Publication archives

Mexico this week barred Monsanto Co. and other biotechnology companies from planting genetically engineered corn, rekindling fierce debate in that country over the technology.

Steve Suppan on the WTO's recent biotech ruling, Brian Noy on a new project to introduce small farmers markets to low-income communities, and Jim Harkness on ag policy and rural life in China, where he's traveling.

The link between fire risk and the pine beetle epidemic sweeping through Colorado forests may not be as conclusive as generally assumed, according to Forest Service research.

The federal government is developing a $40 million mapping program that can be used to identify communities most at risk of wildfire, but an environmental group has criticized the project because it contains ecological data but none on where people live.

U.S. home builders, concerned that an agreement between the U.S. and Canada to manage the lumber trade might lead to shortages and price increases, began meetings Monday in Russia intended to secure new import sources.

Forest managers in Idaho say the summer's fires followed historic fire patterns that will help forest ecology that was thrown out of balance by a century of fire suppression. More than 800,000 acres burned in the state, but only destroyed a few homes. The Boise National Forest let some naturally caused fires burn if they weren't threatening homes.

In far northern Queensland lies the Daintree, one of the world's oldest rainforests and home to Australia's most diverse range of plants and animals - plus 800 people, determined to live out their dreams among the tropical lowlands.

"What is wrong with clear-cutting? I've asked many environmentalists to actually tell me, ecologically, what is wrong with clear-cutting; and I have yet to receive a coherent answer." It seems unusual for an ecologist to advocate the mass clearance by brute force of large tracts of trees - but that is exactly what Hamish Kimmins is advocating for certain kinds of forest.