Agriculture

"Two new lawsuits are part of an effort to push EPA to regulate methane from agriculture, the country's biggest source of methane."

Near Bradshaw, Nebraska, the four Harrington sisters fight the Keystone XL pipeline, which they fear could threaten land their family has farmed for 150 years. Their unpainted, solar-powered barn, plastered with slogans, sits smack in the path of the pipeline.

"Specialty crop farmers were at the [Iowa] capitol today complaining of damage to their produce from pesticide drift."

"At a remote research center on the Nebraska plains, scientists are using surgery and breeding techniques to re-engineer the farm animal to fit the needs of the 21st-century meat industry. The potential benefits are huge: animals that produce more offspring, yield more meat and cost less to raise."

"Farmers in Ohio, Michigan and Indiana are being asked to be part of the solution in fixing the algae problem in Lake Erie. Federal officials on Friday outlined a program that will make $17.5 million available to farmers who take steps to reduce the pollutants that wash away from the fields and help the algae thrive."

"Environmentalists are giving Gov. Peter Shumlin early accolades for his proposal to reduce the amount of phosphorus running into Lake Champlain. But a prominent agriculture group says the plan to clean up the lake might end up hurting the farms that operate near it."

"The trade in bees used for honey or to pollinate crops could have a devastating impact on wild bees and other insects, say scientists."

"A U.S. federal court has ruled for the first time that manure from livestock facilities can be regulated as solid waste, a decision hailed by environmentalists as opening the door to potential legal challenges against facilities across the country."

"California farmers must restrict their use of a tear gas-like pesticide applied to strawberries and other crops under new rules designed to protect farmworkers and people who live, work and go to school near agricultural fields."