Crops
North Dakota farmers lose appeal to grow hemp Wednesday, 23 December 2009 11:17 |   
By JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press Writer BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Tuesday affirmed a lower court's decision to dismiss a lawsuit by two North Dakota farmers who said they should be allowed to grow industrial hemp without fear of federal criminal prosecution. Wayne Hauge and David Monson received North Dakota's first state licenses to grow industrial hemp nearly three years ago, but they've never received approval from the Drug Enforcement Administration. The farmers sued the DEA, and their case has been before the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for more than a year after U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland dismissed it. Hemp, which is used to make paper, lotion and other products, is related to the illegal drug marijuana. Under federal law, parts of an industrial hemp plant are considered controlled substances. Hovland told the farmers the best remedy might be to ask Congress to change the law to explicitly distinguish hemp from marijuana. "I guess the next step is we'll have to take it to Congress," said Hauge, who grows garbanzo beans and other crops near the northwestern North Dakota town of Ray. "The fastest and easiest way to handle this would be for the president to order the Department of Justice to stand down on all actions against industrial hemp."
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Michigan company working to solve cherry waste issueWednesday, 23 December 2009 11:05 |
By BRIAN McGILLIVARY, Traverse City Record-Eagle
 Tart cherries move along a conveyor belt during harvest at an orchard in Leelanau County, Michigan. Cherry Growers Inc. in nearby Grand Traverse County, Mich., plans to pilot the use of air-sparging, a proven treatment for petroleum cleanups, to reverse problems created by the high sugar content in its waste stream. (AP Photo/John L. Russell) TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — An area fruit processor may solve a growing, expensive problem: how the industry treats its water waste. Grawn-based Cherry Growers Inc. will spend at least $100,000 to pilot the use of air-sparging, a proven treatment for petroleum cleanups, to reverse problems created by the high sugar content in its waste stream. "It's pretty cool and nice that they are doing this," said Janice Heuer, an environmental engineer in the Cadillac office of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. "It could address a problem that's pretty common up here with food processors." Processors historically treated waste water through spray irrigation, in which they use common farm irrigation equipment to spray liquids on fields. "It's sugar water they are putting on the field and you wouldn't think it's a problem," Heuer said. "But it creates a very interesting chemical reaction just discovered around the turn of the century." Louisiana rice may rival Thai jasmine grain in USWednesday, 23 December 2009 10:55 |
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY, Associated Press Writer NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. rice industry is making way for Jazzman. It's a new variety of aromatic rice developed at Louisiana State University and being sold under several folksy-sounding labels — and it could become a viable competitor to the Thai jasmine rice that accounts for $350 million in U.S. business each year. Production at Jazzmen Rice LLC is expected to increase from 500 tons this year to 63,000 tons by 2011, said Andrew Wong, one of the New Orleans company's partners. That would equal 18 percent of U.S. imports from Thailand last year. The number of farmers under contract is expected to grow tenfold, to 100, by next year, Wong said. |
Louisiana sugar cane farmers throw mud on the streetsWednesday, 23 December 2009 10:50 |
ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — With nearly 16 inches of rain over the past two months, farmers say their sugar yields are down. And some area residents have been griping about roads left muddy and slick by harvesting equipment. A Vermilion Parish ordinance makes sugar cane farmers responsible for scraping the mud from streets they use during the harvest. Sheriff Mike Couvillon said complaints rose as rain continued to fall. He says deputies check such complaints and will stay at dangerously muddy roads, the squad car's lights on, to warn drivers. If deputies can't reach the farmer to order him to clean the road, a parish fire truck will be sent. LSU AgCenter Agent Andrew Granger says sugar cane farmers are doing a good job keeping the roads clean. Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. Texas pecan crop down but not outMonday, 21 December 2009 12:58 |
By WILLIAM PACK, San Antonio Express-News
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Between the drought, an untimely freeze and heavy rain in early fall, pecan growers in Texas faced challenges this year that will keep the holidays from being as cheerful as they might have been. "We were going to have a real good crop and everything went wrong with it," said Kenneth Pape with Pape Pecan House in Seguin. His own orchards produced about 30 percent of an average crop. "First not enough rain, then too much rain," he said. Growers in South Texas around San Antonio and southwest toward Eagle Pass may have experienced the worst problems because they harvested earliest when rains were the heaviest. Central and West Texas growers weren't spared rain problems, either, and many also dealt with a spring freeze that weakened early-maturing varieties. |
