Free Republic

Those who are responsible for feeding our world and keeping up with the forever changing challenges facing the food and agriculture industry have come together to work with those who have defended our nation. Michigan State University Institute of Agricultural Technology accompanied by extension agencies and some of the food and agriculture industry's leaders, work with partners like the Veterans' Services Division of the Michigan Workforce Development Agency and the VA Hospital System to train veterans and ultimately help them obtain a job within the field as part of a program called Vets to Ag. Founded in 1894, the Institute...

Amnesty International says a new decree in Venezuela that says the government can make any of its citizens farm the country's fields in order to combat its current, punishing food crisis "effectively amounts to forced labour." "The decree, officially published earlier this week, establishes that people working in public and private companies can be called upon to join state-sponsored organizations specialized in the production of food," Amnesty International reported. "They will be made to work in the new companies temporarily for a minimum of 60 days after which their 'contracts' will be automatically renewed for an extra 60-day period or...

"Eating wood and leaves has become my habit now," Butt was quoted as saying. Lahore - A man in Pakistan's Punjab province has been surviving on fresh leaves and wood for the last 25 years and has never fallen ill. Mehmood Butt, 50, who hails from Gujranwala district in Punjab province, started eating on leaves at the age of 25 as he had no work and could not afford a basic meal. "There was too much poverty in my family. Everything was beyond limit and it was very difficult for me to get a meal, so I thought it is...

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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

SAN FRANCISCO (CNNMoney) -- Sally doesn't clean, chop or toss vegetables. The new salad robot making its debut in San Francisco this month is more like a salad vending machine: Press a few buttons on a touchscreen and it drops neat portions of refrigerated ingredients into a bowl. But Sally the Salad Robot could be the latest step in automating some of the more repetitive parts of food preparation. Its creators hope food robots can help with one of Silicon Valley's biggest restaurant problems: a shortage of kitchen workers. Sally is the first product from Chowbotics, a Redwood City startup...

Social incubator New Sun Rising has purchased a new headquarters that will create 20 jobs and a more sustainable Millvale, according to executive director Scott Wolovich. The nonprofit will move from a 700-square-foot space to the 10,000-square-foot former Loyal Order of the Moose No. 68 at 112 E. Sherman St. in Millvale. Millvale sustainability coordinator, Zaheen Hussain, will move from his current Millvale Community Library workspace to the new building, where he will work alongside New Sun Rising employees in a co-working space. The 412 Food Rescue co-founder and CEO Leah Lizarondo said her organization will use the kitchen to...

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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

McALLEN — Amid a time of uncertainty for business along the border, Scantech Sciences is doubling down with a new technology it predicts will revolutionize food safety practices. Scantech, a developer, manufacturer and operator of food treatment systems and facilities, already has a building in the Sharyland Business Park in McAllen. But the Atlanta-based company has not had an electronic cold-pasteurization food treatment center before. Scantech began construction Thursday on a 100,000-square-foot facility connected to its current building. It’s expected to open, at the latest, by the beginning of 2018. Bret Erickson, president of the Texas International Produce Association for...

Meat contaminated with Listeria will not show signs of spoilage, such as sliminess or odor. You can't smell a food and tell it it is safe Listeria monocytogenes bacteria can cause a potentially fatal disease in people with vulnerable immune systems. Listeria infection is the third leading cause of death from food poisoning in the United States. About 1,600 people get sick from Listeria each year and about 260 die. 1 A number of food borne outbreaks in recent years have been attributed to Listeria. In 2016, a total of 358 frozen food products were recalled amid a Listeria outbreak...

MEBANE – Lidl, a German grocery chain building stores in Eden and Danville, Va., will hold a public hiring event for its state-of-the-art, Alamance County regional headquarters and distribution center next week. The event will be held from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday, April 20 at Lid’ls newly constructed, $125 million facility, which will become operational later this year. The Lidl Distribution Center is located at 3815 Senator Ralph Scott Parkway, Mebane. Up to 150 logistics positions will become available at the site this year. Salaries for logistics associates will be up to $20 per hour, plus benefits, which can include...

