Agriculture

"It's now harder to find out where your beef or pork was born, raised and slaughtered. After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animal's country of origin on packages of red meat. It's a major victory for the meat industry, which had fought the law in Congress and the courts since the early 2000s."

"After a year of hype and hope, El Niño's punch is finally arriving in California, bringing a series of storms to soak the Bay Area and most of the rest of the drought-stricken state through this week and probably into next."

"Few in agriculture have shaped the debate over water more than the several hundred owners of an arid finger of farmland west of Fresno."

"Pits use wood chips to remove nutrients from ag runoff before it reaches streams".

"A prominent scientist in the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service has just cleared the first hurdle in an ongoing whistleblower claim against the agency."

"The Indonesian government announced Monday it had acted against 23 companies that, officials said, were involved in burning forest and peatland in the country."

"Researchers point to concerns over pesticides as diseases as bee numbers drop while farmland requiring the pollinators increases"

"With California working to list atrazine as toxic to the reproductive system, three of the United States' most-widely used pesticides are under fire for adverse health effects."

"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."