Farmers

The Communist Party approved rural reforms aimed at unleashing the economic power of hundreds of millions of farmers as China looks to home markets as a bulwark against the global financial crisis. The party said it aims to double the annual income of farmers, currently about $590 per person, over the next 12 years. State media reports before a four-day meeting said the Central Committee would review an amendment to give 750 million rural dwellers more freedom to lease or transfer their land, but the final statement did not mention the issue.

DECATUR, Ill. — Wearing a black fleece pullover and blue cargo pants, Howard Buffett loaded his jumpy Slovakian-born German shepherd Bolek into his Ford F-250 Super Duty and radioed his crew that he was on his way. "Beans don't do well in the cold and wet, but I'm going to plant anyway," Buffett said before climbing into the cabin of his John Deere tractor. There he pressed the "resume" button and began planting small, red soybean seeds, 180,000 to the acre. He drove hands-free thanks to a sophisticated onboard global positioning system, which alone cost $20,000.

Peruvian farmers upset over a free trade deal with the United States blocked rail service to the famous Inca ruins at Machu Picchu and paralyzed vast swaths of the Andean country by halting traffic on key highways. The protests stranded thousands of travelers, including about 400 people who were stuck on the train to the ancient Incan citadel, Peru's top tourist attraction. The Pan-American highway, the major road on the Peruvian coast, was blocked north and south of the capital, Lima, travelers and police said.

WASHINGTON - It's a deal that most businesses would relish: Buy an insurance policy to cover losses or falling prices, and the government will foot most of the bill. Such an arrangement has been enjoyed for more than a decade by the farmers who grow crops such as corn and soybeans, and the companies that insure them. And it's about to get even better. The farm bill now before Congress includes a provision - estimated to cost about $3 billion a year - that would help cover the losses farmers suffer before their crop insurance policies kick in. Those losses, termed deductibles, can run in the tens of thousands of dollars for a typical mid-size farm.

More than 160 farmers were arrested when they blocked a key highway and clashed with police in a protest to demand that Congress pass a law to ease their debts, Nicaraguan police said. About 2,000 growers blocked a section of the Pan-American Highway late Monday about 20 miles from the capital. Police spokeswoman Vilma Reyes said 167 people were arrested. Two police officers and one farmer were injured before police reopened the highway, she said. The farmers were pushing a proposal they presented to Congress late in 2008 that would allow them to temporarily suspend debt payments.

"Battleship"is not the first major motion picture to be based on a board game - who could forget 1985's benighted "Clue"? - but it is surely the most expensive. With every superhero more celebrated than Amazing-Man or the Chameleon already spoken for (ditto for hot toys like Transformers), Hollywood has fallen back on popular games as likely fodder for action epics. If "Scrabble: The Movie" or "Qwirkle or Death" appears on a future marquee, don't say you weren't warned. As its north-of-$200-million budget indicates, "Battleship" has been expanded considerably from its origins as a pre-World War I pencil and paper game to include a major alien invasion that puts the very fate of the human race at stake.

Walking through the Santa Monica farmers market early one recent morning, I noticed Sherry Yard, executive pastry chef of Spago, carrying a flat of strawberries that looked oddly different than any I had seen there before. Even from 10 feet away, they seemed smaller and rounder than conventional strawberries, with prominent seeds and an unusual carmine-orange color. As I wondered what they might be, suddenly the breeze shifted my way, wafting an intense aroma of wild strawberries, and I knew.

The weather along Ventura County's southern coast is so perfect that "it's hardly suitable for conversation," goes an old joke told by local farmers. The area, known as the Oxnard Plain, holds some of the nation's most productive farmland, according to agriculture experts. The ocean breezes that cool temperatures in the summer and keep frost away in winter allow farmers there to harvest top-grade produce as many as three times a year from the same piece of ground.

James Hatano looks across the floor of the sprawling Southern California Flower Market and acknowledges that he is one of the last links to a bygone age of flower selling in Los Angeles. Hatano, 81, grows poppies, sunflowers, baby's breath and delphiniums on a small rented farm in Rancho Palos Verdes and sells them from a stall at the market. Recalling fondly how Japanese farmers founded the market in 1913, he can't miss the stunning transformation around him.

President Obama's 2012 budget plan calls for the elimination of more than $5 billion in public support for agricultural programs, including subsidies to the wealthiest U.S. farmers. On Monday, Obama signaled that his administration wants to shift federal dollars away from farm programs, setting up a battle between the White House and legislators from agricultural states. It will also test the political will of some Republican and "tea party" lawmakers from rural districts who have vowed to trim federal spending.

