Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey found neonicotinoid insecticides in 74 percent of the water samples they analyzed from 10 major tributaries of the Great Lakes. The insecticides were "detected in every month sampled and five of the six target neonicotinoids were detected." Environmental Health News says the study "suggests the Great Lakes' fish, birds and entire ecosystems might be at risk" from the insecticides that are believed to be a factor in high mortality rates of honeybees.

The algal bloom in Lake Erie this summer, fed in part by agricultural runoff, was roughly the same size as in 2013, the third-most severe bloom in 15 years of federal records, said the Associated Press.

After a commercial fisherman pulled a live Asian carp out of a northern Illinois river that empties into Lake Michigan, authorities have expressed concern that more of the invasive species have made it past electric barriers meant to keep them out of the Great Lakes, says the LA Times.

The International Joint Commission, the U.S.-Canada group that oversees the Great Lakes, will spend the next few months studying the impact of algae blooms in Lake Erie before issuing a new report on the lake in the spring, says the Associated Press.

Two members of the Biden cabinet called on 16 states to provide more equitable funding to the historically Black land-grant universities that were established under the so-called Second Morrill Act of 1890. "The longstanding and ongoing under-investment...disadvantages the students, faculty, and community" surrounding the schools, wrote Education Secretary Miguel Cardona and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in letters to each of the governors.

Legislators and governors have scaled back funding for state universities in recent years, and one result is that industry funding has become more important, says the New Food Economy. “And with industry money comes industry priorities.”

Wendy Wintersteen is two days into her new job: president of Iowa State University. Wintersteen, who had been ISU’s dean of agriculture and life sciences, is the first woman to head the university of nearly 37,000 students in Ames, Iowa.

Politico writes about the internecine scuffles among the nation's land grant universities and their think tanks for federal money to carry out analytical work.

With a worldwide glut holding down cotton prices, the National Cotton Council, a U.S. trade group, called for an examination of domestic supports offered to growers in China, India and other developing countries as well as of the impact of synthetic fibers. Gary Adams, the Cotton Council's chief executive, said India, China and Pakistan are years behind in reporting the scope and type of subsidies offered to their growers.

The global cotton crop will rise 5 percent, to 23 million tonnes, this year although plantings are declining for the second year in a row, according to the forecast by the International Cotton Advisory Council. The intergovernmental body said market prices, depressed for years, will improve as the worldwide cotton glut shrinks during 2016/17.

Consumer Reports released consumption guidelines for consumer who want to reduce their exposure to inorganic arsenic in rice and again urged FDA to set standards for arsenic in rice-based foods.

With China scaling back on its imports of cotton, world prices "dipped below 70 cents in early October, a level not seen in five years," said USDA, forecasting a 6 percent cent increase in global cotton stocks this marketing year.

One of the last of the "Watergate babies" elected to Congress in 1974, Vermont Sen. Pat Leahy said on Monday he will retire next year after eight terms in the Senate that included stints as chairman of its Appropriations, Agriculture and Judiciary committees. Leahy shepherded passage of the national organic standards law in 1990 and oversaw expansion of SNAP and the school lunch program.

Two Republican-held House seats in the heavily agricultural Central Valley of California could be ripe for picking by Democrats if voters are riled by GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump's criticism of Hispanics and immigrants, says the Los Angeles Times. Rep. David Valadao, a member of the Appropriations subcommittee that oversees USDA and FDA funding, represents a district that is 71 percent Latino, and Agriculture Committee member Jeff Denham has a district that is 26 percent Latino.

Colorado voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether the gray wolf, nearly hunted to extinction a century ago, will have a home west of the Continental Divide in their state. If they approve Inititiative 114, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission would be charged with planning for and carrying out the reintroduction of the gray wolf by the end of 2023, including the possibility of compensation for livestock lost to wolves.

