Crop insurance and disaster payments from the federal government can help if damage occurs, but even then farmers say they don't totally recoup their losses. By then, a farmer has already invested in most of the growing process. Disaster aid for farmers is usually offered as a short-term program after a tropical storm drowns crops or a drought dries them up, for example, Weigle said. The federal government has tried to get out of the business of disaster payments by encouraging more...

Estimates of crop damage from hail storms this spring -- in particular that May 14 storm -- has reached into the millions and continues to grow. Cooksey, of Cooksey Farms southeast of Roggen in southern Weld County, learned that 2,200 acres of wheat had been damaged to the point that it might yield six bushels to the acre, the result of a May 14 hail storm that hammered the area. An estimated 70,000 acres of dryland wheat was hit in southern Weld into Adams and Morgan counties and more...

Eliminate or reform crop insurance: It makes no sense to have recurring disaster programs plus expensive crop insurance. Taxpayers pay $3 billion a year to subsidize crop insurance and $2 billion for ad hoc disaster payments, according to Joseph Glauber, special ag envoy for the U. Eliminating farm subsidies for corn, wheat, and soybeans would have virtually no effect on the production or prices of these commodities. Much of the insurance subsidy pays for administration and marketing...

They also suggest that the organics industry campaigns against GM crops on the basis that they are unnatural creations of technology which are bad for health and the environment. Christopher (University of Hawaii) state that organic foods are often presented to consumers as representing the ultimate standard in food safety and healthfulness, an image which is used to justify premium prices. Unfortunately, most food processing treatments do not reduce the toxic effect, with Fusarium-derived...

Quebec farmers, led by the Union des producteurs agricoles, are raising the alarm as downtown Montrealers move to the suburbs and more agricultural land is rezoned for residential and commercial use. Non-farmers move out and build houses in what is considered farming country, then complain about anything they consider to be a nuisance as far as farming is concerned, says Bob Friesen, a turkey farmer in southeastern Manitoba. This raises challenges when it comes to making sure that farmers...