So what s a hog farmer to do now that corn has doubled in price? Corn farmers are buying condos in Sarasota, but hog farmers are pondering anything but the bacon business. When you mix potato peels, rotten tomatoes, burnt beans, moldy biscuits, clabber milk, lard drippings and day-old gravy, it might near took your breath. After Mom scraped the supper dishes each night, I had to carry the big, heavy bucket of slop out to the hog pen and pour it in their trough. After Mom scraped the supper...

Late at night last week under a nearly full moon, asparagus farmer Ron Lundberg was busy dumping boxes of spears into a large plastic tub at a processing plant. For some, it's the fourth straight season of labor shortages and, growers say, a crisis for the state's second largest industry (auto manufacturing is the largest) Growers of handpicked fruits and vegetables from apples to zucchini, most of whom rely on legal and illegal migrant laborers, can't find enough pickers. Asparagus will...

Labor contractor Jose Campos, who is at the convenience store grabbing a quick cup of coffee, says despite being so close to Mexico he can't find enough workers. In his work shed on his family's raisin-grape vineyard, he pulls out huge rolls of paper that will be used to dry the grapes into raisins. But by the 1980s, he recalls, the Mexico peso plunged, labor was once again abundant and sanctions against employers hiring illegal workers were minimal. Economists say farmers should stop...

Fowler raisin company, Disney team up to promote healthy snack By Dennis Pollock The Fresno Bee Link to Source 5/10/2007 National Raisin co. in Fowler is hoping to take advantage of a new emphasis by Walt Disney co. on healthier foods and will soon sell snack packs that showcase such characters as Mickey Mouse, Lilo & Stitch, Nemo and the Pirates of the Caribbean. Fowler raisin company, Disney team up to promote healthy snack By Dennis Pollock The Fresno Bee Link to Source 5/10/2007...

But while it may seem an easy proposition attracting birds to your property (if you feed them, they will come), there are some simple guidelines to follow. It probably appeals to 75 percent of the birds that'll come through your yard," including chickadees, nuthatches, tufted titmice and cardinals. Raisin and nuts can be used in bin feeders; corn-spike feeders may be used for fruit, which can pull in northern orioles, catbirds and woodpeckers. If you've found to your displeasure you've...

The cold freeze of 2007 has positively impacted this year's harvest of stone fruits as farmers report that shoppers can expect a plentiful crop. Cold freeze gives summer fruit a boost for the season. The stone fruit season runs through October. Ken Lee of Ken's Top Notch Produce based in Reedley, Calif. Lee, who sells his fruit at the Ventura County Certified Farmers' Markets in Thousand Oaks, will have a generous supply of peaches, plums, nectarines, apricots and cherries. The Ventura...

The cheese is produced in the farmstead fashion with culture imported from France. Our recommendations include Whoop-de-doo, an all-natural version of the Pennsylvania Dutch whoopie pie cookie; or their all-natural, rich and creamy cheesecake. He also still has the guinea hens and will have their eggs this summer, as long as he can keep up with the hens natural desire to hide their nests in the woods. The store carries organic produce, a variety of health products for the body, vitamins,...

And its about working conditions and treating workers fairly something that I and other small farmers try to do as we labor side by side with our workers. Last year, pear farmers in Northern California were forced to let fruit rot on trees because there were not enough workers. Without labor, agriculture will mechanize the process as much as possible, substituting technology and capital for people on the land. Sustainable and organic fruit farming demands constant attention and response to...

Ivory Coast unrest More By Peter MurphyABIDJAN, June 8 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's government and rebels plundered the cocoa sector to fund a 2002-2003 civil war and history could repeat itself if a new conflict erupts because no safeguards have been put in place, a study said on Friday. Ivory Coast unrest More By Peter MurphyABIDJAN, June 8 (Reuters) - Ivory Coast's government and rebels plundered the cocoa sector to fund a 2002-2003 civil war and history could repeat itself if a new...