Environment

Farm And Lawn Fertilizers From Minnesota Are Killing Marine Life Downstream In The Gulf Of Mexico

What's good for Minnesota's corn and soybeans can be deadly to crabs and shrimp in Louisiana. A national task force meeting in St. Paul last week heard that fertilizer from farm fields washing down the Mississippi River continues to help create a seasonal "dead zone" that this year extends across 5,800 square miles of the Gulf Coast.

Farm Subsidies and Africa: Cotton's Not King

SAINT PAUL, Minnesota It is increasingly asserted that American and European agricultural subsidies inhibit prosperity in the developing world, particularly in Africa. Critics argue that rich nations have aggressively dismantled trade barriers on industrial goods, yet shamelessly refused to do so for agriculture, where many African nations would have a comparative advantage.

Who Will Get The Rural Vote?

President Bush leads Sen.

EU Says Australia Cannot Ignore Kyoto

Europe's chief negotiator on the Kyoto climate-change agreement has warned that Australia's opposition will become untenable when Russia signs, possibly before the end of the year, and has called on Australians to demand stronger political leadership on the issue.

New EQUIP Payments

BISMARCK, N.D. A federal conservation program is handing out more assistance to farmers and ranchers across the Northern Plains and Montana this year. The government received nearly 8,000 applications from the Dakotas, Minnesota and Montana for the Environmental Quality Incentive Program.