Agriculture

"The new Census of Agriculture shows carbon-intensive farms and large, factory-scale animal operations are only getting bigger."

"The new owners of the water right intend to make no changes to its flow, leasing it to the hydropower plant currently using it and then sending it downstream to communities, farmers and fish in western Colorado."

"The Interior Department on Wednesday announced an armistice in the battle over the Klamath River, unveiling an agreement between farmers reliant on the waterway for irrigation and tribal nations seeking to restore the region’s fisheries."

"Dirt, it turns out, isn’t just worm poop. It’s also a humongous receptacle of carbon, some 2.5 trillion tons of it — three times more than all the carbon in the atmosphere."

"The US Environmental Protection Agency is doubling down on its controversial finding that a toxic herbicide is safe for use across millions of acres of American cropland, despite what public health advocates characterize as virtual “scientific proof” the product causes Parkinson’s disease."

"The number of monarch butterflies at their overwintering areas in Mexico dropped precipitously this year to the second-lowest level on record, according to an annual survey." "Scientists said the decline appeared to be driven by hot, dry conditions in the United States and Canada that reduced food supply."

"Octopuses are capable of sophisticated tasks, from solving puzzles to decorating their dens to remembering people's faces. So when a company in Spain announced that it wanted to commercially farm octopuses to harvest them for seafood, the plan sparked an uproar."

"The EU aims to slash its net greenhouse gas pollution by 90% by 2040 as part of its push to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent, the European Commission has announced before elections in June."

"Dealing a blow to three of the world’s biggest agrochemical companies, a US court this week banned three weedkillers widely used in American agriculture, finding that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) broke the law in allowing them to be on the market."

"The European Commission is shelving plans to cut pesticide use and is taking the pressure off agriculture in its latest emissions recommendations, as farmers around Europe continue protests demanding higher prices for their products and an easing of EU environment rules."