Engineering key crops to be insect or virus resistant has led to a decreased use of agrochemicals, increased yields and higher returns -- for commercial farmers and smallholders alike. African Union leaders took an important step in acknowledging the potential of biotechnology to help agricultural development earlier this year when they endorsed the Freedom to Innovate plan. The plan emphasises the need for Africa to find a unified approach to agricultural biotechnology research and...

A bushel of corn, the major feedstock for ethanol, yields 2.8 gallons of the renewable fuel. The corn stockpile could be roughly 500 million bushels larger than expected a month ago because of the upturn in corn plantings and a quarterly USDA report showing more corn was in warehouses than expected. In Illinois and Iowa, the two leading corn and soybean states, growers cut soybean plantings by a total of 2.1 million acres from 2006. Based on an average abandonment over the last five years...

ONE of the nation's key water experts has called for a permanent system under which cotton and rice farmers would phase down production during drought years. He said farmers producing crops such as cotton and rice would find it more difficult to operate continually every year, especially as climate change brought more extremes in weather patterns. Cotton Australia chief executive Adam Kay said farmers were already responding to the seasons, with planting rising and falling with water...

Department of Agriculture said pegged corn plantings at their highest level in more than 60 years, but reported a drop in the estimates of soybean and cotton plantings. Some traders may see cotton as a bargain, along with natural gas and orange juice, ahead of the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season. Cotton futures followed suit, with their July contracts trading 4. Meanwhile, soybeans rallied on a decline plantings, brought on from a shift to planting more corn. Against this bearish...

By Field Maloney Posted Friday, March 17, 2006, at 1:34 PM ET A scene from Whole Foods groceryIt's hard to find fault with Whole Foods, the haute-crunchy supermarket chain that has made a fortune by transforming grocery shopping into a bright and shiny, progressive experience. By Field Maloney Posted Friday, March 17, 2006, at 1:34 PM ET A scene from Whole Foods groceryIt's hard to find fault with Whole Foods, the haute-crunchy supermarket chain that has made a fortune by transforming...