Could Genetically Engineered Animals be Coming to a Plate Near You?

Baby pigs genetically modified

Tucked away in a University of Missouri research building, a family of pigs is kept upright and mostly happy by a handful of researchers. Two new litters recently joined the assembly of pudgy, snorting, pink piglets. While they look like an ordinary collection of pigs one might find in hog barns all over the country,…

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The Rising Energy Costs Of Convenience In The Kitchen

The growing popularity of kitchen shortcuts like pre-sliced vegetables and bagged spinach mean greater energy inputs. (Photo: Leigh Paterson for Harvest Public Media)

To make or not to make a homemade pie?  That is a classic holiday dilemma. Do you take the easy way out and buy a fairly decent frozen pie, or do you risk making your own, resulting in a potentially burnt and lumpy version? While there is something special about that homemade option, every cook…

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The Other Natural Gas: Making Energy From Waste

Grand Junction, Colo., is now the first city in the U.S. to fuel its vehicle fleet with natural gas produced from human waste. (Photo: Rebecca Jacobson | Harvest Public Media)

Every day, a facility on the outskirts of Grand Junction, Colorado takes in eight million gallons of what people have flushed down their toilets and washed down their sinks. The water coming out the other end of the Persigo Wastewater Treatment Plant is cleaner than the Colorado River it flows into. The organic solids strained from…

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Dietary Guidelines Deliver Win for Midwest Meat Industry

A platter of steaks at a steakhouse in Omaha, Neb. (Photo: Brian Seifferlein | Harvest Public Media file)

New federal guidelines for healthy eating announced Thursday do not urge Americans to eat less meat, delivering a big win to Midwest meat farmers and ranchers. Initial recommendations by scientific advisors suggested Americans could be more environmentally friendly by cutting back on meat. Although the final version of the dietary guidelines issued every five years by the U.S. Departments…

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USDA’s MIDAS Computer Program Tarnished; Overdue, Over Budget

Blake Hurst, president of the Missouri Farm Bureau, in the cab of his combine, harvesting soybeans on his family's northern Missouri farm. He's watching satellite monitors that show yields, moisture content and fertilizer use. (Photo: Peggy Lowe | Harvest Public Media)

Blake Hurst rides ten feet above his soybean field in northern Missouri, looking more like he’s playing a video game than driving a $350,000 high-tech piece of machinery. As he rolls across the land in his John Deere combine, joystick in hand, three computer monitors offer him a host of information. He knows how much…

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