Hippy Cuban activist harvests top plant prize. That would be Humberto Rios Labrada, a guitar-playing-raunchy-song-singing-bureaucracy-defying-no-nonsense guy who thinks practically non-stop about seeds. That's Labrada, wearing the plaid shirt in the photo. The 47-year-old scientist's passion for seeds and crop improvment earned him a 2010 Goldman Environmental Prize, also known as the "Green Nobels."

Labrada takes his guitar and his sustainable agriculture gospel on more than 300 farm visits a year. His gospel is this: Cuba needs to become self-reliant in food production. He's been preaching his gospel ever since the Russians pulled out of the island nation, abandoning their big tractors, and stopping their shipments of fertilizer and pesticides. Their high-input approach to massive agriculture was just not suited to the kind of small-scale food production that the Cubans actually need, Labrada feels. 

  Associated Press writer Will Weissert tagged along with Labrada on a couple of recent farm visits, and prepared a report which you can read here: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/slideshow/ALeqM5h92l-SyIZ91huXWEPwYazw0Fve_gD9F674780?index=0

  Nay is a Black-and-Brown Swiss yearling who survived a barn fire and went on to garner showring honors competing against some of the top animals in the country at this year's New York Spring Dairy Carousel. Black-and-Brown? Nay was in her home barn in Belchertown, Mass., according to Sara Gauthier, her owner, when an electrical fire broke out, destroying six 4-H animals and Ms Gauthier's goats. The fire singed Nay, leaving black marks and splatters on her hide. But since color isn't a show-ring issue with Brown Swiss, she's been doing quite well in shows. Lancaster Farming Correspondent Meagan Crandall paid a visit to Nay and prepared a report you can read in our current edition. You can also see it here: http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/2908

  No more arguments about who has to wash the frying pan... http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/paper-fried-egg/1absihqtg