Free Republic 2nd Qtr 2024 Fundraising Target: $81,000 Receipts & Pledges to-date: $28,398
35%  
Woo hoo!! And we're now over 35%!! Thank you all very much!! God bless.

Agriculture (General/Chat)

Brevity: Headers | « Text »
  • Takin' Back Our Country (Let Us Help You Pack)

    06/18/2014 12:01:31 PM PDT · by Hot Tabasco · 11 replies
    Youtube ^ | Unknown | Joyce Shaffer
    Here's a cool homemade country western song I received in an email.....Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
  • The Tuesday List - Ten Inventions That Changed The World

    06/17/2014 11:35:24 AM PDT · by Scoutmaster · 66 replies
    Stuff of Genius ^ | June 24, 2013 | Ed Grabianowski
    If you think that the world's greatest inventions came from the fevered minds of solitary geniuses, think again. As you scan this list of the 10 inventions that changed the world, note how many of them perfected workable designs. 10. Plow Compared to some of the gleaming, electronic inventions that fill our lives today, the plow doesn't seem very exciting. It's a simple cutting tool used to carve a furrow into the soil, churning it up to expose nutrients and prepare it for planting. Yet the plow is probably the one invention that made all others possible. No one knows...
  • Return of 'pink slime': Customers flock back to controversial meat 2 years after sales plunged

    06/16/2014 4:50:54 PM PDT · by 2ndDivisionVet · 59 replies
    The London Daily Mail ^ | June 16, 2014 | Bryan Keogh
    The leftover beef trimmings derisively known as 'pink slime' is making a comeback two years after a series of graphic news broadcasts devastated sales. Two of the largest makers of the ground beef product are reporting a rebound in customers thanks in part to rising prices of its higher-quality counterparts. Average ground beef prices have jumped 10 per cent this year to an all-time high of $3.808 per pound in April, according to the Bureau of Labor. Cargill Inc's sales of finely textured beef have tripled since March 2012, and the agriculture company now has about 400 customers for the...
  • Are Farm Dogs Happier Than Lap Dogs?

    06/13/2014 3:40:47 PM PDT · by jmcenanly · 75 replies
    Modern Farmer ^ | June 10, 2014 | Monica Kim
    It's a tale of two dogs. One, a puggle lounges peacefully on his owner’s lap. The other, a border collie, bounds freely across a grassy knoll. Although the love between man and dog is indeed powerful, you might wonder whether the active, outdoors pup is enjoying a more enriching existence than his indoors counterpart. By keeping dogs as inside companions, are we asking them to lead less satisfying lives?
  • Inside a Chinese Cockroach Farm

    06/10/2014 11:01:34 AM PDT · by nickcarraway · 29 replies
    The Telegraph ^ | Malcolm Moore
    The correct way to eat a cockroach, at least in this corner of northern China, is to fry it not once but twice in a wok of smoking hot oil. The cockroach, whose innards resemble cottage cheese, has an earthy taste, with a slight twinge of ammonia. But they have become popular in China not for their taste, but for their medicinal benefits. "They really are a miracle drug," said Liu Yusheng, a professor at the Shandong Agricultural university and the head of Shandong province's Insect Association. "They can cure a number of ailments and they work much faster than...
  • Man Accused of Hitting Brother With Marijuana Plants

    06/09/2014 2:48:33 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 15 replies
    NBC Miami ^ | Monday, Jun 9, 2014
    Sheriff's deputies say a Lakeland man faces domestic battery charges after hitting his brother with marijuana plants from their yard. The fight happened Saturday evening shortly after 31-year-old Rodney Brown and 33-year-old Jackie Brown got into a verbal altercation at the house they share. Rodney Brown was arrested on charges that include domestic battery, cultivation of marijuana and possession of marijuana over 20 grams.
  • Monarch butterfly decline linked to spread of GM crops

    06/09/2014 5:05:10 AM PDT · by NowApproachingMidnight · 62 replies
    CBC ^ | 6/4/2014 | Emily Chung
    The main cause of the monarch butterfly's decline is the loss of milkweed — its food — in its U.S. breeding grounds, a new study has found. That all but confirms that the spread of genetically modified crops is indirectly killing the monarch.
  • Firewise Landscaping

    06/06/2014 5:31:47 AM PDT · by orsonwb · 9 replies
    The How Do Gardener ^ | June 4, 2014 | Rick Bickling
    With the severe drought that has been blanketing most of the country, and the wildfires ravaging Colorado this summer, now is the time to take steps to prepare for the unexpected...
  • California Water Wars

