Two of the top-ranking members of the House Agriculture Committee are among the four lead sponsors of a bill to eliminate the federal mandate for corn-based ethanol.

The panel of experts charge with updating the Dietary Guidelines for Americans "has decided to drop its caution against eating cholesterol-laden food, a move that could undo 40 years of government warnings," says the Washington Post.

A paper published online in the journal Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry says the concentration of mercury in yellowfin tuna "currently is increasing at a rate of at least 3.8 percent per year."

Organic cotton is a tiny part of the U.S. production, a bit more than 10,000 bales out of the total of 16 million bales. But organic growers said in a survey that they intend to expand plantings this year, to nearly 19,000 acres.

U.S. District Judge Linda Reade ordered U.S. Bank to pay $18 million to the trustee for Peregrine Financial Group as reimbursement to customers of the bankrupt company, says the CFTC.

The Agriculture Department announced a once-a-decade review of the milk marketing-order system, to see if the system, in use for decades, "should be continued without change, amended, or rescinded."

Organizers of the Iowa Ag Summit, intended to highlight and promote agriculture, say seven potential presidential candidates are the first to confirm they will speak at the March 7 event at the Iowa State Fair grounds in Des Moines.

The chairmen of the Senate and House Agriculture committees agree on how to strengthen the agricultural economy and rural America: eliminate "burdensome regulations."

Chairman Pat Roberts announced the hiring of eight additional staff members for the Senate Agriculture Committee, including Anne Hazlett as chief counsel and Matt Erickson as chief economist.

The government withdrew the so-called interpretive rule for its Waters of the United States proposal, a step that farm groups said was required by the omnibus appropriations bill enacted at the end of 2015.

Opponents of country-of-origin labels (COOL) on meat sold in grocery stores say they will focus on getting Congress to remodel the law. The foes withdrew a lawsuit against COOL rather than appeal to the Supreme Court after adverse rulings in U.S. district...

The eight-minute film "Man in a Maze" opens with an aerial view of fresh produce being dumped into a landfill at the Mexico-U.S. border, and ends with an aerial view of a community garden.

The National Cotton Council board elected Gary Adams as the organization's president and chief executive, and Reece Langley as its vice present for Washington operations.

Farmers and urban water systems can work together to improve water quality, says a white paper that presents nine examples from upstate New York to the Everglades and California.

House Agriculture chairman Mike Conaway says that calls to reduce the cost of crop insurance are billed as reform, "but we know the real end game is to kill crop insurance."

Low market prices will reduce cotton planting by 6 percent worldwide and result in the smallest harvest in six years, says the International Cotton Advisory Committee.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and two conservation groups launched a campaign to save the monarch butterfly that includes restoration and enhancement of 200,000 acres of habitat.

House Agriculture chairman Mike Conaway says his committee will consider whether farm subsidies and public nutrition programs, headlined by food stamps, should be handled separately by lawmakers, says Agri-Pulse.

U.S. food and agricultural exports to Cuba totaled $291 million in 2014, the smallest tally since 2003, said the U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, which monitors trade flows.