“Agriculture” on The Daily Caller

Tractor maker Deere is out with its latest earnings, and they are very strong. (more)

Faced with a shortage of hired hands, Kansas ranchers and farmers are appealing to their state’s secretary of agriculture for a solution. And he says he has one: hiring illegal immigrants. (more)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Republican head of the House Budget Committee has proposed cutting agriculture subsidies by $30 billion over the next 10 years as part of a broad effort to slash federal spending, but it remains to be seen whether his ideas will be incorporated in legislation that sets funding for agriculture programs. (more)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The federal government is investing $60 million in three major studies on the effects of climate change on crops and forests to help ensure farmers and foresters can continue producing food and timber while trying to limit the impact of a changing environment. (more)

In Tunisia, a president is toppled after 23 years in power. In Egypt, the 30-year reign of its president is abruptly ended. The swiftness and power of these popular uprisings have caught many Americans by surprise, leaving policymakers scrambling to grasp the consequences. While political corruption and soaring unemployment have grabbed the headlines as driving forces of these uprisings, the dangerously destabilizing force of rising food prices is also at work and looms as a further threat to the stability of governments, global economic growth, and U.S. national security. (more)

HONG KONG — The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization issued an alert Tuesday that a severe drought was threatening the wheat crop in China, the world’s largest wheat producer, and was even resulting in shortages of drinking water for people and livestock. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest grocer, says it will reformulate thousands of products to make them healthier and push its suppliers to do the same, joining first lady Michelle Obama’s effort to combat childhood obesity. (more)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The federal government has spent millions of dollars to help farmers nationwide buy greenhouse-like structures called high tunnels that can add valuable weeks and even months to their growing seasons by protecting produce from chilly temperatures. (more)

HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) — Despite tough financial times following the worst recession in decades, some states continue to spend millions of dollars to preserve American farmland and stem its rapid loss to development and suburban sprawl. (more)

As a rule, Americans don’t eat horse meat. We dropped the habit after World War II, but 14 percent of the world’s population still has a taste for it. That’s more than one billion people. Should Americans be allowed to serve that market? (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The top White House economic adviser is warning against what he calls “playing chicken” with the need to raise the nation’s debt ceiling. (more)

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — December’s wave of unusually cold weather has destroyed much of Florida’s green beans and sweet corn, which means shoppers will pay more at the grocery store and see more imports on the shelves. (more)

When it comes to Las Vegas, Carrie Underwood is a sure bet. (more)

PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona man accused of hurling oranges at parked planes was caught red-handed after police found him in an orange grove smelling of spray paint. (more)

According to the latest Gallup 2010 Confidence in Institutions poll, the U.S. Congress ranks dead last out of the 16 institutions rated. Only 11% of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in those who populate the institution, down from 17% in 2009 and a percentage point lower than the previous low (2008). (more)

ATLANTA (AP) — Deep in rural Georgia, the Republican who may become the next speaker of the U.S. House is playing let’s-make-a-deal with voters. (more)

DENVER — It has been one of the great murder mysteries of horticulture: what is killing off the honeybees? (more)

Reporting from Buttonwillow, Calif. — (more)

The Food and Drug Administration’s public meetings last week on what may be the first genetically-engineered (GE) animal marketed for human consumption have stimulated a lot of discussion.  People differ on whether the sale of AquAdvantage Salmon — which, due to the addition of a gene from the Chinook salmon, grows to full-size in less than half the time of its non-engineered Atlantic salmon cousins — will be a boon or a bane. (more)

With the 41st season of “Sesame Street” set to premiere Sept. 27th, there’s a surprising source of inspiration for a segment that will be seen later this season: HBO’s “True Blood.” Here’s an exclusive sneak peek at a puppet-filled parody that draws straight from the diner scene that opened the show in the series premiere. (more)