In Montana's Tom Miner Basin, just outside the protected wilds of Yellowstone National Park, ranchers are embracing a variety of non-lethal strategies to deal with an influx of grizzlies, reports Ensia in a story done in partnership with the Food & Environment Reporting Network. It's an experiment that could have broad implications for how the livestock industry manages these and other top predators as climate change restricts their traditional food supply.

A quarter of adults have eaten less or skipped meals because they lacked the money to buy food, said an antihunger group on Monday in calling for expansion of food assistance during the coronavirus pandemic. The largest U.S. farm group and a food bank network suggested that the USDA should create a voucher system to get farm-fresh food directly to nearby food banks. <strong> (No paywall) </strong>

The EPA has saddled farmers and ranchers with "burdensome, unnecessary and, too often, unlawful federal regulations," said the American Farm Bureau Federation in calling for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee to approve Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to lead the agency. "We desperately need an administrator who understands the challenges our farmers and ranchers face in producing safe, wholesome and affordable food for our nation and the world."

Fifteen companies, ranging from food processors to grocery and fast food chains, make up the inaugural class of "food loss and waste champions," said the EPA and USDA. The companies won the designation by agreeing to reduce food waste 50 percent by 2030, in line with an administration goal to conserve resources and to combat climate change.

Foodservice giants Sodexo USA, Compass Group USA, and Aramark earned top scores in the Greenpeace report, “Sea of Distress,” which graded 15 major contract-management companies and distributors on their policies around sustainable seafood.

No doubt about it, animal-welfare activists have made the fate of chickens a mainstream concern, says the Washington Post. “In the past two years, nearly 200 U.S. companies — including every major grocery and fast-food chain — that together buy half of the 7 billion eggs laid monthly have pledged to use only cage-free eggs by 2025,” the Post notes.

Paris-based Sodexo, one of the world's largest food-service suppliers, pledged to sell only cage-free eggs worldwide by 2025, reports the Washington Post, signaling that the movement “long championed by animal rights activists, is going more global.”

Drinking one to six diet sodas a week doubles the risk for stroke and may also increase the risk for dementia, according to a study of 4,000 people over age 45 in the journal Stroke. The reasons for the link are unknown, says The New York Times.

In "the opening shot of 2017," health advocates filed suit in federal court in Oakland, Calif., accusing Coca-Cola and the trade group American Beverage Association of deceiving consumers of the health risk of sugary drinks and saying there was no link between sugar-sweetened beverages and obesity, says Quartz. Coca-Cola said the lawsuit was "legally and factually meritless."

The coronavirus "dealt an economically devastating hand to nearly the whole country," but job losses were smaller and shutdowns were shorter in rural America, said rural lender CoBank in a quarterly report. "Economic recovery may now favor rural communities for the first time in many years."<strong>(No paywall)</strong>

Second-term Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will be named U.S. ambassador to UN agencies on food and agriculture in Rome, says Kansas Public Radio, based on information from "a former high-ranking government official." There was no immediate comment from the governor's office and KPR quoted an unnamed source as saying the appointment was "a done deal."

President Obama signed the bipartisan Global Food Security Act of 2016 yesterday, steering $7 billion toward agricultural development and hunger-relief efforts around the world, and ensuring that both public and private operations would continue to work together to fund these efforts in Africa and other food-insecure regions.

A white paper commissioned by the Organic Trade Association says organic "hot spots" have higher household incomes and lower poverty rates than rural counties in general. The author of the white paper, Penn State economist Edward Jaenicke, says, "The growing market interest in organic agriculture can be leveraged into effective policy for economic development."

With the state of the next farm bill in crisis, FERN and Mother Jones launched a series of articles that analyze the nature of that crisis and explore the emerging issues that are changing the mandate of the nation’s most important agricultural legislation. In today’s piece, Claire Kelloway unpacks the ill-fated and sometimes shameful histories of the major debates that continue to shape today’s farm bill.

Socially disadvantaged farmers, a group that includes racial and ethnic minorities, women, and producers with limited resources, are more likely to operate smaller farms and face greater financial stress than the white farmers who dominate U.S. agriculture, said a USDA report.