agriculture

Belarus frees Nobel winner Bialiatski, opposition figure Kalesnikava as U.S. eases potash sanctions

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Belarus frees Nobel winner Bialiatski, opposition figure Kalesnikava as U.S. eases potash sanctions

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko attends a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia September 9, 2021. Mikhail Voskresensky | Kremlin Sputnik | via Reuters Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko freed 123 prisoners on Saturday including Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski and leading opposition figure Maria Kalesnikava after two days … Read more

Genetic Mutation Could Pave the Way for Self-Fertilizing Cereal Crops and a Revolution in Agriculture

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Genetic Mutation Could Pave the Way for Self-Fertilizing Cereal Crops and a Revolution in Agriculture

Cphotos – via Unsplash+ Danish researchers have found a molecular switch that lets plants partner with nitrogen-fixing bacteria instead of fighting them, opening the way to self-fertilizing cereal crops like wheat and barley. Their new research highlights an important biological clue that could help reduce agriculture’s heavy reliance on artificial nitrogen fertilizer. Plants require nitrogen … Read more

GOP lawmakers seek Trump aid for agricultural equipment after tariff pressure

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GOP lawmakers seek Trump aid for agricultural equipment after tariff pressure

A Deere & Co. tractor in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images Republican lawmakers are appealing to President Donald Trump for more farm relief and aid for agricultural equipment manufacturers amid his tariff blitz, even as the … Read more

Trump trade rep changes China soybean purchase timeline, cites ‘discrepancy’

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Trump trade rep changes China soybean purchase timeline, cites ‘discrepancy’

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer testifies during a US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing on 2026 funding priorities, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, Dec. 9, 2025. Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Tuesday that the deadline … Read more

China is buying U.S. soybeans again — but falling short of goal set by Trump trade agreement

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China is buying U.S. soybeans again — but falling short of goal set by Trump trade agreement

China has resumed buying U.S. soybeans, but still lags goals set by a trade agreement with President Donald Trump, an NBC News analysis found. China previously was a top buyer of U.S. soybeans, but last spring stopped purchasing American soybeans because of a trade war launched by Trump. The country resumed purchasing soybeans in October … Read more

Trump to announce $12 billion aid package for farmers caught up in trade war

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Trump to announce billion aid package for farmers caught up in trade war

Corn and soybean farmer Don Swanson prepares to harvest his corn crop as he and other Iowa farmers struggle with the effects of weather and ongoing tariffs resulting from the trade war between the U.S. and China that continue to affect agricultural business, in Eldon, Iowa, on Oct. 4, 2019. Kia Johnson | Reuters President … Read more

USDA secretary threatens to cut funding to blue states over alleged SNAP data noncompliance

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USDA secretary threatens to cut funding to blue states over alleged SNAP data noncompliance

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins conducts a news conference with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., in the U.S. Capitol on the government shutdown on Friday, October 31, 2025. Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Tuesday threatened to cut off federal funding to Democratic-leaning states … Read more

Why rural Wisconsin is blocking the AI data center boom: ‘Horses are skittish’

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Why rural Wisconsin is blocking the AI data center boom: ‘Horses are skittish’

A sign opposing a zoning change for a Microsoft data center appears in Caledonia, Wisconsin, on Sept. 19, 2025. Jordan Novet | CNBC The village of Caledonia, Wisconsin, sandwiched between Chicago and Milwaukee along Lake Michigan, is dotted with corn and soybean fields, single-story homes and traffic signs alerting drivers to horseback riders. In September, … Read more

Birds Start to Show Signs of Recovery After Bee-Harming Pesticide Ban in the EU

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Birds Start to Show Signs of Recovery After Bee-Harming Pesticide Ban in the EU

A chaffinch, one of the birds that recovered in the study – credit, 4028mdk09 CC 3.0. The first large-scale study to investigate the impact on bird populations from the 2018 European Union ban on a universal insecticide has determined that birds have recovered as much as 3% since 2018. Given that 57 species of birds … Read more