2009-12-29 Circular Thinking: Round Barns on US Farms
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. American farmers traditionally keep their animals and equipment in barns that are rectangular. But there are hundreds of barns in the Midwest…
2009-12-22 How a Hoop House Can Extend the Growing Season
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Today we discuss the greenhouse effect. Farmers and gardeners have long used greenhouses to extend the growing season in cold weather. Now,…
2009-12-15 Officials in US Look for Fixes to Carp Problems
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Last week our subject was illegal fishing. Now we report on two cases where fish are both the victims and the offenders.…
2009-12-08 An International Treaty Targets Fishing Abuses
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Some pirates catch fish instead of ships. The problem is known as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Such fishing harms the productivity…
2009-12-01 Making Better Concrete With Rice?
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Rice hulls, or husks, are the protective coverings on grains of rice. Rice with just its hull removed is brown rice. Rice…
2009-11-24 Earl Cooley: Remembering an Early Smokejumper
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Years ago, a young forester took an unusual new job. Earl Cooley became one of the first smokejumpers. Smokejumpers parachute from airplanes.…
2009-11-17 Two Efforts Seek to Increase Food Security in Africa
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. For the past year, the World Food Program has operated a project to prevent hunger in twenty-one countries in Africa. In the…
2009-11-10 Why Holding Fruit on Trees May Limit Next Year’s Crop
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Alternate bearing is a widespread problem for growers of citrus and other fruit trees. It can affect a large area or just…
2009-11-03 Group Works to Expand Supply of Cattle Vaccine in Africa
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Each year a million cows in Africa die from East Coast fever. The disease is spread by tick bites. Young cows are…
2009-10-27 With Resistant Crops, Progress Can Raise New Problems
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Plant breeders and genetic engineers keep working to give crops the strength to resist threats like insects, diseases, droughts or floods. But…
2009-10-20 Learning the Secrets of the Potato, and an Enemy
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Scientists now have a genetic map of the potato. The project is the work of a team from fourteen countries, the Potato…
2009-10-13 Scientists Help Cut the Mystery Behind Pruning
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. We talked last week about when and how to prune plants. Today we tell you about some new understanding of why cutting…
2009-10-06 Do-It-Yourself: Pruning Plants (First of Two Parts)
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Pruning makes no sense. You cut off parts of a plant. Yet the plant is supposed to grow back even better than…
2009-09-29 How to Strike Oil (From Seeds, That Is)
This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. From the beginning of human history, people have used oils from seeds and nuts. Most of the time these oils are used…
2009-09-22 Remembering Norman Borlaug
This the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Norman Borlaug led what was known as the Green Revolution. As a plant scientist, he may have saved more lives than anyone else…