Island of Ikaria. Photo source: Flickr CC via ForsterFoto From time to time, we’ve all read and marveled at those reports of isolated pockets around the globe where people tend to have greater than normal longevity. Such regions include Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece; and the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma [...]
U.S. dry bean markets find themselves in relatively unfamiliar territory as prices continue to reach for the sky in reaction to a small 2011 crop, strong prices for other field crops, and moderate demand. The October 2011 U.S. dry bean production estimate was trimmed to 19.6 million hundredweight (cwt)—down 38 percent from a year earlier [...]
Driven by sharply lower planted area, the U.S. dry edible bean crop is forecast at 20.5 million hundredweight (cwt) this fall, down 36 percent from a year earlier. With the exception of Washington, output is expected to decline from year-earlier levels for each of the 18 surveyed States. The five largest producing States—North Dakota, Michigan, [...]
