Agriculture

"With another hot summer looming, Mexico is behind on its water deliveries to the United States, leading to water cutbacks in South Texas. A little-known federal agency has hit a roadblock in its efforts to get Mexico to comply."

"Documents obtained from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicate the agency may have presented false information to the public about testing for harmful contaminants in pesticides, according to allegations being made by a watchdog group and a former EPA research fellow."

"In the coming months, this team of roughly 30 people at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to propose a new rule that would require employers to protect an estimated 50 million people exposed to high temperatures while they work."

"California has moved a step closer to banning the controversial weed killing chemical paraquat after a key state legislative committee on Thursday [May 16] allowed the measure to proceed."

"Public asked to weigh in on new rule to limit development on the bird's habitat across much of the West".

"The House Agriculture committee is trying to fund its farm bill proposals with “counterfeit money,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters Wednesday morning. Vilsack spoke after a range of groups from across the political spectrum criticized House Republicans’ proposed farm bill, which seeks to direct tens of billions to subsidies for farmers of peanuts, rice and cotton."

"Half the world's natural pasture land has been degraded by overexploitation and the impact of climate change, putting food supplies and livelihoods in peril, the United Nations body in charge of fighting desertification said on Tuesday."

"A campaign to add 10 billion oysters to the bay by 2025 — naturally purifying the water — is on pace even as Virginia and Maryland contend with agricultural runoff and other pollutants."

"One of the big contributors to the record-breaking global temperatures over the past year—El Niño—is nearly gone, and its opposite, La Niña, is on the way."

"The proposed version of the $1.5 trillion omnibus unveiled last week by House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pa.) includes several priorities of big agribusiness — proposals that frustrated both right-aligned groups such as the Heritage Foundation and left-leaning ones including the Environmental Working Group amid progressives’ and populists’ broader dislike of what they see as crony capitalism at the U.S. farmstand."