Tag: farming

7th Grader Works on Family Farm 7 Days a Week, Supplies Fresh Produce to Town: ‘I Love Farming’

The transformation of a tiny seed into a tree still amazes this 12-year-old farmer who works hard after school to provide fresh produce to his community. His passion for farming started very early in childhood, and his optimistic approach to life makes him a joy to be around. Meet Brayden Nadeau, the seventh grader who…


Swiss Reject Initiative to Ban Factory Farming

GENEVA—Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to ban factory farming in a referendum on whether the wealthy country’s strict animal welfare laws need to be tightened yet further. The government’s VoteInfo App showed a provisional result of 62.86 percent of votes against the proposal, put to a referendum under the Swiss system of direct…


Farmers Jump Off Hemp Bandwagon Amid Lack of Profit and Underwhelming Performance

The use of hemp for industrial purposes—such as grain and fiber—has been the next big thing since the passing of a farm bill legalizing production in 2018. Since then, a parallel market has sprouted up alongside the cannabinoid industry. Unfettered optimism was high at the beginning, which triggered a moonshot planting in 2019. Four years…


US Farmers Grab the Lobbying Pitchforks as Greens Sow Costly New Reporting Mandates

Echoing conflicts from Sri Lanka to Canada to the Netherlands, tensions between farmers and green-minded government policymakers are building in the United States, where producers are squaring off against a costly proposed federal mandate for greenhouse-gas reporting from corporate supply chains. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in March proposed requiring large corporations, including agribusinesses and food companies, to report…


Regenerative Agriculture for Health and Sustainability

Soil isn’t just dirt—it’s the base of every ecosystem, a living and life-giving foundation that teems with billions of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes that fuel a symbiotic ecosystem. At least that’s how it’s supposed to be. Our modern food and agricultural industries are built on monoculture methods, where large farmlands are planted with only…


146-Year-Old Apple Orchard Offers a Taste of History to Passersby

PHILO, Calif.—Along a highway cradled between fruit orchards and vineyards stands a cider tasting bar. Visitors smell fresh apples and hear joyful chattering under the tents. Gowan’s Heirloom Cider, a family-run business about an hour south of Fort Bragg, has been flourishing since 1876. Fifth-generation farmer and cider maker Sharon Gowan told NTD, a sister…


Hands-On Farming School Helps Veterans Find New Purpose and Livelihood

A farm in Spokane, Washington, is dedicated to helping veterans learn to farm and explore agriculture as a livelihood. The idea for Vets on the Farm came when director Vicki Carter attended a screening of the film “Ground Operation: Battlefields to Farmfields” in 2013. The film is a documentary on veterans who are finding a…


‘Many Crops Will Fail’ Under Water Ban, Scottish Farmers Say

Scottish farmers say they are fearful that restrictions on taking water from rivers imposed in parts of the country “will now be the end for some,” and that the decision will affect the vegetable sector for “weeks and months to come.” On Saturday, Scotland’s water environmental agency SEPA banned farmers from abstracting water from the…


As Family Farms Dwindle Nationwide, a 93-Year-Old Farmer Retires

WEST BEND, Wisc.—Frank Falter remembers working alongside his father and siblings, planting the fields, harvesting hay, mucking the stalls, feeding, and milking the cows on what was once his father’s 120-acre farm near West Bend, Wisconsin. These childhood chores led to a lifetime of farming until Falter, 93, Falter retired this year. Falter joins a decades-long…


Sylvain Charlebois: Farming Is Losing to Misguided Urban Politics

Commentary Most Canadians have never been on a farm, let alone lived on one, which makes more than 98 percent of our population agriculturally illiterate. For many Canadians, crop production is an unknown concept. Because of this, it’s relatively easy to use fear to influence public opinion on any food-related issue involving agriculture. Activists know…