LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) - Motorists might save a few cents a gallon filling their tanks with ethanol, but they could soon be paying more for a burger and a milkshake as a result. Farmers who once grew forage crops like alfalfa, milo or grain sorghum are switching to corn, so there are fewer forage crops to feed dairy cows, said John Cowan, executive director of the Texas Association of Dairymen. About a quarter of the 30,000 animals at Lubbock Feeders were bought before corn prices began to...

State veterinarian Guy Hohenhaus said the likelihood of mutation is "as close to nil as you can get" because of the strength of Maryland's early detection program. While the state Department of Agriculture already had easy access to the industry databases of large-scale chicken growers such as Purdue Farms and Tyson Foods, the registry facilitated the monitoring of "the folks who have a bunch of show chickens and 4-H club chickens," added Hohenhaus. Despite two incidents of avian flu among...

Much of what was lost represented what the farmers were planning to feed their livestock during the winter, and the losses mean they may have to purchase hay to replace it unless alternative feed crops are available. GERMANTOWN -- With hay resources already short and hay prices predicted to go up due to drought conditions over the last two months, what Bracken County farmers don't need is fire. Volunteer firefighters were called, but flames spread quickly and engulfed all 48 rolls of...

And like Brown, he laid bare the essential question: food or fuel? "The real conflict over cropland in the 21st century," wrote Avery, "will set people's desire for biofuels against their altruistic desire that all the children on the planet be well-nourished. America's farmers were solely focused on producing food and fiber. After the discovery of vast quantities of oil in Texas, Oklahoma, and other locales, America was able to create a modern transportation system, with cars, buses, and...

Wildlife officials became so worried about the fate of the shorebirds, particularly the red knot, that they imposed a harvesting moratorium on horseshoe crabs. For the past decade, Delaware officials have been pushing to protect the crabs, which swim into the bay each spring from the ocean and mate by the millions on its shores. The state also moved to protect the crabs during their spawning season - generally from mid-May until mid-June - so that the birds would be able to forage. But in...