BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU ministers and national experts are due to approve a genetically modified (GMO) sugar beet variety this month despite a long running dispute over the use of biotechnology. Officials say around 10 GMO products, mostly maize types but also cotton, soybeans and a high-starch potato, are scheduled for discussion at various levels of the EU in the next few months. The first of this year's applications for GMO crops that will be approved, now a certainty, is a sugar beet...

That is the view of Orville Wickham, Agricultural Manager with the Barbados Agricultural Management Company Ltd (BAMC), who spoke to the Barbados Advocate following a recent cane farmers consultation which focused heavily on the absence of youth in agriculture. That is the view of Orville Wickham, Agricultural Manager with the Barbados Agricultural Management Company Ltd (BAMC), who spoke to the Barbados Advocate following a recent cane farmers consultation which focused heavily on the...

Once the limit on Mexican imports expires, the government could be faced with a price-depressing glut of sugar, which in turn could lead to taxpayer-funded government purchases of surplus sugar. The program currently doesn't cost taxpayers anything because sugar prices are higher than the guaranteed minimum price. The USDA would have to pick up the difference between what it pays for the extra sugar and what it can get from ethanol producers. Mark Keenum, agriculture undersecretary for...

But there are now concerns that the fumes from that "butter-flavor" could be dangerous after you pop your corn in the microwave. That butter flavor comes from the ingredient diacetyl and it has severely damaged the lungs of those who work in popcorn plants. An unreleased EPA draft study that's been underway for years sought to "identify and quantify chemical emissions generated in the process of popping and opening a bag of microwave popcorn" Hundreds of current and former microwave...

Beet pulp is the portion of the sugar beet that remains after the sugar is removed. American Crystal officials had said earlier that the pulp would not smell like beet sewage does, because it has no sugar on which bacteria can feed. The prepile harvest, which American Crystal started this week, has growers getting just enough beets out of the ground to get processing plants running. Crystal spokesman Jeff Schweitzer said this year's crop looks to be above the average of the last five years...

We've had rains on some parts of the farms, and other parts get nothing. Technology has made their lives somewhat easier, yet finding labor and competition with other agricultural areas have changed the way they do business. With seven large, fully automated chicken houses and 3,750 acres planted in corn, wheat and soybeans, they've lived through times when the fundamentals and philosophies of farming were different from what they are today. The Darby brothers hosted a group of local and...

The Federal Aviation Administration has recommended the county cease agricultural activity inside the perimeter fence at the Outagamie County Regional Airport because the crops may attract wildlife, particularly birds, which can pose a hazard to airplanes. The Federal Aviation Administration has recommended the county cease agricultural activity inside the perimeter fence at the Outagamie County Regional Airport because the crops may attract wildlife, particularly birds, which can pose a...

And as his neighbors grow horizontally, by adding acres, Geiger's farm slowly grows, too, but mostly vertically, through an economic concept known as "vertical integration" in which different steps in the creation of a product are owned by the same person. While his father is the kind of farmer "who loves to smell the dirt," Mitchell said, it is neither desirable nor advisable for Mitchell to be out in the fields every day. And as his neighbors grow horizontally, by adding acres, Geiger's...

Although several local producers are able to help out during the campaign, it's tough for many to take off an entire campaign that can last up to six months. Sidney Sugars may face employment challenges Like nearly every business in the local area, Sidney Sugars will most likely fall prey to a lack of employees for its upcoming 2007-08 sugar beet campaign. And although too early to provide a precise estimate on sugar content, Fullmer feels August was a welcome month for the beet crop....