Agriculture

"An expansion of farmland has damaged nature beyond a "safe" limit on 58 percent of the world's land surface, threatening natural services such as crop pollination by insects, scientists said on Thursday."

"The House of Representatives voted on Thursday to require the labeling of foods that contain genetically engineered ingredients, clearing the bill’s final obstacle before it heads to the White House, where President Obama is expected to sign it into law."

"Water from the Colorado River could transform several thousand acres of desert into farmland under a change in policy adopted by the Coachella Valley’s largest water district."

"Products made possible through gene-editing have landed on grocery shelves. Whether they’ll stay there is up to shoppers wary of technological tinkering."

"U.S. seed and agrochemicals companies Monsanto Co and DuPont said on Thursday they have signed a multi-year supply agreement for the weed killer dicamba in the United States and Canada."

"The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved legislation that would for the first time require food to carry labels listing genetically-modified ingredients (GMOs)."

"A bill to block states from issuing mandatory labeling laws for products that contain genetically modified ingredients overcame a major hurdle in the Senate on Wednesday."

"As recently as two weeks ago, the food industry was preparing to place labels on food products that contain genetically modified ingredients. But if a bi-partisan deal cobbled together last Thursday in the Senate Agriculture Committee gets signed into law, widespread labeling likely won't come to pass."

"A coalition of state wildlife regulators today announced that the population of lesser prairie chickens in the wild has fallen by more than 13 percent since the last annual aerial survey -- a troubling outcome the Obama administration predicted earlier this year."