farmers

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Taxpayers on Hook for $10B as Drought Ravages Crops

Subsidized insurance program draws criticism

(Newser) - Crop farmers are on track to record about $18 billion in losses thanks to this year's historically nasty drought—and by one expert's estimate, the federal government is on the hook for about $10 billion of that, thanks to the heavily subsidized federal crop insurance program, the Washington ...

Drought Forcing Ranchers to Sell Cattle

Which means you can expect beef prices to go up

(Newser) - The lingering drought spanning much of the nation is leaving farmers with wizened pastures and crops, forcing them to sell off cattle—and fast. The AP spoke to several ranchers, including Ken Grecian of Kansas, who has already sold 40 pairs of cows and calves since the dry spell began....

No More Cowbell: Austria Court Bans Noisy Clangers

Judge sympathizes with neighbors losing sleep

(Newser) - More cowbell is no longer an option in a small Austrian town. A judge has ordered a farmer near the small town of Stallhofen to remove the noisy apparatuses from his cattle because neighbors were losing sleep, reports Der Spiegel . The farmer had refused their pleas, claiming the bells...

Fracking's Unlikely Beneficiary: India's Farmers

Tiny bean brings success to one of the world's poorest regions

(Newser) - Talk about a magic bean. Guar, a tiny, durable legume grown in Rajasthan, one of the poorest regions of India, has proven to be a moneymaker thanks to the fracking boom in the US. Indian farmers in the arid region who once grew the bean to help feed their families...

USDA Declares Biggest Disaster Ever

One-third of America's counties now natural-disaster areas

(Newser) - It's a confirmation of just how brutal this season has been: The US Department of Agriculture yesterday declared the biggest disaster in its history, identifying 1,016 counties in 26 states as natural-disaster areas. That covers about a third of America's counties, notes Bloomberg . The apocalyptic-sounding declaration brings...

10 Careers That Are Dwindling Away

Farmers, postal processors, switchboard operators face job loss

(Newser) - Unemployment may be easing , but certain jobs seem to be sliding into the dustbin of history. The Huffington Post lists 10 on the skids, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
  1. Farmers and ranchers: expected to lose 96,100 jobs by 2020. Mechanized farming is taking over.

Police Arrest Farmers for Child Sacrifice

Indian men killed girl to appease gods: police

(Newser) - Two men have been arrested in central India for allegedly killing a 7-year-old girl and cutting out her liver in a ritual sacrifice to ensure a better harvest, police said today. Lalita Tati disappeared in October and her dismembered remains were found a week later, said Rajendra Narayan Das, a...

What Downturn? Farmers Have Abundant Year

Profits set to jump 28%, cross $100B mark

(Newser) - The rest of us might be bracing for the worst, but US farmers are having a banner year. With prices soaring for crops, farmland, and livestock, farmers are set to score profits of $100.9 billion, a 28% jump, the AP reports. That's the first time the figure has...

Farmers Protest Bribery—With Bags of Snakes

Two men in India unleash 40 snakes on a tax office

(Newser) - Two farmers in northern India just wanted to obtain property tax records from a local tax office, but officials allegedly demanded bribes for the info. The miffed farmers came back with three bags, filled not with bribe cash, but with around 40 live snakes—including at least four deadly cobras—...

Terrified Farmers Flee World's Deadliest Volcano

They have long heard tales of its historic 1815 eruption

(Newser) - A volcanic eruption that kills 90,000 people and casts a shadow around the globe tends to leave an impression. That's why hundreds of Indonesian farmers fled their villages this month when the legendary Mount Tambora began rumbling, the AP reports. Well-versed in stories of its 1815 eruption, which...

Superweeds Start Herbicide Arms Race on Farms

Roundup's strangehold falters in face of new threats

(Newser) - New breeds of “superweeds” are creeping across the Farm Belt, and shaking up the weedkiller and seed industries in the process. The long-dominant Roundup can't deal with immune invaders like pigweed, horseweed, and Johnsgrass, which has given rival chemical companies a chance to bring back old herbicides that Roundup...

UFOs Are Attacking Our Sheep: Brits

'Laser lights' responsible for wounds, says group

(Newser) - A group of British extraterrestrial hunters are claiming that the bizarre wounds suffered by English sheep over the last 10 years are the result of UFO laser probes. Sheep have lost eyes, organs and flesh to the light blasts , they report. The UFOs roam a 50-mile corridor in the west...

Ohio Mennonites Selling Hobbit Tea Line

Including Gandalf the Gray Tea and Bilbo Baggins Breakfast Blend

(Newser) - A 31-year-old Mennonite farmer has scored the rights to market a line of teas based on JRR Tolkien’s classic The Hobbit, and blends like Bilbo Baggins Breakfast Blend and Gandalf the Gray Tea are now available online —shipped directly from Middle-earth via Ohio. “We liked the small...

Farmers Tear Gassed at Sarkozy's Palace

Angry protesters dump hay to action against falling incomes

(Newser) - Hay bales were met with tear gas as French farmers protested outside Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential palace early this morning. Police moved in after the farmers dumped hay outside the palace, forcing the roughly 100 protesters into a side street, AP reports. The aggrieved farmers complain that the government isn't doing...

Alligator Market Collapses; Farmers Fault Hermès

Prices rise even as sales of alligator-skin shoes and bags plummet

(Newser) - Of luxury markets hit hard by the economy, one of the strangest is Louisiana alligator business, which dried up so fast it went from hatching 500,000 eggs last year to none this year. The speed of the collapse is raising suspicions that there's more to it than consumers shunning...

Truly Wacky Online Dating Sites


 Truly Wacky Online Dating Sites 
Oct 25, 2009 10:08 AM CDT

Truly Wacky Online Dating Sites

From vampire lovers to geeks to punk rockers, a site for everyone

(Newser) - If the matches you’re finding on eHarmony are too vanilla, never fear: There’s a dating site out there for you, and Julie Gerstein of Lemondrop rounds up the quirkiest of the quirky:
  • If you wear a lot of black: Find your “own personal Satan” at Gothic Match.
...

'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up
 'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up 
Oct 5, 2009 12:18 PM CDT

'Hobby Farms' Cropping Up

USDA says small farms are becoming more popular even as large farms grow

(Newser) - Most evenings, Gary Mithoefer can be found at the end of a long gravel driveway off a busy highway, tending two garden plots filled with white sweet potatoes, squash, cabbages, and a dozen other vegetables still thriving in early fall. The 62-year-old, who gardens after his workday ends at his...

Glut of Heifers Enter Milk-Flooded Dairy Industry

Semen-sorting technology bolsters herds, depressing already depressed prices

(Newser) - Times are tough everywhere, but dairy farming, never the industry of millionaires, is reeling from a double-whammy of its own making. Three years ago, new semen-sorting technology allowed farmers to ensure nine out of 10 calves born were female (bull calves largely end up in McDonald's wrappers and the like)....

Euro Farmers Protest Falling Prices With Huge Milk Dump

800,000 gallons in Belgian field after recession takes big toll

(Newser) - European farmers today dumped 800,000 gallons of milk in a Belgian field, AFP reports, in a protest against a dramatic dive in prices. The group behind the scene says three French farmers committed suicide in the past week over prices, which have fallen by as much as half as...

Newbie Farmers Pair With Old Hands

(Newser) - Matchmaking just might save the family farm, the AP reports. States such as Iowa, Virginia, and Washington have started programs pairing would-be farmers with those aiming to retire, in the hopes of beefing up independent agriculture and keeping rural areas populated. "I thought I may never get a chance...

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