Free Republic

China slapped an import ban on four Australian abattoirs Tuesday in an escalation of Beijing’s warning of a consumer boycott in retaliation for Canberra’s push for an independent coronavirus probe. The beef ban comes just days after China flagged plans to slap an 80 percent tariff on Australian barley, bringing the trade to its knees. Analysts said the move raised concerns of a possible standoff between Australia and its most important trading partner that could spill over into other crucial sectors as the world struggles to navigate the disease-induced economic crisis. The Financial Times reports China is Australia’s largest trade...

"Hey, everybody- this is Shad Sullivan coming to you from the headwaters of Bitter Creek, Archer County, North Texas. We have to talk! "State officials will be assisting to help identify potential alternative markets, if a producer is unable to move animals, and if neccessary advise and assist on depopulation and disposal methods." L&G.we are plowing under vegetable crops from coast to coast euthanizing millions of chickens. We are aborting sows and burying feeder pigs. We are dumping milk by the hundreds of thousands of gallons. Now they are preparing us to depopulate the fat cattle ready to harvest, because...

HIRSCHFELD, GERMANY - Scientists in Germany have come up with a method for extracting the precious element germanium from plants. The element is a semi-conductor and was used to develop the first transistor because it is able to transport electrical charges extremely quickly. Nowadays, silicon-germanium alloy is indispensable to modern life, crucial in making computers, smartphones and fiber-optic cables. Transparent in infra-red light, germanium is also used in intelligent steering systems and parking sensors for vehicles. Yet although germanium is present in soil all over the world, it is difficult to extract, and most supplies currently come from China. Now...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. 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...

Tucker Carlson said rural America is being punished by coronavirus lockdowns, calling the restrictions in some states "mindless and cruel" in light of infection numbers. In a monologue on Thursday's edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the Fox News Host argued that COVID-19 posed a "miniscule" threat to people in rural states as he highlighted the dire state of unemployment across the country.

An empty grocery shelf focuses the mind like nothing else. With COVID-19 disrupting supply chains and triggering higher-than-usual consumer demand, many of us have been shocked to find food staples in short supply. Although these shortages will resolve as supply chains re-boot, the main reason they will self-correct is thanks to the unsung heroes on the frontlines of the nation’s food supply: America’s farmers. While the American economy has ground to a near-halt, farmers are still on the job, producing the vegetables, dairy, grains, meat, sugar beets and cane that bring us not just farm-fresh ingredients, but the many non-perishables...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. 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...

The Department of Agriculture will implement a new $19 billion COVID-19 coronavirus relief plan for food producers that includes direct payments to farmers, as announced by President Trump during the White House briefing on Friday.

It is perhaps best-known for its hipsters, but long before Shoreditch became avant garde, it was a place of agriculture and farmers according to evidence from a radiocarbon dating technique that has revealed details about Neolithic London. The technique proved that the most significant early Neolithic pottery discovered in London is 5,500 years old. It reveals for the first time that the city's prehistoric inhabitants led a less mobile, farming-based lifestyle than their hunter-gathering forebears. The research, published in Nature, reveals that an area around Shoreditch High Street was once populated by farmers herding their livestock across a once-green landscape....

An international team found that during this period, crops were being cultivated in a remote location in what is now northern Bolivia. The scientists believe that the humans who lived here were planting squash, cassava and maize. The inhabitants also created thousands of artificial islands in the forest. The end of the last ice age, around 12,000 years ago, saw a sustained rise in global temperatures... Researchers have previously unearthed evidence that crops were domesticated at four important locations around the world. So China saw the cultivation of rice, while in the Middle East it was grains, in Central America...

he coronavirus has focused the world’s attention on the woeful lack of ventilators, respiratory masks, and intensive care unit beds available in many countries. Far less attention has been paid to another pandemic-driven shortage lurking over the horizon: food. As trade walls go up and governments panic about preserving their own food sources, the coronavirus threatens to disrupt global supply chains. Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, is limiting grain exports from April to June. Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, has ramped up grain purchases and stopped exports of legumes. The looming food shortage has an echo of the...

PORTLAND, Ore. — A team of retirees who scour the remote ravines and windswept plains of the Pacific Northwest for long-forgotten pioneer orchards has rediscovered 10 apple varieties that were believed to be extinct — the largest number ever unearthed in a single season by the nonprofit Lost Apple Project. The Vietnam veteran and former FBI agent who make up the nonprofit recently learned of their tally from last fall’s apple sleuthing from expert botanists at the Temperate Orchard Conservancy in Oregon, where all the apples are sent for study and identification. The apples positively identified as previously “lost” were...

A seed catalog coming in the mail is enough to get a gardener’s heart pumping. Now more than ever people are expected to return to the earth, as they get weary of the COVID-19 indoor restrictions and foresee the punch the pandemic will have on their wallets. Call volume has spiked at Jung Seed Company with longer wait times as people place their orders for Wisconsin 55 Tomato and Butter and Sugar Sweet Corn seeds. Nathan Zondag, the company’s VP, has a theory on the demand. “More people are at home now with COVID-19 orders and looking at the seed...

Wisconsin’s dairy industry is calling for federal help as farmers have begun dumping milk because of falling demand amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite empty grocery store shelves in recent weeks, widespread closures of schools and restaurants — coupled with falling exports — have led to a sharp drop in demand. This is without precedent,” said John Umhoefer, executive director of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association. “Half the restaurants in the U.S. are closed or operating at a reduced level. That has never happened before.” With more than they can sell, processors are refusing to pick up milk from farmers, who...

It appears Seeds are "non-essential" in Vermont.. 

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. 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...

Since our Nation’s earliest days, farming communities have been a bedrock of our society.  In a letter to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson famously stated that agriculture “is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness.”  As our Nation continues to face the unique challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic, we pay tribute to the unbeatable strength of America’s agricultural producers as they once again answer the call to feed our country and the world.  On this National Agriculture Day, and now more than ever, we salute and honor the men...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. 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...

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. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is non-political respite. 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...

In 2015, researchers reported that cod caught off the North American coast around 6,500 years ago by Stone Age hunter-gatherers contained more than 20 times the levels of mercury recommended for humans today... They analyzed the chemical composition of bones of animals, like Atlantic cod and harp seals, disposed of in ancient garbage pits, and so preserved to this day. Both species were among the main ingredients in the diet of the local people, even if the early hunter-gatherers, based on cut marks found on the bones, also successfully hunted for haddock, whale, dolphin, reindeer and beaver. The analyzed bones...