agriculture News

China Plans Cloud Seeding to Protect Grain Crop from Drought

CHONGQING, China (AP) — China says it will try to protect its grain harvest from record-setting drought by using chemicals to generate rain, while factories in the southwest waited Sunday to see whether they would be shut down for another …

Wildfires Spread, Fish Die Off amid Severe Drought in Europe

PARIS (AP) — Firefighters from across Europe struggled Thursday to contain a huge wildfire in France that has swept through a large swath of pine forest, while Germans and Poles faced a mass fish die-off in a river flowing between …

Florida Faces $1.2 Million Verdict for Killing Citrus Trees

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The owner of a commercial nursery has won a $1.2 million judgment against the Florida Department of Agriculture in the latest verdict against the state agency for destroying citrus trees in the 2000s during an attempt …

Drought Ravages Some French Crops, Key Regions Uncertain – Expert

PARIS —Extremely dry weather has caused severe damage to grain crops in some parts of France and substantial rain will be needed by early June to allow those in large producing regions to pull through, a technical institute said on …

Iraqi Merchants Struggle on Amid Series of Strong Sandstorms

BAGHDAD (AP) — The thick layer of dust blanketing the sky did not deter Muhammed Ghalib from walking to work in Baghdad’s main commercial district on Monday, as the latest in an unrelenting series of intense sandstorms swept Iraq. The …

Las Vegas Water Intake Now Visible at Drought-Stricken Lake Mead

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A massive drought-starved reservoir on the Colorado River has become so depleted that Las Vegas now is pumping water from deeper within Lake Mead where other states downstream don’t have access. The Southern Nevada Water Authority …

Three Men Sentenced in Georgia Forced Farm Labor Investigation

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) _ Three men have been sentenced to federal prison as part of a broad investigation into what authorities said was a wide-ranging conspiracy to bring workers from Central America to the United States for forced labor on …

Tired of Waiting for Driverless Vehicles? Head to a Farm

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — For years Americans have been told autonomous technology was improving and that driverless vehicles were just around the corner. Finally they’re here, but to catch a glimpse of them, you’ll need to go to a …

UN: Droughts, Less Water in Europe as Warming Wrecks Crops

LA HERRADURA, Spain (AP) — “Herders and farmers have their feet on the ground, but their eyes on the sky.” The old saying is still popular in Spain’s rural communities who, faced with recurrent droughts, have historically paraded sculptures of …

Beekeepers Turn to Anti-Theft Technology as Hive Thefts Rise

WOODLAND, Calif. (AP) — For a few frenzied weeks, beekeepers from around the United States truck billions of honeybees to California to rent them to almond growers who need the insects to pollinate the state’s most valuable crop. But as …