Tobacco

Six years ago, Illinois farmer John Ackerman didn’t hire any contract workers at all. Now he typically hires about 22 every year through a local coordinator that helps farmers hire crews of skilled workers.

For the first time, RIPE researchers have proven that multigene bioengineering of photosynthesis increases the yield of a major food crop in field trials.

Over most of the past 100 years, there were step-changes in farming technological advancements. But that rate increased exponentially the past few decades, transitioning from the Green Revolution to the Digital Revolution.

A total of $5.9 million in tobacco settlement funds will go to nearly 600 farm projects across Kentucky, Gov. Andy Beshear said.

A House committee made significant changes Feb. 4 to the way Indiana would spend proceeds from a proposal to hike the state’s cigarette tax for the first time in more than a decade and impose a new state tax on vaping liquids.