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A modern John Deere tractor with 850 horsepower plays tug of war with an 1800s era steam tractor that has about 18 horsepower. While both are capable of getting an honest day's work done, there is only one that proves its dominance through sheer power.

An international rights group is pushing the federal government and the tobacco industry to take further steps to protect children working on U.S. tobacco farms. A report released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch claims that children as young as 7 are sometimes working long hours in fields harvesting nicotine- and pesticide-laced tobacco leaves under sometimes hazardous conditions. Most of what the group documented is legal, but it wants cigarette makers to push for safety on farms from which they buy tobacco. Human Rights Watch details findings from interviews with more than 140 children working on farms in North Carolina, Kentucky,...

I have a couple of questions that I need answers to before I run out and purchase a new hedge clipper. My first question is: Should I go with a corded or battery powered one? I have never had any type of battery operated tool (other than a drill) that was worth a d@mn .. battery wears out quickly or doesn't hold a charge for long and is usually underpowered. My other question is: What length blade is ideal? I have be using a cr@ppy little 16 inch blade for a few years and it really sucks using it on...

The mysterious vanishing of honeybees from hives can be directly linked to insectcide use, according to new research from Harvard University. The scientists showed that exposure to two neonicotinoids, the world's most widely used class of insecticide, lead to half the colonies studied dying, while none of the untreated colonies saw their bees disappear. "We demonstrated that neonicotinoids are highly likely to be responsible for triggering 'colony collapse disorder' in honeybee hives that were healthy prior to the arrival of winter," said Chensheng Lu, an expert on environmental exposure biology at Harvard School of Public Health and who led the...

FORT WORTH — Authorities are not allowing longhorns with the Fort Worth Herd to roam on the new Chisholm Trail Parkway during a weekend of festivities to open the tollway. Seems the North Texas Tollway Authority has decided the road is for cars, not cattle. The 28-mile toll road, named after the historical cattle trails that led to Oklahoma, Kansas and beyond in the mid-1800s, is scheduled to open to traffic Sunday. It will connect Interstate 30 near downtown Fort Worth to U.S. 67 in Cleburne. Crews will open one on- and off-ramp at a time beginning about 8 a.m....

The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. This thread is non-political, although you will find that most here are conservative folks. No matter what, you won’t be flamed and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the Weekly Gardening Thread. There is no telling where it will go and... that...

In the past few years, Brussels sprouts and kale have become two of the hottest vegetables around. Once either outright reviled or merely ignored, they’ve become popular staples in the kitchens of health-focused homes and trendy restaurants alike. For fans of the two vegetables, it can be difficult to choose which is their favorite. But now, you don’t have to. Enter a new hybrid vegetable that is equal parts Brussels sprouts and kale. Developed a few years ago by British vegetable breeding company Tozer Seeds, it entered the spotlight recently via prominent features on NBC’s Today show and in New...

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Apple fans in Minnesota will soon be able to find a favorite apple in grocery stores year-round. The Honeycrisp apple has come a long way from its humble beginnings here in Minnesota. When the apple was first introduced in 1991, University of Minnesota researchers only produced a three-week supply. Now, Honeycrisp is the No. 1 desired apple in America. “When you find a winner, you stick with it,” scientist and Honeycrisp breeder David Bedford said. Spring usually means Honeycrisp apples fans must do without their favorite fruit. But Bedford says researchers found a way to have the...

Jessie Grinnan, a stay-at-home mom from Palm Beach County, Fla., pays $13 a gallon for milk—and she couldn’t be happier about it. Grinnan drinks raw, unpasteurized cow's milk that she buys at a local farm. “It’s a full milk,” she says, “so it’s not watery and it’s not bland. It’s delicious, actually, and I’m not a huge milk drinker.” Grinnan believes raw milk has health benefits. She says her husband couldn’t tolerate pasteurized milk and has found relief from his allergies since they switched to raw milk. She says she also doesn’t want her 23-month-old son drinking anything whose origins...

It's not every fruit that gets its own international symposium. Then again, the jackfruit is not your typical fruit. It's got a distinctive, musky smell, and a flavor that some describe as like Juicy Fruit gum. It is the largest tree fruit in the world, capable of reaching 100 pounds. And it grows on the branches — and the trunks — of trees that can reach 30, 40, 50 feet. (Trunk-growing is a good thing because it reduces the odds of a jackfruit bopping you on the head.) Jackfruits are also a nutritional bonanza: high in protein, potassium and vitamin...

