Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters / Peter Somakhephu’s life has followed a pattern familiar to many black South African miners: he exchanged a marginal existence of peasant farming in his home village for low-paid labour underground before being forced back onto the land. His life has come full circle but he has broken the cycle of grinding subsistence by […] Read more
Fruit farming offers escape from South Africa’s mining gloom
Somaliland hopes oil will replace goat dependence
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters / Wanted: investors for small African nation with good oil and mineral potential — no seat at the United Nations but history of independence in rough neighbourhood. The break-away nation of Somaliland is a tough sell but the recent announcement that serious hydrocarbon exploration is about to kick off there shows that oil talks, […] Read more
Recession, Health Concerns Get Americans Gardening
Reading Time: 3 minutes Alison Baum of San Antonio, Texas hopes to save money and eat better by getting her hands dirty. She is joining the swelling ranks of Americans who have started backyard fruit and vegetable gardening, a trend rooted in a desire to cut costs as the recession bites, fears about the safety of commercial food supplies […] Read more
Texas feeder says U. S. cattle herd may shrink further
Reading Time: 2 minutes The U. S. cattle herd may shrink further from its current 50-year low before it starts to recover from the effects of recession, poor credit markets and in some places searing drought, a top cattleman said March 19. “It could shrink further, I think it can absolutely shrink,” said Jon Means, president of the Texas […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
