February 4, 2013, 9:05 AM
National Green Week is upon us, offering an opportunity to explore the ways we can make our communities more environmentally friendly and sustainable. With that in mind, we're featuring some great green-themed videos on The I Files, an investigative YouTube channel curated by our parent...
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September 28, 2012, 6:11 AM
With climate change, insurance companies are assessing the potential financial exposure. Weather-related damages have jumped from $2.1 billion to $12.1 billion.
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September 27, 2012, 12:09 AM
California’s water wars have shaped the course of the state’s economy and demography for more than a century. For farmers on the west side of the Central Valley, long dependent on federal and state water projects, climate change is introducing another factor into the water equation: salt.
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September 27, 2012, 12:08 AM
For a few weeks each spring, the cherry orchards of California’s San Joaquin Valley burst into a sea of pink blossoms. It’s a beautiful sight and a sign that the harvest will be good. But in recent years, farmers have noticed a change in this pattern, and it signals drastic changes ahead for the...
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September 27, 2012, 12:05 AM
On the front lines of climate change, the state’s agriculture industry faces a new landscape with less water, warmer winters, unexpected rain and rising salinity.
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September 26, 2012, 11:58 PM
Scientists and farmers are starting to notice that, as California's winters warm up, the state is becoming more hospitable to destructive agricultural pests.
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August 14, 2012, 12:05 AM
For years, legalization advocates have argued that marijuana is America’s leading cash crop, outranking corn, wheat, soy and a host of other heartland staples produced on an industrial scale. Bringing pot production above ground, the argument goes, could produce a $30 billion tax bonanza...
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March 16, 2012, 6:15 PM
“Valley of Shadows and Dreams” digs into the harsh truths of farm workers’ daily experiences in California’s Central Valley and the legacies of its politics and bureaucracy.
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March 13, 2012, 12:05 AM
Nitrate contamination in groundwater from fertilizer and animal manure is severe and getting worse for hundreds of thousands of residents in California’s farming communities, according to a study released today by researchers at UC Davis. Nearly 10 percent of the 2.6 million people...
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January 24, 2012, 12:05 AM
Researchers have found higher-than-expected levels of deadly bacteria in what is considered the largest sampling of raw retail meat products in the United States. A team of researchers at the University of Iowa collected 256 samples of pork from 35 retail stores in Iowa, Minnesota and New...
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December 14, 2011, 12:05 AM
A year after environmentalists lost a regulatory battle to keep the controversial pesticide methyl iodide off the California market, they appear to be winning the ground war against the chemical. Only six California growers have used methyl iodide – marketed as MIDAS – to zap soil-...
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November 29, 2011, 12:05 AM
A new report suggests that California agriculture already uses water efficiently and disputes the notion that conservation could free up large amounts of water for other uses. Increasing water efficiency would generate only 330,000 acre-feet per year of new water, according to the study [PDF...
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April 19, 2011, 12:05 AM
Not all cropland is created equal. And despite the bad press sugar has been receiving in the past few days, sugarcane may be one of the more climate friendly crops available. At least at a local level. Researchers at Stanford University and the University of Montana have found that...
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March 25, 2011, 12:05 AM
Water quality regulators in the Central Valley and Central Coast regions are weeks away from voting on the first comprehensive requirements governing groundwater quality under farms. Farmers are balking at the rules, but environmental groups say they aren't nearly strong enough to protect...
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January 24, 2011, 12:05 AM
Gov. Jerry Brown's plan to end state funding for a program designed to protect farmland and open spaces has reignited a decades-old controversy over the law's effectiveness. The recommendation to cut $10 million from the program has led to an outcry from the state's agricultural...
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