Organic farming has come to South Africa, where it is being billed, not only as a profitable enterprise, but also as a panacea for poor soil quality in growing regions. After decades of trying to coax fruit onto the trees with the aid of chemicals, fruit farmers are packing in the pesticides and deciding to grow green. Of the 230 certified organic or in-conversion operations in South Africa in 2005, 75 percent have started organic processes in the previous two years. With a minimum wage of...

Anytime a recipe includes the word primavera (from the Italian and Spanish spring ) in its title, you can be assured that its ingredients and flavors will hint of spring. This Pasta Primavera is such a dish, including, among other vegetables, two of spring s greatest offerings asparagus and snap peas. Thought to prevent blood clots and decrease the risk of colon and other cancers, garlic has important anti-oxidant properties. Asparagus contains calcium, potassium, beta carotene and...

Voice Perspective Music Movies TV Beach Art & Museums Theatre Dining Family Fun Lodging Games Horoscopes Food Home & Garden 55 Hours Dear Abby Technology Travel Health She Said Crossroads Did You Know Local News & Weather Entertainment Sports USA Today RSS Feeds Wireless Content E-Newsletters Text Alerts sponsored by: Voice Perspective Music Movies TV Beach Art & Museums Theatre Dining Family Fun Lodging Games Horoscopes Food Home & Garden 55 Hours Dear Abby Technology Travel Health She...

Meanwhile, state and federal agriculture statisticians are fine-tuning preliminary crop loss estimates that show the holiday freeze devastated North Carolina's peach and apple orchards and struck an unexpectedly heavy blow to nursery crops, including trees and shrubs used in suburban landscaping. State agriculture officials and agribusiness advocates say relief for crop disasters is tied to an emergency spending bill for the war in Iraq that has already passed the House and Senate. The...

Leaders of the vegetable industry gathered at Cal PolyThursday to host a food safety forum in the wake of last September's e-coli outbreak in spinach. One of the main points of the symposium was to clarify the agricultural industry's response to the produce contamination. The industry is now trying to win back that confidence with a new leafy greens marketing agreement which was developed in conjunction with the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Since then, numerous California...

Not only did the amount of land that Ohio farmers devote to certified-organic crops, fruits and vegetables decrease from 2000 to 2005, according to recent data from the U. Given those factors, why have Ohio farmers devoted fewer acres to certified-organic food production in recent years? The question is intriguing because Ohio is a state where farmland is giving way to suburbs and the number of young farmers is decreasing. He said some farmers consider making the transition to organic but...

Potato and vegetable growers have done better in recent years. But for the solely tenant farmers in the industry who don't own a postage stamp of land it is much more difficult. What does the future hold for farming? Most people who are farmers do it because they love it. Within a few months he grasped everything to do with agriculture. Our industry is still trying to be as efficient as possible. His farm now comprises 630 beef cattle and 200 acres of cereals; and he lets 50 to 60 acres...

For those of you -- like me -- who wouldn't know how to go about roasting pumpkin seeds, here's what you do: After carving your pumpkin, sort the seeds from the rest of the goo. In any case, when my husband and I carved our own pumpkins last year, he insisted we roast the seeds. As a kid, I don't remember roasting pumpkin seeds after our jack-o-lantern carving. You may want to rinse them, but as one viewer says, that stringy stuff contains lots of additional flavor -- so perhaps you want...

Any significant or long-term labor shortage could threaten Michigan's fruit and vegetable sectors, costing hundreds of millions a year in sales and eventually forcing the closure of family farms and shifting fruit and vegetable production to foreign countries. While farmers can do little about the weather, they are hoping that Congress will help them with migrant labor. Michigan's growers say last year's labor shortage (about 20 percent to 25 percent shy of what was needed) could get worse...