DES MOINES, Iowa — The U.S. Agriculture Department announced Monday it will close nearly 260 offices nationwide, a move that won praise for cutting costs but raised concerns about the possible effect on food safety.
DURHAM, N.H. — Think poinsettia plants are passe? Had enough holly at the holidays? Try tomatoes. Besides growing dozens of varieties of poinsettias for a national research project, the University of New Hampshire has been experimenting with dwarf tomato plants as holiday decor. Researchers grew about six dozen plants in three varieties of tomatoes and showed them off along with the poinsettias at a holiday open house recently.
PIERRE, S.D. — When farmers need to check honey prices so they can decide whether to sell, there’s been a report for that. And when catfish and sheep farmers want to check production in their industries, there’ve been reports for that, too. The U.S. Agriculture Department has kept tabs for decades on a wide range of agricultural industries that generate billions of dollars for the U.S. economy. But that’s about to change, as the agency eliminates some reports and reduces the frequency of others to save millions of dollars in tight budget times.
DES MOINES, Iowa — The demand for canola, best known for the cooking oil it produces, continues to rise and the industry is working to grow more of the plant in the U.S. to keep pace with increased sales. Experts said the best hope for meeting demand is to grow a variety of canola that is planted in the fall and harvested in the spring, offering farmers in some regions a chance to make use of their land during a normally dormant period.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service will announce Tuesday that it has lowered its temperature recommendation for cooking pork to 145 degrees. That’s a change from the agency’s longstanding guideline and means pork will be held to the same standard as beef, veal and lamb.