Free Republic

The last sugar beet factory in California is closing after almost 80 years in business. The Spreckels Sugar Company factory in Brawley in the Imperial Valley has already begun the closure process that will soon lead to the loss of 700 local jobs. The Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, which owns and runs the factory, said it could no longer keep up with declining sugar prices as well as post-pandemic inflationary pressures. The factory was the last of its kind in the state that turned the root sugar beet into sugar, and marks the latest of a series of companies...

Minneapolis - The Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) will lead to increased ethanol exports largely from Brazil entering into the U.S. tariff-free, according to a new report released today by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). The report found that agribusiness firms are already investing heavily in Brazil and the Central American region in an effort to take advantage of the CAFTA ethanol provisions. Under CAFTA, if Central American countries convert Brazilian ethanol into fuel for the U.S., 240 million gallons of ethanol could be exported into the U.S. tariff-free in 2005. That number is just the...

TAMPA - A team of Finnish researchers working with Tampa's Johnnie B. Byrd Sr. Alzheimer's Center and Research Institute has developed a drug that could be a major advancement for people with spinal cord injuries and degenerative diseases including Alzheimer's. The researchers, led by Paivi Liesi, at the University of Helsinki, isolated a combination of amino acids known as tripeptide lysine-aspartic acid isoleucine. When tested in rats, the combination prevented neurotoxins from destroying neurons in the rats' brains. The therapy could slow or even reverse the effects of Alzheimer's disease, the researchers said. It could be a boon for the...