Several hundred Chrysler minivans are stuck indefinitely on a piece of prime Detroit real estate, unable to be transported across America. The reason? The fossil fuel boom in Canada and the United States is hogging much of the available rail capacity needed to transport the vans. Citing a report by the Associated Press, the Windsor Star reports that railway capacity – which is normally transport new vehicles – is being eaten up by deliveries of oil from both the Alberta Oil Sands and the Bakken shale formation in the United States. According to the AP, just 9,500 railway carloads of...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a story April 20 about new research showing biofuels made with corn leftovers are worse for global warming than gasoline in the short term, The Associated Press erroneously reported that cellulosic biofuels that failed to release 60 percent less carbon than gasoline wouldn't earn a $1 per gallon subsidy. That tax subsidy expired on Dec. 31, 2013. A corrected version of the story is below:

The market for pure gasoline is so strong among boaters that many fuel stations near popular fishing ports are adding non-ethanol alternatives. This photo is from a new RaceTrac station on Paris Road in Chalmette, a high-traffic area for anglers returning from Hopedale, Shell Beach and Delacroix. (Photo by Todd Masson, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) (Todd Masson)******************************************Boaters despise ethanol. The substance that is mixed with most gasolines in America is only slightly less harmful to outboards than Saharan sand, and the growing numbers of boaters who have had motor trouble because of the stuff will drive three cities over...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Monday a new $150 million program designed to provide investment capital to help small agriculture-related business in rural areas with cash needed to expand. […] The USDA traditionally has offered guaranteed loans or direct loans for rural businesses. The creation of the Rural Business Investment Company is a new way for USDA to establish a licensing procedure that makes Farm Credit bank funds available as investment capital. The banks cannot directly hold ownership stakes in companies through capital investment. Under the new program the government has created a new business entity, the Rural Business...

Officials say that the Laney’s can redeem their 80 cattle for $40,950Southwest New Mexico – The Diamond Bar Ranch was acquired by the Laney family in 1986, and its adjacent Laney Cattle Company was allowed to utilize grazing lands since 1883. According to the US Forest Service, however, they are no longer entitled to do so, and the USFS has posted notices along the fence line of their property advising people not to attempt to enter the ranch. Lands are being seized, and the cattle removed, “one way or the other.”Now they say that the cattle may be redeemed if the Laney’s pay for the costs...

Faced with growing public anger about a poisonous environment, China’s government released a yearslong study that shows nearly one-fifth of the country’s farmland is contaminated with toxic metals, a stunning indictment of unfettered industrialization under the Communist Party’s authoritarian rule. The report, previously deemed so sensitive it was classified as a state secret, names the heavy metals cadmium, nickel and arsenic as the top contaminants. It adds to widespread doubts about the safety of China’s farm produce and confirms suspicions about the dire state of its soil following more than two decades of explosive industrial growth, the overuse of farm...

Central-east Mexico gave birth to the domesticated chili pepper—now the world's most widely grown spice crop—reports an international team of researchers, led by a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis. Results from the four-pronged investigation—based on linguistic and ecological evidence as well as the more traditional archaeological and genetic data—suggest a regional, rather than a geographically specific, birthplace for the domesticated chili pepper. That region, extending from southern Puebla and northern Oaxaca to southeastern Veracruz, is further south than was previously thought, the researchers found. The region also is different from areas of origin that have been suggested...

After nearly 30 years studying how plants use their genes to defend against viruses, Vicki Vance, a professor at the University of South Carolina, doesn’t see genetically modifying plants as a malevolent or arrogantly God-like endeavor. “There’s DNA in the world and it gets passed from one organism to another and it’s the natural thing. If that’s the problem you have with transgenic plants, that’s not a good reason to be against them,” Vance says. She does, however, have a problem with mega corporations allegedly using their money and power to hide the risks of new forms of genetic technology....

I am running computers at my Florida farm that use ten-fold the electricity I used a year ago, this time of year. I read freeper threads about the LEO, no-knock, drug suspected raids, that occur all across the states when electricity usage is flagged as abnormally high. How would you go about contacting the county sheriff and what to say as well as what not to say with regard to high electric usage. I don't want to wake in the middle of the night to LEO activity on my property that I suspect is a burglary or other criminal activity....

A new bill introduced in Congress looks to ban states from implementing their own labeling laws when it comes to food containing genetically engineered ingredients. According to Reuters, US Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) introduced the legislation on Wednesday, which is intended to head off bills in about 24 states that would require companies to inform customers when their food is produced using genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Titled the “Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act,” the proposal would forbid states from enacting such proposals....