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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

I have to admit it. I love me some IHOP pancakes. Breakfast is one of my favorite meals to eat at restaurants, though itÂ’s funny, because IÂ’m normally a savory foods girl. I like to order chicken fried steak, bacon or eggs. BUT thereÂ’s always an exception when we go to IHOP. I always get their pancakes. They are amazeballs! I found this copycat version from a blog off Pinterest and read all the reviews. They were all great and everyone said they loved them. Some commented they were better than IHOPÂ’s. So that was the seller to me. I...

However, another rule is set to take effect soon that might just take the cake. Or pizza, in this case: The nation’s franchise restaurants are about one month away from the imposition of new nutritional-labeling rules dreamed up by the Obama administration, another gift of the grievously misnamed Affordable Care Act. For outlets of brands with 20 or more locations, that means posting signs in the shop with calorie counts for every item on the menu and for every variation on that item. That’s probably not such a big deal if you are, say, Raising Cane’s, and your menu ranges...

Ever wonder why most store-bought tomatoes are so tasteless? The answer (surprise, surprise) has to do with revenue: Tomato farmers care about yield, and the genetic variants associated with yield are not associated with tasty tomato flavors, a new study finds. "Consumers complain that the modern tomato has little flavor. [It's] like a 'water bomb,'" said the study's co-principal investigator Sanwen Huang, the deputy director general at the Agricultural Genome Institute at Shenzhen at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. How can farmers ditch this "water bomb" and reinstate the rich, sweet flavor of the tomato? To find out, Huang...

Harvard University chemists have invented a new kind of “bionic” leaf that uses bacteria, sunlight, water, and air to make fertilizer right in the soil where crops are grown. It could make possible a future low-cost commercial fertilizer for poorer countries in the emerging world... Fertilizer created from sunlight + water + carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the air For the new “bionic leaf,” Nocera’s team has designed a system in which bacteria use hydrogen from the water split by the artificial leaf plus carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to make a bioplastic that the bacteria store inside themselves as...

The population of Denver has been steadily growing over the past few years, but not enough of its new inhabitants want to work in the restaurant industry. The reason? The higher-paying jobs are in weed, man. New eateries are popping up all over Denver to meet the increased demand of residents and tourists, but restaurant owners claim they’re having a hard time filling their kitchens with able-bodied workers, Bloomberg reports. “Our work force is being drained by the pot industry,” Denver restaurateur Bryan Dayton told the site. “Enter the weed business, which pays $22 an hour with full benefits,” added...

Delft Blue, a leading supplier of portion controlled cuts of veal and pork in the Northeast, will expand its production facilities and create 22 new manufacturing jobs, 50 miles east of Syracuse, in New York Mills, New York. Delft Blue is the sole-source supplier for pork to Blue Apron Foods and Applegate Farms, two of the largest specialty 'ready to cook' meal producers in the United States. Delft Blue is also now the sole-source supplier of pork for Wegmans Food Markets. A significant employer for Oneida County, Delft Blue employs more than 170 staff in Oneida County. With support from...

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. Planting, Harvest to Table(recipes)preserving, good living - there is no...

A government cannot show compassion by giving of its own to help another For over twenty years my wife and I were the pastors of churches and leaders of ministries. Everywhere we ministered we founded programs to feed and clothe those who needed assistance. These ministries through the work of volunteers and the donations of private citizens fed and clothed thousands all without ever taking a dime of government money. Back in the dream time when I was young in the ministry, I helped start a feeding ministry. We fed so many needy people with groceries and had so many...

<p>The owner of the Olive Garden is making a cheesy acquisition. And investors love it.</p> <p>Darden Restaurants announced late Monday that it was buying Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, a casual dining chain with 165 restaurants in 28 states, for $780 million cash. The company also announced earnings and sales that topped forecasts.</p>