From the Iowa caucuses to today, Hillary Clinton has fared best in urban areas, while traditionally conservative rural Americans have preferred Donald Trump; a recent Washington Post poll found a 20-point gap between the presidential candidates in rural and urban areas. NPR tried to determine if the split is a matter of demographics or attitudes.

When Kansas dairy farmers expanded their herds and couldn't recruit enough local labor, they began recruiting immigrants from Central America as long-term employees with effects that are altering rural society and economics, according to Kansas State University researchers. Associate sociology professor Alisa Garni says immigrant labor and economic development have gone hand in hand.

Biointensive agriculture, a low-cost and low-tech format, could be life-changing for the small farmers of the world, who must earn a living from four acres (two hectares) or less of land, says Ensia. The system uses less fertilizer, water and energy to produce the same amount of food as conventional agriculture, writes Bob Cooper.

Overfishing is taking away many of the big fish species that live in coral reefs, but just as importantly, it’s taking away their pee, according to a new study published the journal Nature Communications. Rich in phosphorus and nitrogen, the urine of large predator species like grouper and snapper are vital to coral ecosystems.

Japan's internal affairs ministry will launch a so-called working holiday project in 2017, designed to bring students and young employees into rural areas to work in factories, on farms and in the tourism sector, says the Nikkei news agency. The goal is to stimulate consumption in rural areas while addressing labor shortages.

U.S. farmers are growing peanuts faster than the nation, or the world, can consume them, say USDA economists, who estimate the peanut supply will be a record 9.5 billion pounds following this year's harvest. Thanks to rising demand, led by China and Vietnam, exports are forecast for a record 1.5 billion pounds — one-fourth of this year's crop — but the U.S. peanut surplus could continue to grow.

Although 2016 is likely to be the warmest year since global weather record keeping began, 2017 is likely to be a bit cooler with the demise of the El Niño weather pattern, scientists told Reuters. "Next year is probably going to be cooler than 2016," said Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia in Britain.

The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission ought to collaborate in their review of two major mergers that affect the seed and ag chemical supply, said Senate Judiciary chairman Charles Grassley in a letter to regulators. "It is important that these transactions are not reviewed in isolation," wrote Grassley, noting that different regulators are handling each of the mergers, Dow-DuPont and ChemChina-Syngenta.

Even as China’s coal-fueled factories belch toxic smoke, the biggest abuse on China’s environment comes from agriculture, says Time. The country is trying to solve the problem with some of the most radical changes to its agricultural policy since Mao Zedong forced the People’s Republic onto collective farms in the late 1950s—and 30 million people died of starvation as a result.

A year-old study by Washington State University researchers suggests that honeybees face little risk of harm from neonicotinoid pesticides in everyday settings. The study, which examined 149 apiaries in rural, urban and agricultural areas around the state, was published in the Journal of Economic Entomology.

The fifth year of drought in California will cost the agricultural sector $603 million in lower crop revenue, higher costs of pumping water, and lost jobs, says a report by UC-Davis. "Agriculture in California remains strong, with moderate growth in value, and in some cases employment, despite four years of dry conditions," says a summary by the team of five researchers.

Growers in southwestern Louisiana lost around $14 million in rice, based on the current farm-gate price, in the flooding that followed torrential rains over the weekend, estimated Dustin Harrell, a Louisiana State University rice specialist. In calculating the "highly speculative" figure, Harrell relied on suggestions that 17,200 acres of rice, or 4 percent of fields, would be lost.

Last month was the warmest July in 136 years of record keeping, and puts 2016 on track to be the warmest year on record, says NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies. And the NASA institute says that, because seasonal temperatures are highest in July, the peak of summer, "it means that July also was warmer than any other month on record."

The record-setting corn and soybean crops forecast by USDA — the latest in a string of bumper crops — will drive down commodity prices and put pressure on growers to cut their costs, says economist Gary Schnitkey of U-Illinois. Midwestern growers will lose money at current rental rates, says Schnitkey, and will not break even until rates drop by $50 an acre, or roughly one-fifth.

An 18-year study of 60 wild bee species in Britain found that populations declined when the bees foraged on crops treated with neonicintinoid pesticides, according to the Washington Post. "The study provides some of the first evidence that the effects of neonicotinoid exposure can scale up to cause major damage to bees," the Post said.

Earlier this year, when France voted to not extend glyphosate’s EU license for 18 months, the decision was personal for President François Hollande, says Politico EU. Hollande essentially had to choose between siding with his best friend in government, Agriculture Minister Stéphane Le Foll, and the mother of his four children, Energy and Environment Minister Ségolène Royal.

“I like people to be able to see with their own eyes that the state is not out of water because of lack of rainfall or snow pack,” Johnny Amaral, manager of California’s Westlands Water District, told the LA Times, after inviting the newspaper to tour the Westland facilities.