"When voters head to the polls on Tuesday to decide the next US president, residents of Sonoma County, California, will be asked to decide another contentious issue – they will be voting on a measure that would make their county the first in the nation to ban factory farms."

"As pesticide companies struggle to cap legal payouts to plaintiffs who claim they were injured by Roundup and other products, money from two political committees affiliated with major pesticide manufacturers has surged into state-level politics."

"Colorado wildlife experts are at odds over whether a ballot measure to ban the hunting of certain wildcats would help or hurt the formidable felines that have long been intrinsic to Rocky Mountain ecosystems."

"Former President Donald Trump has promised on the campaign trail to take a sledgehammer to the Biden administration’s energy and environmental policies. That means the Interior Department — a vast agency that oversees public lands, the national parks, Western water conservation and endangered species protections — is sure to witness drastic policy shifts if Trump reclaims the White House in January."

"A pig at an Oregon farm was found to have bird flu, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday. It’s the first time the virus has been detected in U.S. swine and raises concerns about bird flu’s potential to become a human threat."

"Many industries rely on the agency’s weather and climate data. Even a small gap in its operations could raise food prices and drastically disrupt how people navigate the West’s changing climate."

"Neonicotinoids coat nearly all the corn and soybean seeds available for planting. Agrichemical companies have designed it that way."

"Toxic pesticides dumped off Southern California’s coast decades ago are staying put — deep in adjacent ocean sediments and in the fish that reside in these habitats, a new study has found."

"New research provides evidence that chemicals used in farming may be more harmful to insects than previously thought, contributing to worldwide declines in important species."