As urban sprawl puts pressure on the food bowl on Melbourne's fringes, and as water becomes increasingly scarce, one council has a bold idea that might just catch on.

More than 120,000 acres of Delaware farmland are now permanently preserved for future generations, state officials announced today, marking the 20th anniversary of the state's preservation program. With 17 farms on 2,245 acres entering the latest round of the program, the new milestone means that 24 percent of First State farmland is now preserved for perpetuity.

“I am proud to announce the largest round of Delaware farmland permanently preserved through the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Program in the last several years. This is a result of federal funding from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and funding from both New Castle County and Kent County,” said Delaware Secretary of Agriculture Michael Scuse. More than 124,000 acres of Delaware farmland are now permanently preserved for future generations, with 3,039 acres of easements selected into the state’s preservation program.

More than 127,000 acres of Delaware farmland are now permanently preserved for future generations, with the purchase of the development rights of 41 farms totaling 3,534 acres. This is the 22nd consecutive year of easement selections by the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation.

The Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation voted to extended district enrollment until December 31, 2018 to any agricultural landowners who want to preserve their farms and still have the opportunity to submit an application for the upcoming round. Farms must be enrolled in a preservation district before the landowner can sell an easement.

The Justice Department today filed a lawsuit against Farmland Foods Inc., a major producer of pork products in the United States, alleging that it engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination by imposing unnecessary documentary requirements on non-U.S. citizens when establishing their authority to work in the United States.

The husband and wife have spent 25 years buying up wasteland farmers no longer wanted; now elephants, tigers and leopards roam free there.

After 25 years of buying land in India that farmers no longer wanted, the husband and wife now play host to elephants, monkeys and more; see a new video about their work here.

A new study finds that degraded agricultural lands could be low-hanging fruit for expanding the world’s conservation areas.

Extensive costs of salt-damaged soils include $27 billion+ in lost crop value per year.

On the outskirts of Srinagar city, sprawling residential colonies have cropped up over the years.

Sochacki, Stanley J