Agriculture

"SAN FRANCISCO — One of the deepest fears sweeping a shattered nation following the Sept. 11 attacks was that terrorists might poison the country's food."

"U.S. inspectors on Monday started using more sensitive tests to detect antibiotics in pork, part of a stepped-up effort to ensure meat safety after a government report last year suggested consumers might be at risk from harmful drug residues."

"Ancient Andean crops and farming methods are revived as Peruvians struggle to deal with the effects of climate change."

"SAN FRANCISCO -- In some of California’s top strawberry-growing counties, levels of banned methyl bromide remain nearly as high as they were a decade ago, despite a mandated phaseout, according to an analysis by New America Media."

"The Asian stink bug has started its migration into North Carolina, and a team of researchers at N.C. State University have prepped their labs, set their traps and launched a monitoring website - all in an effort to stop the pest's spread. Their work is urgent. This insect, also known as the brown marmorated stink bug, has decimated crops in the mid-Atlantic states."

The U.S. and Australia have been the breadbasket that fed famine-stricken areas of Africa and Asia in recent decades. Global climate change may be weakening that foundation of world food security.

"U.S. farm income will soar past $100 billion for the first time in 2011 following rising cash receipts for everything from corn, wheat and cotton to soybeans, the Agriculture Department said on Tuesday. U.S. farm income is forecast at $103.6 billion for 2011, up $24.5 billion, or 31 percent from 2010. Much of the increase is the result of higher crop values, which are expected to rise by $33.6 billion.

"One year after 1,900 people were sickened and a half-billion Iowa eggs were recalled, government inspectors continue to find unsanitary conditions and inadequate protections against salmonella on Iowa’s egg farms. None of the violations have resulted in fines or penalties from state or federal agencies, and Iowa’s egg producers still aren’t required to tell state officials when they find salmonella on their farms."

"Widely grown corn plants that Monsanto Co. genetically modified to thwart a voracious bug are falling prey to that very pest in a few Iowa fields, the first time a major Midwest scourge has developed resistance to a genetically modified crop."

"The discovery raises concerns that the way some farmers are using biotech crops could spawn superbugs.