A petition filed with EPA calls for the agency to treat seeds coated with neonicotinoid insecticides as a pesticide, ending an exemption for the seeds. The petition was backed by three national beekeeper associations, worried the insecticides are a factor in population declines of honeybees.

One of the world's largest food processors, privately owned Cargill announced sale of its two remaining feedlots, holding 155,000 head of cattle, to ethanol maker Green Plains. The transaction will make Green Plains the fourth-largest cattle feeder in the nation with a feedlot capacity of 255,000 head, said Drovers Cattle Network.

Indiana mega-farmer Kip Tom and Iowa agriculture secretary Bill Northey "seem to be the top contenders" for deputy agriculture secretary, says Politico, with sources saying talk of Northey for the job "has been increasing in recent days." After the agricultural roundtable with President Trump on Tuesday, Northey said he had not been offered any USDA position but would consider it if offered, said Iowa Farmer Today.

Fourteen-term Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson, a regular target of Republicans as a Democrat in a GOP-leaning district, told Roll Call that he's running for another term. "Yeah, I'm running. I've got 700 grand in the bank," the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee told the Capitol Hill newspaper.

The outdoor retailer Patagonia says it’s prepared to sue if the Trump Administration tries to revoke any of the country's national monuments. Trump has ordered an unprecedented review by the Department of Interior of all national monuments established under the 1906 Antiquities Act in the last two decades.

The Trump administration is mulling a draft executive order to pull the U.S. out of NAFTA, says a senior White House official, according to Reuters. NAFTA renegotiations were expected to start in August, but a withdrawal by the U.S. could rush the timeline.

Drinking one to six diet sodas a week doubles the risk for stroke and may also increase the risk for dementia, according to a study of 4,000 people over age 45 in the journal Stroke. The reasons for the link are unknown, says The New York Times.

A small, red Chinese berry is at the heart of a radical new approach to conservation, “helping to save both the forest where it grows in the Upper Yangtze region — one of the most biodiverse places on the planet — and the villagers who harvest it,” writes FERN associate editor Kristina Johnson in a story co-produced with NPR’s The Salt.

Wolves can now by shot on site in 85 percent of Wyoming, after a federal court of appeals in Washington, D.C., ruled last month that the animal no longer warrants endangered species protection in the state, says the Casper Star Tribune.

The World Trade Organization sided with Mexico over the U.S. in a long-running dispute over labeling on Mexican tuna imported into America. The regulatory body gave Mexico the green light to seek $163 million each year that the U.S. bans it from using the term “dolphin-safe” on its tuna-can labels.

A long-running study "reports that lowering sodium intake doesn't reduce blood pressure," says the San Diego Tribune. The results are contrary to long-accepted medical advice and suggest that most Americans consume healthy amounts of salt, the most common form of sodium.

Excrement from industrial livestock operations is poisoning Virginia’s Shenandoah River and putting people at risk for E. coli poisoning, says a report by the Environmental Integrity Project, a nonprofit advocacy group.

In his first hour at his new workplace, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue took off his coat and tie and rolled up his sleeves, telling USDA employees at a welcoming ceremony, "I was a farmer first." During a 20-minute speech, Perdue repeatedly likened USDA to a family and said he might roam USDA's mammoth headquarters complex, covering three city blocks, to drop in offices and learn the details of agricultural programs.

The first trial of three in the case against Cliven Bundy — a Nevada rancher who organized an armed standoff against the federal government — and his followers has been deemed a mistrial after the jury failed to reach consensus on all but two defendants after five days of deliberations. A new trial will begin on June 26.

With simpler rules and caps on payment rates, the Conservation Reserve Program, which pays landowners to idle fragile land for 10 years or longer, could expand from its current limit of 24 million acres, says the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee. "There's a lot of reforms that could be done on CRP," said Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson at the North American Agricultural Journalists meeting.

Air, water and soil quality in China are improving, but unevenly, with certain areas faring worse from pollution, says the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection. The state of agricultural land quality in the country ‘does not allow for optimism’ and ‘the problem of soil pollution for industry, companies and nearby land is prominent,’” said Chen Jining, head of the MEP,

Environmental groups in Michigan and Ohio filed suit against the EPA, seeking a court order for the agency to decide whether water quality in western Lake Erie is impaired. The designation would lead to pollution regulations aimed at preventing algae blooms, which can be toxic, said the Associated Press.