2012-08-14 US Drought Renews Debate on Biofuel
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. American officials have sharply reduced their expectations for this year’s corn and soybean crops. Farmers in the Midwest are struggling with record…
2012-08-07 China Looks to Ukraine for Food
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. America is the world’s largest food exporter. But the worst drought in half a century is hitting corn and wheat harvests. The…
2012-07-31 US Farmers Struggle With Drought
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. A drought across much of the United States is forcing farmers to make difficult decisions. Damage to corn and soybeans is already…
2012-07-24 US Faces Worst Drought in 56 Years
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. The United States is suffering its worst drought in almost sixty years. Moderate to extreme dry conditions spread to fifty-five percent of…
2012-07-17 Good News, Bad News on Food Prices and Production
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Food prices have risen sharply over the past few years. The good news is that the rate of increase has slowed. The…
2012-07-10 When Animals Make People Sick
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Researchers estimate that more than two billion people a year get diseases spread by animals. More than two million of them die.…
2012-07-03 Project in DRC Aims to Increase Fertilizer Use
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture report. North Kivu is a war-torn province that used to be called the breadbasket of the Congo. Now, some farmers are being trained…
2012-06-26 In the Garden: Growing Roses
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Most kinds of rose plants are native to Asia. But roses also grow in other parts of the world including northwest Africa,…
2012-06-19 Getting a Firm Grip on Weed Control
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. When is a plant considered a weed? Experts at Penn State University have a simple answer: When the undesirable qualities outweigh the…
2012-06-12 What Rio Development Conference Means to Farmers
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Next week, leaders and officials from governments and nongovernmental groups will meet in Brazil for the Rio+20 Conference. The full name is…
2012-06-05 Tomato’s Genetic Secrets Are Peeled Away
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Scientists have made a genetic map of the tomato. Tomatoes are second only to potatoes as the world’s most valuable vegetable crop.…
2012-05-29 Growing a Farm With Crowd-Sourced Money
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Kickstarter is a website where people give money to support creative projects. It started in two thousand nine, mostly to help artists…
2012-05-22 Why ‘Precision Agriculture’ Is a Good Investment
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Precision agriculture is a way of thinking about how to improve production and get more from existing resources. It often involves the…
2012-05-15 Rice Production Grows, but Not Everywhere
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. The United Nations is expecting the world to harvest more rice in twenty twelve than was produced last year. The UN’s Food…
2012-05-08 Do It Yourself: Raising Angora Goats
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. (SOUND) Has anyone ever tried to get your goat? To “get your goat” is an expression. It means to make you mad.…