Grover Lawson waited until the rain had soaked in before he turned off the 13 generators pumping water across his nearly 3,000 acres in Panola County. But for farmers raising corn on nonirrigated land, the news is much less hopeful for a crop that is already shriveling and twisting. At Cicero's in Stoneville, the lunchtime crowd was louder and certainly more gleeful, said owner Carl Moore, who has watched glum faces parade into his deli-style diner all spring. The outlook is better for...

If the world is so flat, then why are people willing to pay so much to be in New York? Since we can telecommute from the Ozarks to Azerbaijan, shouldn't one spot on earth be as good as another? Yet as the world has become more accessible, people increasingly have been attracted to a few privileged spots, like Manhattan. If the world is so flat, then why are people willing to pay so much to be in New York? Since we can telecommute from the Ozarks to Azerbaijan, shouldn't one spot on earth...

Farmers could contribute up to $8,000 a year to their accounts, and they could draw from the RMAs in years when factors such as bad weather lead to a drop in crop prices. But traditional farm supports would end, along with them the perverse incentives to overproduce staple crops that qualify for the highest government payments. They would still be able to turn to the government for help when catastrophe strikes, such as a severe and extended drought. President Bush has proposed a dramatic...

New-Crop December Cotton soared to its highest levels of 2007, as short-covering by commodity funds, buy-stops, and aggressive bear spreading sent prices soaring. The lead month July futures briefly touched the 30-cent limit this morning, with strong commodity fund buying and local short-covering responsible for the sharp gains. In addition, initial reports of disappointing yields in Oklahoma have traders concerned that USDA estimates for US HRW Wheat may need to be lowered at a time when...

farm policy and is "never going to pass" an extension of crop subsidies forecast to cost $10 billion this year, the Senate Agriculture Committee chairman said on Thursday. A House Agriculture subcommittee voted on Tuesday to extend for five years the grain, cotton and soybean subsidies created in 2002. The Farm 21 bill of Wisconsin Democrat Ron Kind would replace traditional crop subsidies with lower-cost, IRA-like risk management accounts to free up money for stewardship, nutrition and...

Four swarms of Asian bees found in Cairns have been cleared of carrying the dreaded Varroa destructor mite but the intruders themselves could pose the beginning of a serious threat to Australian honey bee populations. This time it's a Javanese strain of the bee and because the latest incursion had lain undiscovered for at least three months, it is unknown how many more swarms might exist and how far afield they may have flown. Within a one kilometre radius from the first colony, disturbed...