SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - Insulated from the harshest effects of the housing bust - and buoyed by an abundance of energy and agriculture - five contiguous rural states have the lowest unemployment rates in the land. ...more

January 11, 2009

In August, Timothy Davis and Jason Lanier sold 1,761 pounds of copper wire to a metal recycler for $4,560.99. ...more

December 4, 2008

With consumers looking for comfort foods and ways to save money, foodmakers H.J. Heinz Co. and J.M. Smucker Co. posted higher earnings Friday and said they're benefiting from price increases and the trend of more people eating at home. ...more

November 22, 2008

Federal regulators said Thursday after a lengthy review that they could not determine how much speculators have influenced commodity prices, especially the run-up earlier this year in oil prices. ...more

September 12, 2008

The request caught dairy farmer Brian Ziehm off guard: Would he devote an acre of his fields near the Vermont line this fall to grow stinkweed? ...more

September 4, 2008

Wholesale inflation surged in July, leaving prices for the past year rising at the fastest pace in 27 years, according to government data released Tuesday. ...more

August 20, 2008

After months of rising food prices, there may be some relief coming with farmers on track to produce the second-largest corn crop and fourth-largest soybean crop in history. ...more

August 13, 2008

Oil giants Chevron Corp. and Total SA wrapped up a string of gargantuan, record-breaking earnings reports Friday, a stretch in which six of the major international oil companies topped $50 billion in combined profit for the first time. ...more

August 2, 2008

Under pressure from farmers, livestock producers and soaring food prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is weighing a proposal that could lead to the plowing of millions of acres of land that had been set aside for conservation. ...more

July 11, 2008

After a marathon session that lasted through the night, Argentina's lower house of Congress on Saturday narrowly approved agricultural export tax increases that the government imposed four months ago. ...more

July 6, 2008