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This dairy farm's best worker is a robot

Jun 26, 2017
Facing labor shortages, some farms are increasingly using automation to get work done.
Dairy farmer Vickie Baker stands in the holding area in her barn, where cows wait to be milked by a robot. They go through the gate behind her to stand in a cow-sized chamber where the robot attaches milkers to them.
Annie Baxter/Marketplace

Where’d you get that beef? Rancher groups sue USDA over labels

Jun 23, 2017
Two industry groups that represent cattle ranchers have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They want the USDA to reinstate country-of-origin labeling for beef, because they say consumers want to purchase meat from animals born, raised and slaughtered in the U.S. For example, pieces of beef from Canada can come across the […]

In rural Iowa, President Trump plugs 'precision agriculture'

Jun 21, 2017
It’s “Technology Week” at the White House. So, naturally, President Trump is heading to farm country today. If that seems incongruous, you may not know there’s a lot of high-tech stuff going on in the growing field of “precision agriculture.” Farmers are using all sorts of technology to determine the most efficient growing practices, which […]