A University of Missouri weed specialist says the weedkiller dicamba has damaged more than 2.5 million acres of cropland this year, mostly in the Midwest and South, reports Harvest Public Media. The researcher, Kevin Bradley, says, “I don’t know that we’ve ever in our agricultural history seen one active ingredient do so much damage across one nation like that.”

As climate change shifts growing zones north, officials in Canada’s sparsely populated Yukon territory are trying to lure farmers to the region with offers of free land. If they agree to abide by a few requirements, prospective farmers can get up to 160 acres.

It’s still 15 months until the 2018 midterm elections, but prospects have turned cloudier for Illinois Rep. Mike Bost, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, says Sabato’s Crystal Ball. Now that a Democrat challenger has announced, the political tipsheet rates the race in the southern Illinois district as “likely” Republican, a change from its previous “safe” Republican assessment.

In a hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Michael Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said that while Sam Clovis has a broad resume and “there are likely senior jobs in the Administration that he would have been qualified to hold, the job of USDA chief scientist is not one of them.”

Monsanto, the world’s largest seed and ag chemical company, said it has agreed to sell its seed-planter business to farm-equipment maker AGCO. A 2015 deal to sell its Precision Planting unit to Deere and Co. fell apart in the face of an antitrust suit filed by the Justice Department.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley told reporters that it’s just a matter of time until Bill Northey, the Iowa state agriculture secretary, is nominated for a senior post at the USDA. Since spring, Northey has been considered the likely nominee for undersecretary for farm production and conservation, overseeing farm subsidies and land stewardship programs.

The Swiss company Climeworks says it’s the first to develop a “commercial carbon dioxide capture plant” that can suck the greenhouse gas directly out of the air. It’s the kind of solution, some experts say, that is imperative given the dire pace of climate change.

Hampton Creek, producer of the eggless “Just Mayo,” is losing $4 million a month and could run out of money in six months absent additional funding, said Bloomberg. The company has experienced months of infighting over control of the start-up and the role of co-founder Joshua Tetrick.

Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats running for reelection in 2018, and Republicans are lining up to take him on. Rep. Luke Messer, who currently represents Vice President Mike Pence’s former district, is the latest to announce his candidacy.

The impact of drought was readily spotted during the first day of the annual tour of the spring wheat crop, with wheat standing shorter than normal — barely knee-high in some fields, says Reuters. All the same, the yield per acre is higher than expected for a crop that is below average.

The government lowered its forecast of grocery inflation this year to a barely noticeable 0.25 percent, due to ample meat supplies, and in its first forecast of the coming year, estimated grocery prices would rise by 1.5 percent in 2018. It would be the fourth year in a row of lower-than-average growth in retail food prices.

Third-term Rep Rodney Davis, a Republican member of the House Agriculture Committee and an early critic of the 2010 school lunch reforms, has a Democratic challenger for 2018, says Roll Call. A lawyer and former House staff worker, Erik Jones, has entered the race against Davis in the Republican-leaning district in downstate Illinois.

California Gov. Jerry Brown has extended the state’s climate plan for another decade by signing into law a bundle of bills meant to lower greenhouse-gas emissions. “The legislation puts California at the forefront of plans by mostly Democratic governors to reduce carbon emissions and adhere to the goals of the Paris climate change accord after Republican President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the pact,” says Reuters.

A group of Democratic Senators, led by Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, introduced a bill to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos over health concerns, after the EPA refused to take it off shelves earlier this spring. “Udall's bill calls for the EPA to conduct a broad review of the use of the pesticide to determine which groups are most vulnerable to its harmful effects,” says Reuters.

After buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, Amazon will meet this week with organic ranchers to discuss how the company might distribute their meat, says Reuters. One of the ranches, White Oak Pastures from Blufton, Georgia, sells $2 million annually online of frozen beef, duck and lamb, but is hopeful that teaming up with Amazon will improve its reach.

Aiming toward the 2018 mid-term elections, Democratic leaders in the Senate and House unveiled an economic agenda that includes a large tax credit for job training — an idea intended to resonate in rural areas and small cities, said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. The package, called "A Better Deal," puts a priority on bringing broadband to all parts of the country and promises stricter antitrust laws to preserve competition in agriculture.