The seventh-longest river in the world, the Yellow River, irrigates 15 percent of China's farmland, such a broad dissemination of water that it has a measurable effect on temperature, says a team of scientists. In a paper published in Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters, they said that when irrigation is in use, air temperatures are lower.

The vomitoxin fungus, which sickens livestock, is being found in corn sent to processors in the Midwest this spring, says Reuters. So far, discoveries are concentrated in Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and parts of Michigan and the scope of the problem is not fully known.

At its three-day spring meeting in Denver, the National Organic Standards Board delayed, until fall at the earliest, a decision on whether hydroponic crops should be classified as organic production, said The Packer magazine. As a result, "hydroponics will be considered organic for a while longer," as they have for 15 years.

Two reporters and a photographer from the Chicago Tribune won the top writing award from the North American Agricultural Journalists for "The Price of Pork," a series of stories on large-scale hog production in Illinois. Written by Gary Marx and David Jackson, the stories "told the story of an exploding number and size of large hog confinements across rural Illinois, where state officials promoted an industry that poisoned streams, trampled the rights of farm families and brushed aside worker reports of animal abuse," said NAAJ.

After five years of statewide drought, crop plantings in California have been delayed by too much rain, causing prices to rise. Some industry experts think prices could stay high until mid-May. The delays “have led to shortfalls of crops including lettuce and broccoli and sent wholesale prices soaring,” says Bloomberg News.

On Wednesday, President Trump is expected to order a review of national monuments designated under the controversial 1906 Antiquities Act. Many state politicians, especially in the West where the federal government already owns large tracts of land, have complained that national monuments hurt development opportunities and wrest control away from local decision-makers.

President Trump will sign an executive order today for a government-wide review of regulations, policies and laws "that hinder economic growth in agriculture," said White House agriculture adviser Ray Starling. Ag groups typically regard USDA as their advocate in the federal government and generally say their problems come from other agencies, EPA most prominently.

Cornell University says its researchers found that honeybees, used to pollinate orchard and fruit crops, "encounter danger due to lingering and wandering pesticides, according to an analysis of the bee's own food," called beebread and made form pollen. In the study, based on 120 colonies placed near 30 apple orchards in New York State, the beebread in 17 percent of the colonies showed the presence of acutely high levels of pesticide exposure after several days of foraging by the bees while apple trees were in flower.

Already down to 2 percent of their historic high, Pacific Bluefin tuna are struggling to rebuild their population as Japanese fishermen reach their annual quota two months early — with no plans to slow down the catch, reports The Guardian.

For decades, the United States has been the world's largest agricultural exporter, but the title is becoming harder to maintain, says the Wall Street Journal. "America's share of global corn, soybean and wheat exports has shrunk by more than half since the mid-1970s," it says, pointing to USDA data, adding that soybeans "make up about 40 percent of world exports, down from more than 70 percent three decades ago."

Writer Paul Greenberg set out to eat three meals a day of fish for a year. Now he’s revealing what happened to his health and his views on sustainable fisheries on a special edition of PBS’ Frontline. “Almost half the fish and shellfish consumed in the world is now farmed — is that helpful or harmful?” asks Greenberg, who is currently a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and has written for FERN, including a piece called the “Fisherman’s Dilemma,” about a radical effort to protect California's fisheries.

For dairy farmer John Rosenow, diversity in his hometown of Cochrane, Wis., near the Mississippi River "was whether you were Polish or Norwegian." Rosenow resisted hiring foreign workers but eventually ran out of options and began hiring workers from Mexico, says Marketplace. The story describes how Rosenow ended up making nine trips to coastal Veracuz "to better understand the language and culture of his workers."

The EPA, facing a 31-percent cut in funding, has set a goal of downsizing its workforce by Sept. 30, according to a memo given to employees. Government Executive said the agency "will continue a freeze on external hiring and begin offering early retirement and buyouts," although details were not immediately clear.

Pinched by continued declines in farm income, producers are tightening their belts this year rather than borrowing money from the bank, says a quarterly report by the Federal Reserve. The volume of new non-real-estate loans issued by ag bankers from January-March was down 16 percent compared to the same period in 2016, and it followed a significant decline in the closing months of 2016.

Pesticide makers sent letters to federal regulators asking them to "set aside" agency research into the risks to endangered species from three organophosphate pesticides — chlorpyrifos, diazinon and malathion — says The Associated Press. Dow Chemical (whose chief executive "is a close adviser" to President Trump), FMC Corp. and Adama, sent letters to the EPA and the Commerce and Interior Departments to argue the studies should not be used.

An epidemic of West Nile virus, spread by mosquitos, that killed 19 people and hospitalized 216 in Dallas in 2012, "might seem like random bad luck," says the New York Times Magazine, the unlikely result of a mild winter, warm spring and the heaviest early rainfall in 10 years. But Robert Haley, director of epidemiology at Texas Southwestern Medical Center, "doesn't think of it as an accident. He considers it a warning."