u s department of agriculture

WASHINGTON — An effort to privatize commissaries used by service members at military installations such as Fort Meade and Aberdeen Proving Ground is meeting with stiff resistance from a bipartisan group of lawmakers who say the proposal would lead to reduced benefits.

Legislative action is required to spare honeybees from dangerous pesticides

Eligible applicants include groups of cooperatives, cooperative development centers and individual cooperatives that serve socially-disadvantaged groups.

Govans Urban Forest is a small pocket of woodlands between a church and drug store on York Road. The land is cared for by the York Road Partnership with the aid of Baltimore Green Space, a nonprofit started by Miriam Avins, of Waverly, and best known for assisting with and buying up land for community gardening. But in the past three years, Baltimore Green Space has also been starting a network of people who care for patches of urban forest citywide.

A new Maryland law called the Hunger-Free Schools Act of 2015, signed by Gov. Larry Hogan May 12, will allow an entire school to qualify for free breakfast and lunch for students from low-income families, rather than individual students.

With emerald ash borers already claiming their first victims in Baltimore, the city is moving to protect some of its largest street trees from the invasive green Asian beetles that have already shredded the urban forest canopy in communities across North America.

The 2014 Farm Bill requires producers to have the form on file in order to remain eligible, or to become eligible for crop insurance premium support.

PEDv only infects pigs, poses no known public health threat and is not a food safety concern. Mortality rates, however, can be as high as 100 percent in suckling and early weaned pigs.

Actions announced by President Obama are only a first step toward protecting honey bees and other pollinators vital to agriculture and the ecosystem

According to a survey conducted by the Bee Informed Partnership, beekeepers across the United States lost more than 40 percent of their honey bee colonies during the year spanning April 2014 to April 2015.

a Maryland Department of Agriculture pilot program will gather and report the prices of products at five farmers' markets in Maryland.

Maryland's beekeepers lost nearly 61 percent of their colonies in the past year, one of the highest declines in the nation, according to an annual survey released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

RCPP is a $235 million grant program that competitively award funds to conservation projects

I consider myself a well-informed consumer, who considers the environmental consequences of my product choices. I research options in advance and typically read product labels before I buy. However, I was duped recently when I purchased a face wash that claimed to be ¿all natural."

Members of the Harford County Board of Education bit into apples with a hearty crunch during their Monday meeting to symbolize the school system's commitment to ending child hunger.

It appears increasingly likely some snow will accumulate on the first day of spring, but it is expected to be limited to grassy surfaces and higher elevations.

It appears increasingly likely some snow will accumulate on the first day of spring, but it is expected to be limited to grassy surfaces and higher elevations.

Maryland's bee losses are overstated and pesticides are not the primary cause

As the season approaches for cleaning up flowerbeds and planting vegetable gardens, you may love the idea of all the blooms or produce you¿ll create but dread the annual fight for control over weeds. There¿s no need to go wild on chemicals to reduce all that pulling and hoeing.

It could a crack from frost, sunscald, insects, herbicide damage or simply a natural growth crack.

You can deter rabbits from vegetable or flower gardens by erecting 2-foot chicken wire fencing held tight to the ground or buried several inches.

A big fan of the Denver Broncos, Marie Gemmell was killed when plane hit house in Montgomery County.

A big fan of the Denver Broncos, Marie Gemmell was killed when plane hit house in Montgomery County.

A big fan of the Denver Broncos, Marie Gemmell was killed when plane hit house in Montgomery County.

Eastern Shore farmers don't oppose phosphorous management — if it's science based.

The federal government plans to shift the cost of accepting food stamps to retailers in the coming weeks, a move that Baltimore officials and anti-hunger advocates said Tuesday could make it harder for some families to buy groceries.

Schools offer healthier foods but getting kids to eat them is still a challenge

September is Hunger Action Month, and some agencies are taking aim at hunger

One day, behind the pulpit at Grace Christian Baptist Church the wall split open.

Hannah Sheats raises goats, makes clothes and bakes items with the 4-H to show at the Maryland State Fair. But the 11-year-old Monkton girl hasn't been to the State Fairgrounds in Timonium as much as she'd like since Baltimore County public schools opened Wednesday. Hannah and others want Maryland schools to stay closed until after Labor Day — traditionally the final day of the fair.

Animal rights group says Hopkins among only four medical schools using animals for training

A voracious Asian beetle that's killed millions of ash trees across North America has finally been spotted in Baltimore, posing a costly and difficult challenge for a city that stands to lose more than 200,000 of its most common trees to the exotic pest's onslaught.

After more than two years, the Office of Personnel Management released guidelines for phased retirement on Thursday, but not before it missed at least a few people who have already retired or have plans to.