Dan Charles

For years, powerful farmers in California's Central Valley fought for more water from the state's rivers. Now some are changing course, because there's no more water to be found.

Reformist farmers in California have deposed the leader of the country's biggest irrigation district, who was known for fighting water regulations. Farmers are accepting less water means less farming.

A promising, less labor-intensive perennial rice is beginning to take off in China, but whether this success can be replicated in other crops like wheat or corn remains to be seen.

The honey on supermarket shelves is probably real honey, after all. But claims that illicit Chinese honey was being sneaked into the U.S. market reveal how quick we are to assume the worst about supermarket foods — and imports. Closer analysis reveals a more complex tale.

Growing vegetables has never, in recent memory, been quite so cool, or so attractive to the young and well-educated. But many aspiring farmers lack hard, cold cash for land and farm equipment, a survey found.

American consumers like their honey bright and clear, but removing the pollen makes it hard to trace honey back to its source. A new report says three quarters of honey sold in the U.S. doesn't contain any pollen.

An economist's career was shaped by the food shortages of the 1970s. The rice crisis of 2008, and continuing high food prices around the world, brought him out of semi-retirement. Today, he's busier than ever.

No one can guarantee that the rice crisis of 2008 won't happen again. A lot of damage remains from the disaster that sent rice prices soaring even while there was plenty of rice. And there's still some of the fear that produced the crisis in the first place.

Some researchers have found that vegetables like broccoli have fewer good-for-you nutrients like calcium and zinc than they used to. But a new study says that genetics — what plant breeders control — probably isn't the major factor determining nutrient levels.

In farm communities, there are mixed feelings on conservation payments. Farmer Don Teske, of Wheaton, Kansas, says "the perception is that you're being paid to do nothing." They don't want to be park rangers, they want to farm.