An international partnership created to encourage development of new antimicrobials and diagnostics awarded $24 million to scientists pursing 11 projects with an additional $24 million possible over three years, if the researchers make progress. It was the first round of money from the Combating Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Accelerator (CARB-X), formed last July with a goal of investing $450 million over five years.

U.S. hog farms held 71 million head of pigs at the start of this month, the largest herd ever for this time of the year, said a quarterly USDA report. Analysts said the large number of hogs "should help keep the lid on pork prices at the meat case through 2018," reported Reuters.

Climate change has set off the largest mass movement of species, since the last ice age, about 25,000 years ago, says a study published in the journal Science. “Land-based species are moving polewards by an average of 17km per decade, and marine species by 72km per decade,” said Professor Gretta Pecl at the University of Tasmania in Australia, the study’s lead author.

David Beasley, governor of South Carolina from 1995-99, will become executive director of the UN World Food Program on April 4, succeeding fellow American Ertharin Cousin for a five-year term, announced UN Secretary General António Guterres. The WFP describes itself as the world's largest antihunger agency, assisting 80 million people annually.

The Senate Agriculture Committee will try again today for a vote on Sonny Perdue to become agriculture secretary. Chairman Pat Roberts originally planned to hold a vote on Wednesday alongside a roll call vote by the full Senate but there was no such vote so the committee announced an "updated time" of today, immediately following the first floor vote in the chamber, expected around 9:45 a.m. ET.

Ending a visit prompted by a meat-inspection scandal, the EU food safety commissioner said Brazil's meat inspection system "must be independent and not under the influence of politicians and other actors," reported Reuters. EU commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis told the wire service that EU restrictions and stepped-up checks of meat from Brazil may not be removed in the near term.

Nervous that applying for food stamps will hurt their immigration status or put them at risk of deportation, immigrants are dropping food relief services. “Officials at Manna Food Center in Montgomery County, Md., report that about 20 percent of the 561 families they have helped apply for food stamps, or SNAP benefits, in the past few months have asked that their cases be closed,” says NPR.

In the past it’s been the U.S. pushing China to clean up its energy portfolio and lower emissions, but under Trump the tables could turn, says The New York Times. China has publicly called on all signatories, including the U.S., of the Paris climate treaty to respect the pact. Trump has said he will back out of the deal and this week signed an executive order to reverse the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which lowered carbon emissions from coal plants.

There are geographic and physical challenges to building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico that will be "complex in some areas," Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said during a tele-conference. The Associated Press said Zinke cited the task of building the wall in Big Bend National Park and along the Rio Grande River, which forms nearly half of the border.

The two largest U.S. farm groups and the leading groups representing corn, soybean, wheat, barley, canola and sunflower producers are united in asking for more money for the 2018 farm bill and in naming crop insurance and commodity programs as their top priorities for funding. "There is a consensus on every issue," the groups said in a statement presented at a House Agriculture subcommittee hearing on crop subsidies.

The pace of action is picking up for President Trump’s nominee for agriculture secretary, former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue. Chairman Pat Roberts says the Senate Agriculture Committee will vote Wednesday to favorably report the nomination to the full Senate for confirmation.

President Trump officially rolled back Obama’s Clean Power Plan, signing a document called the “Energy Independence” executive order, says The New York Times. Even though many economists have said that the rise in demand for natural gas — and not climate change regulations — are to blame for a depressed coal market, Trump promised his order would put the miners back to work.

The administrative arm of the European Union approved the merger of Dow and DuPont based on their promises to divest some assets, says Deutsche Welle. It was the first decision on a wave of proposed consolidations that would reshape the seed and ag-chemical sector into a "big three," down from the six firms that now compete.

Long considered ecological foes, some kinds of livestock grazing might actually benefit endangered sage grouse, says a study in the journal Ecological Applications.

It's up or out for six-term Minnesota Rep. Tim Walz, a longtime member of the House Agriculture Committee. He's running for the Democratic nomination for governor, reports Minnesota Public Radio, in a race with three other announced candidates to succeed Gov. Mark Dayton, who is retiring.

A groundswell of Hindu nationalism has inspired resistance in India to foreign influence and large multinationals, such as Monsanto, says Reuters in describing corporate battle that has disrupted the country's seed industry. Monsanto has withdrawn its application to sell a new generation of GE cotton seed in India, which recently became the largest cotton grower in the world.