Most of the benefits consumers enjoy today are crafted behind the scenes along various points of the seed industry's distribution chain. Following a degree in genetics at University of California, Davis, and further studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, founder Glenn Goldsmith pursued a career in seed production with several companies before he and his wife, Jane, launched Goldsmith Seeds in Gilroy in 1962. Eventually the growers themselves began to attend the trials,...

By: Kathleen Masterson /The Daily Cardinal Nutrients kick off a series of events leading to mutated frogs Fertilizer runoff may be fostering parasite populations and causing an increase in frog deformities, a University of Colorado study published in September suggested. By: Kathleen Masterson /The Daily Cardinal Nutrients kick off a series of events leading to mutated frogs Fertilizer runoff may be fostering parasite populations and causing an increase in frog deformities, a University of...

In the next days and weeks, they will crawl into plants, flowers and shrubs in search of insects whose smell attracts them soft-bodied, leaf-sucking aphids and mites. In this real life story, however, the red-and-black bugs have been unleashed on the 80-acre grounds of one of New York s biggest apartment complexes with a mission: eat pests infesting the neatly landscaped property. Buying the bugs means the complex s owner, Tishman Speyer, can avoid using chemical insecticides. From mesh...

shows insecticide use has increased but the amount of pesticides used on the Island has declined, roughly matching a decline in hectares under cultivation. Cheverie said that can't be done now because the information collected doesn't break down the products by each chemical's name or what crop it's used on. We're seeing a resurgence of a lot of different soil-borne insects like cabbage root maggot, many of the root weevils, and those have been sort of going up in numbers. The sale of...

On Wednesday night they took comments from the public and ended up hearing a similar spectrum of opinions about how the state should collect revenue from its largest industry. Sharp also asked lawmakers to schedule future hearings so that the industry, and not the public, testified during the World Series, which began Wednesday night. Lawmakers reviewing oil taxes have heard from industry executives, state economists and legislative analysts with differing thoughts. Sarah Palin called a...

Whether it is ethanol from corn or switchgrass, biodiesel from soybeans, sunflowers or canola, there are environmental costs that must be weighed against the economic benefits. For example, we might use corn stover to produce fuel, but Pimentel points out that without the protection of crop residues, soil loss may increase 100-fold. Ethanol supporters tout Brazil s success with sugarcane, but soil erosion associated with this plant species is greater than for any other crop grown in that...