A trial in federal district court in Los Angeles 'has far-reaching implications for the food industry and American consumers," says the Palm Beach Post. Sugar growers accuse the corn processing industry of false advertising for saying that high-fructose corn syrup, which competes with cane and beet sugar for use by food and beverage makers, is "natural" and "nutritionally the same as sugar."

"One of the last wild runs of chinook salmon in California ... appears perilously close to oblivion," says the San Francisco Chronicle. Federal officials say "95 percent of winter-run chinook eggs, hatchlings and juvenile salmon died this year in the (Sacramento) River, which was too warm to support them despite conservation efforts." It was the second time in two years that most of the juvenile salmon failed to make it to the ocean. The high mortality rate could result in smaller water allotments to farmers next year and limits on commercial and recreational fishing. The winter run chinook salmon has been listed as an endangered species since 1994.

There will be nearly two open jobs for every qualified graduate in the agriculture, food and natural resources sector in the next few years, says Harvest Public Media in summarizing a report by Purdue and the USDA. The gap between graduates and the estimated 60,000 jobs open annually for the next five years has "left the USDA, land grant universities and private industry scrambling to try and bridge the gap."

Second-generation biofuels produced from switchgrass or corn stover have a lower carbon footprint than corn-based ethanol, said the Environmental Working Group in advocating a wholesale overhaul of federal biofuel policy.

Voters in Texas will decide today whether to amend the state constitution to specify "the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife, including by use of traditional means," subject to game laws. The proposed amendment, Proposition 6, also says, "Hunting and fishing are the preferred methods of managing and controlling wildlife."

Burdened by a two-year supply of cotton in its warehouses, China is scaling back dramatically on imports of the fiber. The International Cotton Advisory Council estimates China will import less than 1.4 million tonnes of cotton during this marketing year, down 24 percent from last year.

State health officials report at least 22 people became ill and eight were hospitalized by an outbreak of foodborne illness linked to food served at Chipotle restaurants in Oregon and Washington State, said the FDA. The majority of the cases were in Washington.

The Agriculture Department announced $314 million in grants and loans to 141 projects to improve water and wastewater systems in rural communities. The largest loan was $46 million to North Alamo Water Supply Corp. in Edinburg, in southern Texas, for a water-improvement project.

Historically, small or medium-sized farms produced the majority of the annual pig crop. But in the space of two decades, three at the most, the hog industry was transformed into a sector dominated by large farms with at least 5,000 head apiece, says the USDA's Overview of the U.S. Hog Industry report, issued for the first time since 2009.

Three of the wealthiest members of Congress, each with a net worth of more than $16 million, serve on the House and Senate Agriculture committees, while the lawmaker with the lowest net worth is on the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the USDA and the FDA, according to Roll Call's calculations.

Newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan ruled out working with President Obama on comprehensive immigration reform, saying Obama cannot be trusted on the issue, said Reuters.

Drought and limited supplies of irrigation water in California will reduce the almond crop by 4 percent at the same time that the global appetite for the nut is on the rise, says the USDA. The biannual Tree Nut: World Markets and Trade report forecasts a 5-percent increase in U.S. exports, to 600,000 tonnes, "largely on additional shipments to China and India."

The EPA "proposed a zero-tolerance policy for food-borne residues of a pesticide widely used on edible crops nationwide, effectively ending its application to more than a dozen food crops including tree nuts, soybeans, corn, wheat, apples and citrus," reports the Los Angeles Times.

At a laboratory nicknamed the Bread Lab, researcher Stephen Jones, who looks like "a lovably geeky high school teacher,” is trying to re-invent bread, "the most important food in history," says a New York Times Magazine story.

Long-term monitoring of nitrate levels in 22 large rivers shows no widespread evidence of improvement, although nitrogen from fertilizer and livestock sources has been fairly stable since the 1980s, says the U.S. Geological Survey.

Ralph Goodale, a frequent member of the cabinet when Liberals are in charge in Canada, is among the half-dozen likely candidates for agriculture minister, says Kelsey Johnson in Western Producer. The incoming prime minister, Justin Trudeau, will name his cabinet by next Wednesday.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, seeking the Republican nomination for president, "is parting ways with the [sugar] industry and calling for an end to government subsidies that have boosted company profits for decades," reports the Washington Post.

Consumers, livestock and industry will chew through a record 1.99 billion tonnes of food and feed grains this marketing year and world grain stocks still should rise by nearly 2 percent, said the International Grains Council in its monthly Grain Market Report. With the harvest season winding down in the Northern Hemisphere, IGC estimated the grain crop will be only 1 percent smaller than the record set in 2014/15.