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March 21, 2013 Congress on Thursday approved stopgap funding legislation that includes language explicitly granting the USDA authority to override a judge's ruling against genetically modified crops. Critics denounce the measure as the "Monsanto Protection Act." But it seems to be codifying powers the USDA already has exercised in the past.

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January 8, 2013 Payments to farmers survived in the latest extension of the farm bill. But not all of the groups that argued for the end of the subsidies see this as a loss. They've just been given nine more months to make their case to Congress.

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December 7, 2012 Farmers in the communist nation were once banned from freely selling their crops. As the country struggles to feed itself, the government has begun to accept a greater role for the profit motive. Now each night, in a muddy vacant lot on the edge of Havana, a market appears after sundown.

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October 17, 2012 We may be able to grow enough fruits and vegetables on land we already have if we're smart about how we do it, says World Wildlife Foundation expert Jason Clay. Take the James Beard Foundation's food quiz to see just how literate you are on this and other agriculture matters.

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October 16, 2012 Whether food giant Monsanto's practice of patenting crop seeds is legal when farmers have little opportunity to find alternatives may finally get a review from the Supreme Court this year. It has agreed to hear a case in which a farmer planting Monsanto seeds without paying.

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August 21, 2012 People thought the hardy Jatropha tree was the answer to the food vs. fuel debate, until it wasn't. Financial hard times and a misunderstanding revealed this biofuel to be like all the rest — in need of good food and water.

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August 14, 2012 Thanks to low yields from the drought, corn prices are high, which means corn farmers make money. This is despite the impression from in many news reports that all farmers are suffering because of the weather.

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June 25, 2012 KXJZCalifornia is the top dairy-producing state in the nation. And its dairy farmers are split over the impact of the latest farm bill's impact on the government's antiquated milk price support system.

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December 12, 2011 Pears sound like a healthful school lunch treat, but not if they're Comice pears. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says they don't qualify for kids who get free lunches, but a senator wants to change that.

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November 15, 2011 Growing vegetables has never, in recent memory, been quite so cool, or so attractive to the young and well-educated. But many aspiring farmers lack hard, cold cash for land and farm equipment, a survey found.

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October 4, 2011 WOIWhile many farmers and politicians acknowledge it's time to end direct payments to farmers, many argue that crop insurance payments are still needed to help them hedge their bets against the next big disaster.

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September 26, 2011 WOIThis is the first in our occasional series on how the farm bill shapes food and land use policy. In this installment, the history of the farm bill, and why it's been a matter of debate since its inception during the Great Depression.

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