A freak, early blizzard in South Dakota dropped more than four feet of snow and killed tens of thousands of cattle. Said a local rancher, “If this event had happened to one rancher, if he had lost everything that he owned, you would not hear one word from us. We would pull together and make him whole. But how do you do that when you’re all in the same boat?”
A North Dakota farmer discovered a massive oil spill while harvesting his wheat crop. Spewing 20,600 barrels of oil over 7 acres of land, the pipeline rupture has made the land unsuitable for farming for the next several years.
Concerned over the threats of pesticide pollution nearby, a small group of Iowa farmers, or “drift catchers,” are utilizing air-monitoring technology to fight possible contamination to their crops.
This year’s pear harvest is predicted to be one of the biggest on record. However, a lot of the fruit is rotting in the orchards due to a lack of experienced agricultural workers to pick them.
California passes a new law decreasing property taxes on 3 acres of land or less if the owner grows food for at least 5 years, a huge step in promoting California urban agriculture.
Genetically modified material has contaminated a Washington farmer’s non-GMO alfalfa crop, making it unsuitable for export. The USDA claims that the incident doesn’t warrant any government action, and will not address the issue.
In celebration of World Food Day this week, it is important to “embrace the farming we want” by recognizing issues regarding global food security, climate change, and conserving biodiversity, says the Wildlife Conservation Society.
