Agriculture

"The world’s largest manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, an agricultural pesticide linked to brain damage in children, has announced that it will stop producing the chemical by the end of the year."

"When the Bureau of Land Management moves its Washington-based headquarters to Grand Junction, Colo., this year, more than half of the senior leaders may be as new as the office itself."

"Fifteen years ago, farmers produced so much soybean oil they couldn't figure out what to with it all. It was good for cooking and salad dressing — and not much more. ... Then came the renewable fuel standard in 2005, mandating the use of biofuels in the nation's fuel supply."

"In the Texas Panhandle, which produces a fifth of the U.S. beef supply, communities are being choked by fecal dust from nearby feedlots. The state’s regulatory agency isn’t doing anything about it—and it’s about to get a whole lot worse."

"Swarms of desert locusts could ravage more countries in eastern Africa and threaten the livelihood of many more people, the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) said on Monday."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has re-approved a chemical used in Bayer's Roundup weed killer despite concerns over its health risks."

"CORNING, Iowa — A fight over how to fuel Americans' cars is beginning to wear on Ray Gaesser. Gaesser farms 5,500 acres of corn and soybeans in Adams County, where cornfields stretch to the horizon and one of the biggest employers is a corn-to-ethanol plant."

"The EPA announced Thursday it supports the continued use and registration of neonicotinoids, a class of insecticides linked to declines in bees, aquatic insects and birds."