Beetle banks have been established at the Bayer farms, along with new tree planting and hedgerows, while records have been started on the number of different species of birds flying into the farm. BAYER has gone all birds and the bees and beetle banks. Bayer aims to get lots of visitors to its model eco-friendly farms, especially parties of school children. They are traffic-lighted, categorised as red, amber or green, according to how endangered the species. Looking after wildlife, even...

Now officially dubbed "colony collapse disorder," this phenomenon, taking place across the globe, is being blamed on a variety of culprits from pesticides to viruses or bacteria to genetically engineered crops. The most immediate threat comes from the effect on honeybees, a European import that has become our primary agricultural plant pollinator. They often live singly, come in a variety of sizes and shapes and seldom attack humans because, unlike hive bees, they do not have a huge supply...

Kemira GrowHow has fertilizer and chemicals production facilities in eight countries and had sales of 1.17 billion euros last year. Yara is the world's biggest maker of mineral fertilizers such as urea and ammonia, used to grow almost half the world's food. Buying Kemira will give the company access to a mine in Siilinjaervi, Finland, which has phosphates used in animal feed and fertilizer. In addition to the existing mine, Yara may also open a phosphate mine in northern Finland if it's...

Rainy-day savings Theresa Curry Columnist You might not be able to totally transform your looks, your wardrobe, your home or your car overnight like the television experts, but there are a couple of modest projects that you can accomplish in a day or weekend for a water conservation makeover. Rainy-day savings Theresa Curry Columnist You might not be able to totally transform your looks, your wardrobe, your home or your car overnight like the television experts, but there are a couple of...

We ve got a long-term, economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to land-spreading the only advancement in manure management technology since the development of the spreader, said Greg Langmo, a turkey farmer who also is fuels manager for the Fibrominn plant. We ve got a long-term, economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to land-spreading the only advancement in manure management technology since the development of the spreader, said Greg Langmo, a turkey...