A pair of studies released by the Centers for Disease Control indicate that children and adults consume roughly the same amount of calories from soda and other sugary beverages, such as sports drinks, as they did at the start of the decade, says the Washington Post. "Rates have stalled at well above the recommended limit."

After two weeks of moderate to heavy rain and snow, drought is on the wane across the United States. Only 16 percent of the nation is in drought, down 3 points since last week and a drop of 8 points since the start of the year, said the weekly Drought Monitor.

Federal employees from more than a dozen U.S. departments are tweeting climate change and other scientific information under unofficial Twitter accounts in a move against the climate-skeptical Trump administration, says Reuters.

The Trump administration has told EPA officials to remove the agency's Internet page on climate change, says Reuters, "the latest move by the newly minted leadership to erase ex-President Barack Obama's climate change initiatives."

Doug Ericksen, head of communications for President Trump's EPA transition team, says that during the transition period, agency scientists will have their work vetted on a “case by case” basis before it can be published and dispersed outside the agency.

Canadian government sources say Ottawa will defend its interests first and may not be able to help Mexico during the NAFTA renegotiations demanded by President Trump, reported Reuters. It quoted a source on the sidelines of a cabinet retreat as saying, "Our national interests come first and the friendship comes second."

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a federal agency, expects to publish a draft environmental impact statement this spring on offshore aquaculture in the Pacific Islands Region, which included Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas, says Civil Eats.

Under a worst-case scenario, climate change could raise ocean levels an average of more than eight feet by 2100, about 20 inches more than was indicated by the last federal report, published in 2012, according to scientists from universities and multiple federal agencies, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). A best-case scenario puts the rise at one foot by 2100, but the scientists say that a 1.5-foot increase is the most realistic.

Senate Agriculture chairman Pat Roberts says the committee is "heading straight to the heartland to talk directly to producers" for its first field hearing for the 2018 farm bill. "We need clear direction in what is working and what is not working in farm country, and we will be listening to see what needs to be adjusted," said Roberts, in announcing the Feb. 23 hearing at Kansas State University in his home state.

Fulfilling campaign promises, President Donald Trump signed memorandums that would lead to U.S. approval of the 1,100-mile Keystone crude oil pipeline and to completion of the Dakota Access pipeline from the Bakken and Three Forks oilfields of North Dakota. He also signed memos to encourage use of U.S. steel in pipelines and to speed up approval of domestic manufacturing plants and to expedite environmental review and approval of high-priority infrastructure projects, said a White House release.

Southerners and Westerners don't appreciate the family farming tradition as highly as Midwesterners, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, in promoting Bill Northey, his state's agriculture secretary, for a top job at USDA such as deputy secretary or undersecretary. Former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue is President Donald Trump's choice for agriculture secretary.

More than 60 percent of U.S. red meat exports go to countries involved in NAFTA or TPP, says the U.S. Meat Export Federation, part of the chorus of livestock and meat industry groups worried by the Trump administration upheaval of trade agreements. "The honeymoon with many in agriculture was over before it ever really began, it appears," says Beef magazine, adding, "And many in ag don’t like it."

More than two dozen Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, signed on as sponsors of a bill by South Dakota Sen. John Thune to repeal the estate tax. Farm groups are long-time opponents of the tax, saying it disrupts transfer of property from one generation to the next.

Without mentioning President Trump by name, Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown made clear in his state of the state address that California is prepared to fight the new administration over key issues, including climate change and immigration.

Little research and scant funding is directed toward the ecological impacts of pesticides, says a new report published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. “Fewer than 1 percent of published ecological studies over the past 25 years mentioned synthetic chemicals, according to the researchers, who looked at papers in 20 mainstream ecology journals,” said Ensia.

Mexico is the third-largest market for U.S. farm exports, so the declining value of the peso "could create a drag on U.S. animal product exports in 2017," says USDA's monthly Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook. The southern neighbor of the United States is the largest market for exports of U.S. pork, poultry, and dairy products, says USDA, as well as the No. 3 market for U.S. beef.