Agriculture

"A series of powerful snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada has resulted in a small milestone in drought-stricken California: The snowpack is now higher than average for this time of year."

"Biologists in the United States and Europe are developing a revolutionary genetic technique that promises to provide an unprecedented degree of control over insect-borne diseases and crop pests."

"In places around the world, supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and wells begin to go dry, people are being forced to confront a growing crisis."

"Pigweed, with its ability to quickly adapt genetically, has developed Roundup herbicide resistance nearly as quickly as the crops altered by scientists to do so."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finalized a new rule Monday that will require all producers of raw ground beef to keep records of where the meat has come from."

"In the U.S., even chicken that has passed all federal food safety requirements still can make people sick."

"U.S. sales of medically important antibiotics approved for use in livestock rose by 23 percent between 2009 and 2014, federal regulators said on Thursday, fueling concerns about risks to humans from antibiotic-resistant bacteria."

"Labels on Tropicana Pure Premium orange juice and four of its brand siblings will begin carrying early next year an increasingly familiar certification — the butterfly seal conferred by the Non-GMO Project, a nonprofit group that verifies products as being free of genetically engineered ingredients."

"In Ecuador’s Amazon region, above the banks of the swirling Aguarico River, Luis Chamba grows cacao - the basis of chocolate and cocoa butter - on his family’s tiny finca."