Second-term Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will be named U.S. ambassador to UN agencies on food and agriculture in Rome, says Kansas Public Radio, based on information from "a former high-ranking government official." There was no immediate comment from the governor's office and KPR quoted an unnamed source as saying the appointment was "a done deal."

The Des Moines Water Works won national attention with its lawsuit to force regulation of nutrient runoff from farms. Now, the Republican-controlled Iowa House is considering a bill to dismantle the Water Works board and replace it with a regional utility, says Iowa Public Radio.

By far, the family-owned-and-operated farm is the prototype of U.S. agriculture: 99 percent of U.S. farms are family farms, say USDA economists. Increasingly, large family farms are the leading source of production; only 2.9 percent of them have more than $1 million a year in gross cash farm income but they deliver 42 percent of U.S. production.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, the Trump administration's nominee for U.S. ambassador to China, says he is assured that a change in the Renewable Fuels Standard sought by oil refiners "is not going to happen," reported Radio Iowa. But a White House official told Reuters the proposal was under review, although the administration took no position "either way on this issue at this time."

Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch has a mixed record when it comes to rulings on public lands and environmental issues, says Fortune, based on an Associated Press review of Gorsuch’s case history. "I think that his record, although the number of cases is quite limited, shows that at times it has led to decisions that one might consider environmentally favorable, and about an equal number of times it has led to decisions some might think are environmentally unfavorable," said Donald Kochan, associate dean and professor at Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law.

The world's largest seed company, Monsanto, says it will research restoration of habitat for sage grouse on 320 acres of its corporate ranch in Idaho, reports Capital Press. The work would mitigate the impact of a Caldwell Canyon phosphate mine that Monsanto intends to open.

Nebraska native Clayton Yeutter, who held a handful of high-level jobs during the Reagan-Bush era, died on Saturday of cancer at age 86. Energetic and engaging, Yeutter was U.S. trade representative for President Reagan and became agriculture secretary following the election of George H.W. Bush in 1988, moving at Bush's request to chair the Republican National Committee in 1991 and becoming counselor to the president a year after that.

The EPA overstepped with its Waters of the United States rule, said leaders of the National Corn Growers Association, who are happy the Trump administration will withdraw it. At the Commodity Classic, NCGA chairman Chip Bowling said, "[W]e do know we need to have some regulation and this group will be front and center when that time comes," reported DTN.

A U.S. appeals court in the District of Columbia has ruled that gray wolves will no longer be considered endangered species in Wyoming, years after protections for the animals were lifted in other states, says The Billings Gazette.

The White House wants to cut funding 17 percent at the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), one of the government’s chief resources for climate science, according to a budget memo from the Office of Management and Budget obtained by The Washington Post.

The Trump Administration budget calls for cutting EPA jobs by one fifth — from 15,000 to 12,000 — and slicing the agency’s annual budget from $8.2 billion a year to $6.1 billion, says The Washington Post.

Bipartisan legislation was filed in the House and Senate to allow year-round sale of E15, a higher, 15 percent blend of ethanol into gasoline than the traditional 10 percent. At present, E15 cannot be sold during the summer, a factor in this week's fracture among ethanol trade groups.

With farm income in a slump, South Dakota Sen. John Thune unveiled a short-term land-idling program to boost a farmer's income for carrying out soil and water stewardship on marginal farmland. The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), a small-farm group, said the idea "is worth looking at."

A proud refrain of American agriculture is "we feed the world" of many nations and cultures although U.S. farmers are overwhelmingly white men. Kendall Lamkey, chairman of the department of agronomy at Iowa State University, is trying to diversify the sector by attracting students "from a wider pool – from cities and suburbs, and from minority groups," says the NPR blog, The Salt.

A Washington state judge ordered the Grocer Manufacturers Association to pay $1.1 million in costs and fees in a campaign finance lawsuit stemming from the state referendum over GMO food labeling in 2013. The trade group previously was fined $18 million for violating state campaign laws, the largest penalty ever.

Although global food supplies are robust, the world faces "an unprecedented situation" of four threats of famine in multiple countries simultaneously, says the assistant director-general of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.