The farming sector is further disadvantaged by outdated farm equipment, the limited availability of important crop inputs such as fertilizer and herbicides, and generally poor agronomic practices. However, despite the availability of over 10 million hectares of land for agricultural use, Iran imports 30 to 50% of its annual food requirements. Iranian farmers are involved in the production of a wide array of crops including wheat, rice, barley, corn, pistachio nuts, almonds, hazelnuts, and...

After that date, cigarettes, cigars and all forms of smokeless tobacco will be considered contraband. The department is also implementing a gradual program to limit the amount of tobacco products that can be purchased at prison commissaries. While there are currently no plans to do a mass search for illegal tobacco products on New Year's Day, spot checks will occur on a regular basis, just as they do for other contraband, he said. Union officials argued against including prisons in the...

The cost of treating those problems is often borne by the public, making this an equitable tax with beneficial effects for children and tobacco addicts alike. Measure 49 modifies Measure 37, which requires that property owners be compensated for reductions in value resulting from land use regulations, or that the regulations be waived. The citys downtown area has seen a number of positive developments in recent years, but these need to be supported and continued with a program of public...

For the first time, IBM corp. is offering $150 cash rewards to employees, who sign their families up for a 12-week lifestyle makeover in the coming year. IBM gets kids into lifestyles for health. Here's the game plan: Kids learn good habits that keep them well, parents are less distracted by family health problems, and IBM enjoys both more-productive employees and reduced medical expenses. Since 2004, when it introduced such incentives, IBM has paid out more than $130 million to employees...

The report from the Ontario Tobacco Research Unit, a provincially funded joint project of the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo, was delivered last Friday to officials at Queen's Park and in Ottawa and will be released to the public today. OTTAWA Non-aboriginal Ontarians are heading to Indian reserves in large numbers for cheap, tax-free cigarettes, according to the first major study on the issue independent of the tobacco industry. The report from the Ontario Tobacco...