Bats are a captivating bunch, flying hundreds of miles, pinpointing prey with sonar and leading complex social lives. They’re also voracious predators of insects wreaking havoc on crops such as cotton, cocoa and rice. By literally wiping out tons of pests every night, bats save US farmers an estimated $3.7 billion annually. Besides the bug […]

Last month, the USDA recognized four school districts for their work in improving the nutrition standards of their lunches. That’s no easy feat, says Brandy Dreibelbis, with the Chef Ann Foundation, an organization that helps schools transition to from-scratch cooking.  Transitioning away from a system often characterized by carb-heavy, frozen and fried food can be […]

At the end of February, the town board of Lind, Wisconsin voted against changing the zoning laws to allow a nearby 600-cow dairy to install an anaerobic digester. These digesters are becoming more common, particularly at larger dairy operations housing thousands of cows, called concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). This is partially because they have […]