:Peanut Butter News

Full Story At  Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese dairy firms that sold baby formula tainted with the industrial chemical melamine will pay compensation to the families of nearly 300,000 children who were killed or sickened as a result, state media reported.

Twenty-two dairy producers will soon make one-off cash payments to the families, the Xinhua news agency cited the China Dairy Industry Association as saying on Saturday.

It did not disclose the size of the payments.

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Full Story At  Reuters

OZNAN, Poland (Reuters) - An ancient technique of plowing charred plants into the ground to revive soil may also trap greenhouse gases for thousands of years and forestall global warming, scientists said on Friday.

Heating plants such as farm waste or wood in airtight conditions produces a high-carbon substance called biochar, which can store the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide and enhance nutrients in the soil.

Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. Subsequently storing that carbon in the soil removes the gas from the atmosphere.

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Full Story  At  The Boston Globe

PLATTEVILLE, Colo. - A farm couple got a huge surprise when they opened their fields to anyone who wanted to pick up free vegetables left over after the harvest - 40,000 people showed up.

Joe and Chris Miller’s fields were picked so clean Saturday that a second day of gleaning - the ancient practice of picking up leftover food in farm fields - was canceled yesterday.

“Overwhelmed is putting it mildly,” Chris Miller said. “People obviously need food.”

She said she expected 5,000 to 10,000 people would show up Saturday to collect free potatoes, carrots, and leeks.

Instead, an estimated 11,000 vehicles snaked around cornfields and backed up more than 2 miles.

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