Agricultural banks say loan volume for feeder livestock rose by 50 percent in the second quarter of this year after rising by 13 percent year-over-year in the first quarter, according to the Federal Reserve in its Agricultural Finance Databook.

Thirteen Democratic senators asked the administration to quell concerns in farm country about what is covered by the so-called Waters of the United States rule.

The government revamped its poultry inspection system so USDA inspectors devote more time to preventing pathogen contamination of meat while processors have more responsibliity for finding quality defects.

Bumper crops around the world mean that a dramatic expansion of corn and soybean stockpiles is on the way, says the International Grains Council.

The Agriculture Department released a report that, "for the first time, provides uniform scientific methods for quantifying the changes in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage from various land management and conservation activities."

There's buzz about the Corn Belt moving northward into Canada's prairie provinces. Top Producer magazine says, "Leading the charge are Manitoba, where corn acreage has doubled to 380,000 in just two years, and Alberta, which grows almost 25,000 acres of corn."

"Rep. Bruce Braley is betting the farm on corn — and Democrats’ hold on the Senate may be in danger if he’s wrong," says the lead sentence in Politico on the Senate campaign in Iowa. The Hawkeye state is No 1 i corn and ethanol production, with several thousand people working at ethanol plants. Braley

A new poll says incumbent Mark Pryor, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, and Republican Tom Cotton are running neck-and-neck for the Senate in Arkansas. This time, Pryor is ahead, 48-46 in a poll by a company with Democratic clients, says Roll Call. The poll was conducted last week, the same time frame as a Hendix College/Talk Business poll that has Cotton ahead, 44-42, with 7 percent undecided.

China's agriculture ministry "vowed zero tolerance and harsh punishments for illegal sales and growing of genetically modified (GM) crops days after media exposure of GM rice on sale at a supermarket in central China," says China Daily. Biotech rice is not approved for use in the country.

Leaders of a House Agriculture subcommittee criticized the Labor Department during a hearing as high-handed and unfair in its use of its authority to prevent shipment of farm products when it believes growers under-paid their workers. The so-called hot goods power has been an issue in Oregon fruit farms since 2012. Growers say they were coerced into signing consent agreements or see their crops wither in the warehouse.

A "soda tax" of 1 cent per teaspoon of sweetener would be levied under a bill unveiled by Rep Rosa DeLauro, Connecticut Democrat, with the revenue used in programs to reduce obesity, diabetes and other health losses due to sugar-sweetened beverages. "There is a clear relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and a host of other health conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, obesity and tooth decay," said DeLauro in a statement.

One year after launching the GMO Answers campaign on social media, "U.S. companies that develop GMOs have further committed to a multimillion-dollar campaign to defeat attempts to add GMO labels" to genetically engineered foods, says Reuters. A spokeswoman for GMO Answers says member companies have agreed to spend millions of dollars "for several more years on this campaign," says the story.

The administration will hold four workshops in the coming week with a focus on helping the farm sector prepare for climate change and build its resilience to the hotter weather and more intense storms that are forecast.

The ethanol mandate is likely to be set higher than initially proposed by the EPA, says Sen Al Franken, Minnesota Democrat, in comments quoted by The Hill newspaper. Franken was among 10 Democratic senators, including Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow, who met White House advisor John Podesta to discuss biodiesel.

The Supplemental Coverage Option, created by the 2014 farm law as a cushion against low prices and poor yields, will be offered on eight widely planted crops for harvest next year, said the Agriculture Department. SCO will be available for corn, cotton, grain sorghum, rice, soybeans, spring barley, spring wheat, and winter wheat in many areas.

Satellite images show California turning brown from its three-year drought, says Weather.com, which posted pictures taken by NASA's Aqua satellite in mid-2011 and this summer. "In the animated image, California's Central Valley appears to have lost much of its plant life, as the green portion in the middle of the image has thinned in the last three years.

A U.S. appeals court upheld USDA rules that require cuts of beef, pork and poultry to carry labels listing where the meat was born, raised and slaughtered, says the AP. Meatpackers challenged the 2013 regulation as a violation of free speech. The meat industry says the labels are bookkeeping headache and drive up costs.

In the Aug 5 primary election, Missouri will decide whether to add the "right to farm" to its state constitution. Backers say it will shield cash-short family farmers from zealous activists with impractical ideas about livestock and crop production, reports public radio station KWMU in St Louis.

The Agriculture Department proposed a regulation to allow import of pork and pork products from "a low-risk classical swine fever region in Mexico" and set a 60-day comment period on it. Swine fever, also called hog cholera, is a highly contagious viral disease among pig but does not cause foodborne illness among humans. It was eradicated in the United States in 1978, says a USDA fact sheet

House Budget chairman Paul Ryan "outlined a plan to combat poverty on Thursday that would consolidate a dozen programs into a single 'Opportunity Grant' that largely shifts antipoverty efforts from the federal government to the states," said the New York Times.