    06/04/2014 2:38:44 PM PDT · by publius911 · 1 replies
    Google Search ^ | 2011 | Victor Davis Hanson
    California lakes and canals are a testament to our fathers’ using nature to bring water, power, and prosperity to the Central Valley—often under the tutelage of a past generation of scientists, engineers, and researchers from the coastal universities. These visionaries saw the massive federal West Side [of the California Central Valley] irrigation projects as the logical twentieth-century successors to the smaller state and local enterprises that had irrigated the East Side in the nineteenth century. But today, coastal scientists have tired of such visions. They consider them destroyers of nature, not catalysts of wealth, and so they use their academic...
  • Local Farmer Seeks to Preserve America’s Heritage Livestock Breeds

    06/03/2014 10:10:50 AM PDT · by RightSideNews · 7 replies
    Virginia Free Citizen ^ | June 3, 2014 | Kate Miller
    Photos and Video: Karen Doyle is the owner of Georgiatown Farm, a 10-acre livestock farm in White Stone, Va. Although most commercial agricultural operations make mass production a top priority, Doyle takes a different approach by raising heritage livestock breeds that are now threatened with extinction in the U.S. Doyle, a member ofThe Livestock Conservancy, raises numerous heritage breeds, including Red Wattle hogs, Bourbon Red turkeys and Clun Forest sheep. Fight Against Factory Farming Doyle said she hopes to conserve endangered livestock breeds and help diversify the food market, which she said is negatively influenced by factory farming. “Factory farming...
  • Lighter Side: Watch This Farm Family’s ‘Frozen’ Parody (Protest Against EPA)

    06/02/2014 3:11:35 PM PDT · by nickcarraway · 12 replies
    Pork Network ^ | 06/02/2014 | Angela Bowman
    “That’s enough, that’s enough. We won’t back away! What can we do to ditch the rule? Tell the EPA. Don’t need more government anyway. That’s the message one Missouri farm family is saying to the Environmental Protection Agency and its proposed water rules. Kacey Clay, who farms in central Missouri with husband Andy, used a little creativity, her three young children and inspiration from a popular Disney movie to get her message across. Click here or the embedded video above to watch the full clip. In April, the American Farm Bureau Federation asked its members the “ditch” the proposed water...
  • World Pork Expo opens Wednesday

    06/01/2014 8:08:26 PM PDT · by smokingfrog · 20 replies
    Pork Network ^ | 6-1-14 | Unattributed
    Nearly 20,000 pork producers and related professionals from 32 countries will attend World Pork Expo, June 4-6, at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa. Presented by the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), Expo features the world’s largest pork-specific trade show with some 375 commercial exhibits in more than 310,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor exhibit space. “World Pork Expo is a showcase of pork production; it’s where producers get together and share ideas,” says Howard Hill, NPPC president and Iowa pork producer. “It offers a great opportunity for pork producers to get a crash course in what’s...
  • Smokers are cutting back on food to fund their craving (Ireland)

    05/30/2014 12:46:21 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 15 replies
    Irish Examiner ^ | Friday, May 30, 2014 | Catherine Shanahan
    The disastrous smoking habits of the Irish have been highlighted in two new studies—we are far more prone than other Europeans to continue smoking after suffering a stroke and one in 10 of us cut back on food to fund our craving. […] Just what lengths smokers will go to to feed their habit is borne out in a separate study by Pfizer Ireland, which found: 10% cut back on buying food35% said they cut down on eating out24% pulled out of social engagements22% also said that they cut back on holidays to avoid cutting their smoking budget.More than half...
  • Virginia Livestock Farmer Abstains From GMOs and Antibiotics

    05/29/2014 6:03:11 AM PDT · by RightSideNews · 9 replies
    Virginia Free Citizens ^ | May 20, 2014 | Shelby Mertens
    Continuing series on small farms in Virginia from Virginia Free Citizen: Photos/Video Karen Doyle, a small livestock farmer in White Stone, Va., made a conscious decision to keep her livestock free of GMOs and antibiotics when she started Georgiatown Farms almost five years ago. This requires Doyle to embark on a two and a half hour road trip to Maryland to buy the special feed from the Amish. She said most farmers aren’t willing to put in that much effort, but for her, it’s a matter of health safety and animal welfare. GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, are genetically engineered...
  • Va. Small Family Farm Promote Historical Agricultural Practices

