Demand for local food is booming at the same time soaring labor costs are forcing more high-value fruit and vegetable production out of states like California, Arizona and Colorado and onto farms south of the border, according to two experts who work on agricultural labor issues.Philip Martin, professor emeritus of ag economics at the University of California-Davis, and Guadalupe (Lupe) Sandoval, executive director of the California Farm Labor Contractors Association, say the shift is already happening and likely to intensify. [node:read-more:link]

Over the last weekend of June, some of the already drought-stricken areas in north-central South Dakota saw a damaging frost on their corn. The frost didn't hit the winter or spring wheat, but that could be partially due to the fact that there isn't much winter wheat left in the fields. At least 75% of the winter wheat in the drought-stricken areas of South Dakota has been baled or sprayed out. Some authorities have declared that at least $20 million of crops in South Dakota have already been destroyed by drought or the June 24 frost, with more losses expected. [node:read-more:link]

The sale of Stonyfield is part of an agreement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with Danone’s recent acquisition of WhiteWave. Danone and WhiteWave together have big chunks of the yogurt market with brands including Dannon, Oikos, Actimel, Silk, Wallaby and Horizon Organic, which led to concerns from the Justice Department about concentration in the dairy sector. [node:read-more:link]

Earlier this year, Apple and Micro­soft marshaled their lobbyists in Lincoln, Neb., far from their usual corridors of political power. Their target was a proposed state law—the first of its kind, if passed—that could have set off a costly chain reaction nationwide. For decades, many electronics manufacturers have profited from a choke hold on repairs to their products. [node:read-more:link]

For a lot of people up and down the East Coast, Georgia is synonymous with peaches. Think about it; when have you ever heard someone wax poetic about a California peach?

Turns out, though, Georgia peaches, and Southern peaches in general, are having a really tough year. [node:read-more:link]

A new Pennsylvania law shields veterinarians from civil liability when they report suspected animal cruelty to law enforcement authorities. [node:read-more:link]

With corn needing nitrogen, and pigs and cattle producing a lot of it, anything that offers a better way to use their waste to fortify crops should intrigue farmers. [node:read-more:link]

A purple rice with the potential to combat cancer, heart disease and diabetes has been genetically developed by scientists in China. The rice gets its purple colouring from the high levels of antioxidant-boosting pigments called anthocyanins, which are also found in blueberries and red cabbage.Reporting their findings in the Molecular Plant journal, lead researcher Dr Yao-Guang Liu revealed that he and his team found a way to "stack" the eight genes needed for anthocyanin production and activate them in rice's "endosperm" - a tissue produced inside the seeds of the rice. [node:read-more:link]

It started with rotting flesh. Slicing into the green skin of a Hawaiian papaya ordinarily yields juicy, salmon-colored fruit that's almost custard-like in its consistency and sweetness. But in the early 1990s, one Hawaiian farmer instead found bits of whitish, dried-out flesh in his recently harvested fruit. On the skin were discolored spots resembling tiny rings. [node:read-more:link]

A North Dakota regulatory board has accused a security firm hired by the company that built the Dakota Access Pipeline of operating in the state without a license.In a complaint dated June 12, attorneys for the North Dakota Private Investigative and Security Board said the agency denied an application to James Patrick Reese, the founder of North Carolina-based TigerSwan, to become a licensed private security provider earlier this year. [node:read-more:link]