North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says legislation that pre-empts state laws without other action on GMO food labeling would see little support in the Senate. "I don't think you're going to be able to sell that," Heitkamp told Agri-Pulse.

A poll of Michigan residents suggests there would be high public support for government assistance to help farmers adapt to climate change, according to three researchers from Michigan State U.

One of the strongest El Niño weather patterns in half a century is bringing the second consecutive year of low rainfall and high temperatures to southern Africa, humanitarian agencies report. They warn that food shortages could be the worst since a 2002-03 food crisis.

In Boulder County, Colorado, county commissioners are slated to decide whether to ban GMO crops on publically-owned land, reports Harvest Public Media.

The most widely used weedkiller worldwide, glyphosate, will become a subject of pesticide residue testing by FDA for the first time, says Civil Eats.

In an annual report on school-breakfast outreach, the anti-hunger Food Research and Action Center said West Virginia did the best job in the country in reaching low-income children, and Utah did the worst.

In "a major coup for the plant's enthusiasts," CBDRx, a cannabis grower near Denver "has secured a certification to market its products with the organic seal" from USDA, says Harvest Public Media. The approval from the organic program refers to industrial hemp.

The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to the EPA's "pollution diet" for Chesapeake Bay, which is intended to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff, reports the Baltimore Sun.

"The United States has always been a major player in global peanut butter trade and continues to be the world's largest exporter," says USDA.

U.S. demand for high-quality Mexican food, especially tortillas, "has created a small but growing market for the native, or landrace, corn that is central to to life" in the central plains of Oaxaca, reports the New York Times.

Costa Rica announced on Monday that it will support the conservation listing of all proposed shark and ray species at the Convention of Migratory species meeting later this month. Over 5,000 people signed a petition calling on Costa Rica, where shark poaching has been prevalent, to support greater shark protections at the international meeting.

It's no fluke - for the second year in a row, Mexico topped Japan as the largest customer for U.S. pork exports in terms of volume, buying 31 percent of all U.S. pork shipped to foreign buyers.

Trade ministers of the 12 nations that negotiated the Trans-Pacific Partnership say the free-trade agreement "will set a new standard for trade and investment in one of the world’s fastest growing and most dynamic regions."

Hatchery-raised fish show dramatic alterations in their DNA from wild fish in just one generation, says a new study published in Nature Communications by Oregon State University.

In Iowa, the Des Moines Water Works announced plans to voluntarily stop releasing excess nitrates into the Raccoon River -- a key water source for the city's 500,000 people -- even though state law permits the utility to do so, reports KCCI Des Moines.

Nearly 100 million people in southern Africa, Asia and Latin America face food and water shortages as well as vulnerable to diseases such as the Zika virus, says the Guardian, summarizing reports by international aid agencies and governments.