    05/28/2014 8:45:01 AM PDT · by RightSideNews · 6 replies
    Virginia Free Citizen ^ | May 27, 2014 | Kate Miller
    Brian and Kim Criley operate their farm business Slow Grown in Virginia from the Spring Hill Farm in Caroline County, Va. The Crileys are on a mission to preserve Virginia’s historical small family farming practices, as they produce natural herbal products (including teas), organic seasonal produce, bath and body care products, homemade baked goods, and crafts and home décor products, as well as pasture-raised pork, poultry and eggs. They do not use any herbicides, pesticides, hormones, chemical growth enhancers or genetically modified organisms. They also operate a farm store, where they offer community-supported agriculture and co-op programs. Brian, a former...
  • USDA seeks partnerships to protect soil, water

    05/27/2014 5:56:39 AM PDT · by Olog-hai · 19 replies
    Associated Press ^ | May 27, 2014 8:47 AM EDT | John Flesher
    The U.S. Department of Agriculture is teaming with businesses, nonprofits and others on a five-year, $2.4 billion program that will fund locally designed soil and water conservation projects nationwide, Secretary Tom Vilsack said. Authorized by the new farm law enacted earlier this year, the Regional Conservation Partnership Program is intended to involve the private sector more directly in planning and funding environmental protection initiatives tied to agriculture. Officials provided details of the program to The Associated Press ahead of an announcement scheduled for Tuesday. …
  • The Maine Secession Movement is now actively inviting

    05/24/2014 6:48:40 AM PDT · by The_Republic_Of_Maine · 215 replies
    Maine Secession Movement | May 24, 2014 | Maine Secession Movement staff
    The Maine Secession Movement is now actively inviting Born Again Christians to move to Maine from other states. As the secession vote on June 12, 2018 moves ever closer, the Maine secession Movement is now actively encouraging Born Again Christian families in other states to put their property and business up for sale and move to Maine. This is being done in advance of the next release of the proposed Constitution for the Republic of Maine which will take effect immediately upon a successful vote for secession on June 12, 2018. This next release will include a section detailing how...
  • Here, piggy piggy: U.S. turns to military gear in hunt for feral swine

    05/23/2014 10:28:09 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 23 replies
    Reuters ^ | Fri May 23, 2014 12:15pm EDT | P.J. Huffstutter
    The U.S. Agriculture Department is known for its army of statisticians packing yardsticks and calculators to measure wheat and count soybeans. But the agency needs more firepower for another kind of rural reckoning and is gearing up with thermal imaging weapons. In its crosshairs are aggressive feral hogs that can weigh more than 400 lbs (180 kg) and have been known to carry off newborn calves. They cause about $1.5 billion of damage every year to farm communities and fields, say department officials, and now there are worries they may help spread a deadly pig virus. So the USDA wants...
  • Victor Davis Hanson. Seriously Injured and still writing beautifully......

    05/20/2014 3:01:29 PM PDT · by NYAmerican · 15 replies
    VictorHanson.com ^ | 5/19/14 | Victor Davis Hanson
    This weekend I missed my first posting at PJ Media since beginning in 2006. Why? Let me briefly explain the lapse — if I can be forgiven for comparing a bike accident with what I have seen on the farm the last 50 years (sliced off fingers, crushed legs, herbicide poisonings, manifold burns, etc.). I was going on a usual morning bike ride — safe stuff with like-minded older folks. I’m 60; so is my biking partner and fellow Hoover Institution associate Bruce Thornton. We are hardly reckless. (Not like sulfuring at midnight recklessly in one’s 20s in the old...
  • Feds don’t want irrigation water used to grow pot

    05/20/2014 3:00:01 PM PDT · by Olog-hai · 8 replies
    Associated Press ^ | May 20, 2014 5:54 PM EDT | Nicholas K. Geranios and Gene Johnson
    The U.S. Interior Department said Tuesday it doesn’t want federal irrigation water being used to grow marijuana in Washington, Colorado or anywhere else. But the practical effects of the policy remain unclear: The Bureau of Reclamation said only that it would refer any violations to the Justice Department, and it seems unlikely that the Justice Department would target irrigation districts for supplying the water when it’s not going after the people who are actually growing the pot. […] The question of whether federal water can be used to grow marijuana is the latest iteration of a messy conflict posed by...