While the legislature in Minnesota continued to work on a solution to keep the Vikings, AEG on Tuesday unveiled its latest vision for an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles. Two weeks remain in the public-comment period of AEG's environmental impact report on the concept, and the company hopes to have its approvals in place by late summer, with the goal of luring a football team back to L.A. next spring. AEG's is one of two competing stadium proposals, with the other in City of Industry.

ARIZONA Heady move: Fourth-rounder Bobby Massie of Mississippi can play right tackle, and some scouts had him going in the second. Head scratcher: In taking Oklahoma's Jamell Fleming in the third, the Cardinals picked up their ninth corner. ATLANTA Heady move: The Falcons have a 35-year-old center and need help on the interior of the offensive line, so getting Wisconsin's Peter Konz in the second was huge. Head scratcher: Took Southern Mississippi's Lamar Holmes in the third, a player Mel Kiper rated as the 29th tackle.

The Obama administration eased U.S. travel restrictions to Cuba by announcing last year it would grant licenses to selected travel companies to lead "people-to-people" tours to the Communist-led nation. The action meant Americans, who have been essentially prohibited from visiting the island for the past 50 years, could now travel to the country legally. Alabama-based International Expeditions received a license and has begun offering 10-day tours of Cuba that start in June.

Analyzing DNA from four ancient skeletons and comparing it with thousands of genetic samples from living humans, a group of Scandinavian scientists reported that agriculture initially spread through Europe because farmers expanded their territory northward, not because the more primitive foragers already living there adopted it on their own. The genetic profiles of three Neolithic hunter-gatherers and one farmer who lived in the same region of...

If it is built, the proposed 72,000-seat Farmers Field stadium in downtown Los Angeles will bring many benefits but also major traffic congestion. Despite an optimistic estimate that 20% of patrons will ride public transit on a weekday, and 15% on weekends, the project's environmental impact report says almost 20,000 cars will also arrive for events there. Anschutz Entertainment Group, the stadium's developer, has promised to accommodate all these cars. But AEG should also give patrons an incentive to ride public transit and leave their cars at home.

Travelers may think of Hawaii as the land of surfboards, sunsets and mai tais, but there's a lava flow of reasons to go beyond the beaches and discover why residents say they are lucky to live in Hawaii. And, yes, some of the state's best beaches are found on the Big Island. But don't get stuck there. Do what the locals do: Swim with the honu. There are five snorkeling areas along the Big Island's Kohala Coast: Puako Bay, Waialea Beach (Beach 69), Hapuna Beach, Mauna Kea and Mauume.

The Obama administration is relying heavily on a 1942 Supreme Court case to sway today's justices as they consider the constitutionality of compelling Americans to buy health insurance. The 1942 ruling, in Wickard vs. Filburn, declared that "it is hardly lack of due process for the government to regulate that which it subsidizes. " The case spurred a vast increase in political-bureaucratic control over American life, even though the court's ruling rested on mind-boggling economic illiteracy.

Four years ago, Andrew Meeks literally bet the farm on chickens. Now he fears he made a losing bet. His three massive chicken houses are empty, and a "For Sale" sign has sprouted out front. Meeks, a contract chicken farmer, borrowed nearly half a million dollars to refurbish his 25-acre farm, putting up as collateral his home, the farm and virtually everything else he owns. But the company that provided his chickens and paid him to raise the birds canceled his contract.

HANALEI, Hawaii - It's a warm Tuesday afternoon on Kauai and tourists are lining up - just a few at first, then a dozen or so. Finally more than 100 have gathered, waiting patiently. They're not here to swim with dolphins, snorkel in turquoise waters or even learn to hula at a luau. They're here for a farmers market. Manager Kalen Kelekoma climbs atop a wooden crate and welcomes the throng with a warm "aloha" and an explanation of the market rules. Then the horn sounds, and they rush the stalls.

After Pompea Smith, who has led the Hollywood farmers market since she founded it 21 years ago, was fired Tuesday night, many questions remained as to just what had happened, and why. Official details were scant, but it is clear that the story involved financial issues, office politics and conflicting visions for the organization. The board of Sustainable Economic Enterprises of Los Angeles the nonprofit organization that runs the market, issued a statement saying that it was "time for a change of leadership," and that it was "deeply grateful to Pompea Smith for her ... inspired leadership of this organization.