The advances in the pomegranate trade are a sliver of good news from a region of Afghanistan known more for its Taliban attacks and thriving opium trade. The advances in the pomegranate trade are a sliver of good news from a region of Afghanistan known more for its Taliban attacks and thriving opium trade. Ubaidullah Jan, a 50-year-old farmer from the Arghandab area just north of Kandahar, said the price his pomegranates command has doubled this year to about 54 cents a pound, due to the...

Crapo said farm families in Idaho and across the country deserve strong federal farm policy, but said Democratic leaders had chosen to waste the past two weeks, which could have been spent properly debating and voting on amendments to further shape the bill by limiting debate. Though politically popular, the bill stalled in a dispute between the parties over unrelated amendments Republicans wanted to add. Crapo said farm families in Idaho and across the country deserve strong federal farm...

Tomasel says that to reduce handling of his apples before they reach the consumer, many supermarkets sell his apples from the same crates they are packed in at his orchard. THERE are shiny apples, fresh avocados and glistening crisp lettuce, blood-red peppers beside the bright yellow corn and bulbous glistening eggplants. In the past two years, 1354 samples of these five commodities have been tested for chemicals including herbicides, fumigants, insecticides, acaricides and fungicides. We...

Other defenders of the huge federal farm bill make paeans to yeoman farmers "living under a yard light, trying to plow the land, plant a seed, harvest a crop. Democrats and Republicans on the Agriculture Committee, backed by crowds of lobbyists, are pulling out all the stops to pass a $288 billion, five-year farm bill, expanding an archaic system of subsidies that government economists say is rapidly shifting billions of dollars to the largest farm operations. And still other senators mock...

The railroad grade is bordered by a variety of trees and vegetation -- cottonwood, alder, pine, wild roses with displays of rose-hips red and puckered, thistles, teasels, cat-tails and many shrubs we did not recognize, all in a swirl of Gauguin-like color, accompanied by a chorus of hidden birds and tree frogs. The railroad grade is bordered by a variety of trees and vegetation -- cottonwood, alder, pine, wild roses with displays of rose-hips red and puckered, thistles, teasels, cat-tails...

Don Gatian was talking apples and oranges and it had nothing to do with fruit salad. The difference between the Antlers fledgling steps in that playoff game last season and the full-blown offensive machine it has become this season is, well, fairly fruity. They picked up a more productive 73 yards in the second half, but the passing game cooled, with Palmer hitting only six of his final 12 throws for 57 yards. It s evolved tremendously from what we started with not just from last year, but...