DANBURY With small ponds developing around many crops because of heavy rains, area farmers are concerned their grain sorghum crops might have sporadic sprouting, causing damage to their yield this year. Most all of the crops in Brazoria County likely will be affected by the heavy rains, area farmers said, though the big concern is grain sorghum. Most of Brazoria County s 16,400 acres of grain sorghum crops were hit over the past two weeks with heavy rains. Rosharon farmer Curt Mowery has...

Not all of us are fortunate enough to have a garden plot in our back yards, so we rely on our farmers to bring that sweet produce to us. The best corn is simply the freshest corn, and its freshness is measured in minutes, not hours or days. At farmers markets and roadside stands, you'll find several varieties of fresh corn, mostly the sweeter varieties. About the first of July, we start counting the days until we can sink our teeth into a juicy ear of sweet corn. There will be fresh sweet...

With the soaring demand for field corn for ethanol, some farmers have been switching acreage from sweet corn to field corn, which should help those selling sweet corn, Peck said. The report didn't break down the sweet corn and field corn acreage, Despite higher costs in numerous areas, mostly linked to high petroleum prices, sweet corn prices will be the same as last year, both Eugster and Peck said. It's really going to be sweet this year because of the heat. Peck said his "tremendous"...

They want to keep corn prices moderate and supplies available for the livestock industry. If they were found to be using food feedstocks (corn, sugar, cassava, etc. It is my understanding that officials in China were checking upon plants under construction and currently operating that had gotten permits based on using non-food feedstocks, Tolman said. He said ethanol plants already in operation that have been approved will be allowed to move forward with production. by Myke Feinman,...

Today's lesson: The sweet corn we've been seeing in the market up to this point has pretty much been the imported variety from more southern states -- not our own Michigan sweet corn, one of the joys of summer. Selecting your corn: Unless you pick it fresh from the garden, you should look for fresh green husks with moist green stems and plump even rows of kernels when at the market. The fresher the better for sweet corn. In fact, there is nothing quite like the taste of...

There are some fields where the farmer for some reason must have been delayed in planting, or unable to water during a really dry spell. I sure hope the sweet corn keeps growing quickly so we all can enjoy that first ear of locally grown corn. There are so many good varieties of sweet corn now to choose from. Watching "Field of Dreams" you can almost imagine that those long dead baseball players could really walk out of the corn to once again play ball. Behind our house, the farmer used to...

Additionally, prices have been boosted as an incentive for farmers to keep planting wheat, rather than moving to corn, another crop that has seen its prices skyrocket in part because of the boom in ethanol production. But the Easter freeze in April, coupled by an over-abundance of rain, has had the opposite effect in the eastern two-thirds of the state, causing some farmers to chalk up this year's harvest as a total loss. Agriculture officials said 500 million bushels in 2007 had been...

FOR FOOD lovers, the arrival of the local strawberries is a more eagerly awaited marker of summer than is the solstice, with fresh corn and tomatoes soon to follow. But make no mistake about it, they are the most important food and farm legislation that Congress enacts because they set the direction of the American food system for years to come. Meanwhile, between 1985 and 2000 the real price of fruits and vegetables increased by 40 percent while the price of soft drinks and other sugary...

Wheat farmers reaping amber waves of grain with prices up. Meanwhile, too much rain has been falling in other wheat-producing states, like Oklahoma and Texas, and that's helping to raise wheat prices. Last winter's severe blizzards may have created havoc for travelers, but now all that moisture is paying off with a bumper wheat crop. All across eastern Colorado, semitrailer trucks and standard farm trucks are lining up at weigh scales. This material may not be published, broadcast,...