more acres, but that might not be enough. Can Colorado, which imports more corn than it grows, support all the planned ethanol plants? Have corn prices peaked? Some of the plants are showing a 50 percent return, though most of the profit so far is...