While teaching in a Japanese school in Ogden, Utah, in 1930, Hisagoro Saka was invited to come to the Santa Maria Valley to become secretary of the Guadalupe Japanese Association, principal of the Guadalupe Japanese School, and secretary of the Central Coast United Japanese Farmers. While teaching in a Japanese school in Ogden, Utah, in 1930, Hisagoro Saka was invited to come to the Santa Maria Valley to become secretary of the Guadalupe Japanese Association, principal of the Guadalupe...

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Monsanto co., the world's largest developer of genetically modified seeds, and BASF AG, the biggest chemical company, plan to spend as much as $1. Joining forces will permit more research to be undertaken, boosting the number of new biotech crops, the companies said. While each company will contribute about $750 million over the next decade, Monsanto is providing its seed distribution network and will receive 60 percent of the earnings from any products eventually...

We view Cow Power as an opportunity to diversify our farm business, which is critical to our long-term success and keeping our land in productive agriculture. Milk prices are far too low, around what farmers were paid 30 years ago, Brian Rowell said. This will improve our manure management, reduce greenhouse gases, and provide a renewable energy choice to CVPS customers. The solids can be used as cow bedding or composted for home and garden use, while the liquid, which is virtually...

And sugarcane/beet ethanol has a far greater EROEI (Energy Return On Energy Invested) than corn ethanol, which some studies suggest is actually a net energy loss (you have to put more petroleum products into the growing, harvesting and refining of the corn than you actually get from the finished product) And sugarcane/beet ethanol has a far greater EROEI (Energy Return On Energy Invested) than corn ethanol, which some studies suggest is actually a net energy loss (you have to put more...

Throughout town, Microsoft and Yahoo construction projects have increased sales at gas stations, hotels, grocery stores, restaurants and other businesses. This Grant County town, 20 miles west of Moses Lake, struck digital gold in December 2005 when Microsoft corp. chose a 75-acre bean field near downtown for an eventual 1.5 million-square-foot, six-building data center complex. Once more inspirational than anything, Quincy's slogan is rapidly becoming reality, as Microsoft, Yahoo and...

Several ideas to boost ethanol are floating around Capitol Hill, and action seems likely, especially with a new farm bill brewing that could increase subsidies for ethanol production. Wagoner and other executives asked Congress to pressure oil companies and filling stations to add more E85-capable pumps, a process that has been slowed by a technical dispute over safety standards. The meeting with Bush and the chiefs of each company, tentatively set for March 26, will be the latest in a...

ConAgra recalled all its peanut butter last month after federal health officials linked cases of salmonella infection with the consumption of the company's products. Peanut butter typically generates about $150 million in annual sales, but the company will forgo a large chunk of those sales through the rest of this fiscal year. But the recall and efforts to prevent similar problems will keep the company's Peter Pan peanut butter out of stores at least through late May. The Omaha-based...

women - those with an unusually high risk of developing breast cancer - should get annual MRIs as well as mammograms, the American Cancer Society advises in new guidelines. Report: More Than 5 Million Living With Alzheimer's More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease, a 10 percent increase since the last Alzheimer's Association estimate five years ago - and a count that supports the long-forecast dementia epidemic as the population grays. Report: More Than 5 Million...

Tyson spokesperson Gary Mickelson said the company has received five inquires about the sweepstakes, including one call from an Oklahoma bank that had a customer wanting to deposit one of the checks. residents are receiving fraudulent notification letters claiming they've won $2 million in a Tyson sweepstakes that does not exist. People receiving the package are then asked in the letter to deposit the check to cover "award costs" and then send the Canadian company a personal check for...