agriculture News

Washington Shutters Pot Businesses Due to Old Pesticide

SEATTLE (AP) — Cannabis regulators have halted operations at several outdoor pot farms and processing facilities on a stretch of former fruit orchards in north- central Washington state after testing found high levels of chemicals related to a dangerous pesticide …

Mississippi Tornado Recovery Tough for Low-Income Residents

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — A massive tornado obliterated the modest one-story home that Kimberly Berry shared with her two daughters in the Mississippi Delta flatlands, leaving only a foundation and some random belongings — a toppled refrigerator, a dresser …

California Storms Flood Strawberry Farms, Others in Valley

As river water gushed through a broken levee, thousands of people in a California farming town were forced to evacuate as their homes were flooded and businesses destroyed. Yet another potential casualty of the powerful rainstorms that drenched coastal California: …

Bird Flu Costs Pile Up as Outbreak Enters Second Year

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The ongoing bird flu outbreak has cost the government roughly $661 million and added to consumers’ pain at the grocery store after more than 58 million birds were slaughtered to limit the spread of the virus. …

11 States Consider ‘Right to Repair’ for Farming Equipment

DENVER (AP) — On Colorado’s northeastern plains, where the pencil-straight horizon divides golden fields and blue sky, a farmer named Danny Wood scrambles to plant and harvest proso millet, dryland corn and winter wheat in short, seasonal windows. That is …

Invasive Butterfly Damages Citrus Trees, Has Reached Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The lime swallowtail butterfly — an invasive species that hails from Asia and which has damaged citrus trees throughout the Caribbean for nearly 20 years — has reached Florida. The butterfly is fairly large, with …

Officials: Estimated 100,000 Hens Died in Connecticut Fire

BOZRAH, Conn. (AP) — An estimated 100,000 hens died in a weekend fire at a Connecticut farm owned by one of the country’s largest egg producers, Connecticut officials confirmed Monday. It’s one of several such fires that have killed millions …

California Storms Have Farmers Rushing to Avoid Crop Shortfall

California farmers are facing costly damages from weeks of severe storms that may trigger more expensive US fruits and vegetables in a time of massive food inflation. “The numbers are going to be somewhere in the hundreds of millions and …

Sheriff’s Office Tags Half Moon Bay Shooting as Workplace Violence

HALF MOON BAY, Calif. (AP) — An agricultural worker killed seven people in back-to-back shootings at two mushroom farms that had employed him in Northern California and the massacre is believed to be a “workplace violence incident,” officials said Tuesday …

Serbian TV: 2 Missing as Rains Causes Flooding in Southwest

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Emergency teams in Serbia are searching for two people who were swept away by a swollen river in a southwestern town, state RTS television reported on Thursday. Heavy rainfall this week across the Balkans has caused …