Food & Agriculture

WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 (UPI) — A Maryland farm must identify and track animals treated with drugs before selling the livestock for slaughter for human consumption, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Court Judge Marvin Garbis told Old Carolina Farm and owner Francis Roderick to establish a record-keeping system to keep tabs on the drugs.
Old Carolina Farm [...]

TORONTO, Nov. 12 (UPI) — Missy the cow brought in $1.2 million at auction in Toronto, the second most ever paid for a single bovine in Canada, its breeder says.
“She’s the most valuable young cow in the world right now,” Bloyce Thompson, the owner of Eastside Holsteins at Frenchfort, Prince Edward Island, who bred the [...]

WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) — The U.S. corn crop’s progress has nearly matched the crop’s five-year average after an entire season of lagging, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.
After a slow, wet spring, the corn crop fell far behind the historic average in planting, emergence, silking and ripening. At this late stage, the crop is [...]

RESTON, Va., Nov. 9 (UPI) — A report shows concentrations of several major pesticides mostly declined or remained the same in the U.S. “Corn Belt” rivers and streams from 1996 to 2006.
The U.S. Geological Survey said declines in pesticide concentrations closely followed declines in their annual applications. That, said researchers, suggests reducing pesticide use [...]

WARM SPRINGS, Ore., Nov. 6 (UPI) — Drug cartels are increasingly using Indian lands across the United States to cultivate marijuana, authorities say.
Illegal marijuana farms, mostly operated by gangs with ties to Mexico, are spreading quickly, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. The U.S. Forest Service found farms in 61 national forests across 16 [...]