Agriculture

Minnesota farmers find going organic no easy task
Americans' rapidly growing appetite for organic food is changing the entire U.S. food chain. Many farmers are trying to adapt, but not everybody makes it to that organic future.
SW Minnesota solar farm plan feels opponents' heat
Solar power is increasingly popular in Minnesota, but not everyone is welcoming the alternative energy. Residents near a planned massive solar farm near Marshall will ask state regulators Thursday to block it.
As crop prices fall, MN farmers may roll more land into conservation
Major grain prices are so low many farmers will lose money trying to put a crop in the ground. That's rekindling farmer interest in enrolling land in the federal Conservation Reserve Program.
MN beekeeper: Feds must tighten rules on insecticide-coated seeds
A federal lawsuit filed today seeks to force the EPA to label the seeds as a pesticide. The change would curb use of the pesticides that beekeepers say are inadvertently killing their colonies.
How one Minnesota chicken producer kept the bird flu out
As avian flu swept across Minnesota this spring, Gold'n Plump managed to keep every one of its hundreds of central Minnesota chicken barns virus-free. Now, poultry producers nationally are taking notice.
Farmers have been enjoying the fruits of bee labor for 9,000 years
Beekeeping plays a vital role in modern agriculture. New research shows farmers have been fostering a sweet relationship with honey producers for at least 9,000 years, much earlier than previously thought.