Agriculture

"At a Halloween happy hour recently in Washington, D.C., a small crowd gathered to celebrate the relationship between bats and spirits."

"In a normal year, Kevin Bradley, a professor of weed science at the University of Missouri, would have spent his summer testing new ways to control a troublesome little plant called water hemp. This has not been a normal year."

"TREVI, Italy — It was in June, the time of year when the first olives normally burst from their blossoms in the mild warmth of early summer, when Irene Guidobaldi walked through her groves in blistering heat and watched in horror as the flowers on her trees began to wither and fall."

"A group of Hispanic ranchers has been dealt a blow in their years-long feud with the federal government over grazing rights on land in New Mexico that has been used by their families for centuries."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is backing off from changes it floated to biofuels policy after significant pushback from Midwestern GOP senators and a direct intervention from President Trump."

"The cotton fields of sub-Saharan Africa hold a deadly secret—thousands of tons of obsolete pesticides are buried out of sight but slowly taking a toxic toll on the region’s people and environment."

"U.S. President Donald Trump sought to ease concerns on Wednesday that his administration would make major alterations to biofuels policy, telling Iowa’s governor he was committed to a decade-old biofuels program even as a top official considers changing it."

"Major dam and irrigation projects are drying up the wetlands that sustain life in the arid Sahel region of Africa. The result has been a wave of environmental refugees, as thousands of people flee, many on boats to Europe."

"'If you listen to the news coverage about Irma, you'll hear about damage to the farms. You don't ever hear about impact to farm workers,' said Jeannie Economos, the pesticide safety and environmental health project coordinator with the Farmworker Association of Florida."

"U.S. weed specialists doubted on Friday that new federal restrictions on the use of a controversial weed killer, sold by Monsanto Co and BASF, will prevent recurrences next year of crop damage linked to the chemical."