Agriculture

"Environmentalists asked a federal court today to compel U.S. EPA to take action on a common farm pesticide linked to children's health risks."

"Most of Tennessee’s factory farms would no longer need state permits that regulate animal waste disposal, under the terms of a bill before the state legislature."

"In another U-turn from existing environmental policy, the Trump administration has eased the way for a controversial California desert water project that President Obama’s team had blocked."

"Scott Pruitt’s rejection of an organophosphates ban may endanger the children of those who harvest produce."

"The new head of the Environmental Protection Agency refused Wednesday to ban a commonly used pesticide that the Obama administration had sought to outlaw based on mounting concerns about its risks to human health."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture has quietly dropped a plan to start testing food for residues of glyphosate, the world’s most widely used weed killer and the key ingredient in Monsanto’s branded Roundup herbicides."

"Salty soil in California’s Central Valley spurs sacrifice zones, solutions and, in some cases, solar panels."

"Forty California residents are suing chemical giant Monsanto, alleging that exposure to the company’s Roundup weed killer caused them to develop non-Hodgkin lymphoma."

"A 'mean-spirited' budget proposal would cut key programs supporting farmworkers, ag communities, fresh-food access for low-income Americans, and pesticide safety."

"Over the past decade, farmers in the Great Southern Plains have suffered the worst drought conditions since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. They've battled heat, dust storms and in recent weeks, fires that devoured more than 900,000 acres and killed thousands of cattle. These extreme conditions are being fueled by climate change. But a new report from an environmental advocacy group says they're also being driven by federal crop insurance policy that encourages farmers to continue planting crops on compromised land, year after year."