Chiding California regulators for "misleading labeling requirements," the EPA told herbicide makers to remove cancer warnings from containers of glyphosate, the most widely used weedkiller in the world, in a step that would benefit seed and ag chemical giant Bayer. Meanwhile, a court-appointed mediator dismissed as "pure fiction" a report that the German company offered $8 billion to settle all U.S. lawsuits against Roundup, Bayer's glyphosate-based herbicide.

The United States might cancel trade talks with China scheduled for early September, said President Trump as he left Washington for the weekend. "We're not ready to make a deal, but we'll see what happens," said the president. "We’ll see whether or not we keep our meeting in September. If we do, that’s fine. If we don’t, that’s fine."

A new analysis from the Environmental Working Group reveals that state and federal testing of lakes and other bodies of water has found toxins from algae blooms in waterways in 48 states. The toxins, which sometimes make their way into drinking water supplies, can cause negative health outcomes ranging from skin rashes to serious illness or death.

Eleven environmental, labor, and medical groups filed suit in a U.S. appeals court in California on Wednesday to ban use of the insecticide chlorpyrifos. It was the second time the groups have sought to force the EPA to ban the widely used organophosphate pesticide.

Presidential aspirant Sen. Cory Booker proposed a climate change program on Thursday on the scale of FDR’s New Deal to underwrite voluntary soil and water conservation on more than 100 million acres of farmland and the planting of 15 billion trees across the country.

In a steady escalation of the Sino-U.S. trade war, Chinese companies halted purchases of U.S. farm exports on Monday. The largest US farm group said China's actions were "a body blow to thousands of farmers and ranchers who are struggling to get by."

Making a living as a chicken farmer has never been easy. But today in the U.S., it has more than a whiff of indentured servitude. A handful of big companies control the market, and farmers raise chickens under contract, with very little control over the things they need to be successful, from feed and stock to the birds’ healthcare. Now, as Leah Douglas and Chris Leonard explain in FERN’s latest investigation with the Guardian, there’s a way for poultry companies to insure tight market control. Based on leaked documents, the report shows how “[t]he U.S. poultry industry is able to share highly detailed information on farmer pay … giving companies the potential to collude and suppress prices paid to farmers already struggling to keep themselves afloat on razor-thin margins.” (No paywall) <strong>(No paywall)</strong>

U.S. exports of hormone-free beef to Europe would triple under an agreement signed by President Trump and hailed by EU officials as a sign of tangible results for the strongest trade relationship in the world. Meanwhile, China said it “will have to take necessary counter-measures” if the United States expands the trade war on Sept. 1, as Trump says he plans to do.

The USDA intends by this fall to put in place a revised land management plan for the greater sage-grouse, once a candidate for protection under the Endangered Species Act.