In the key wheat states of Kansas and Oklahoma, the winter wheat is in significantly poorer condition than it was in late November due to adverse weather in the past month, said Reuters, which compared current ratings with a Nov. 27 report.

Baby fish prefer plastic particles to the zooplankton that makes up their natural diet, according to a study published in the journal Science. The researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden "found that the larval fish that were exposed to microplastic particles displayed a shift in behavior and stunted growth," reports The Christian Science Monitor in an article on the study.

There are perhaps 415 wolves in Sweden and the predator has created an uproar among farmers, hunters and environmentalists in the province of Varmland, with the EU involved as well, reports the New York Times.

"China, the U.S., Britain, Germany, Singapore and a small group of other nations account for the majority of global land acquisition" according to research by Sweden's Lund University, says the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The Food and Drug Administration, the lead U.S. regulator of genetically engineered animals, issued two documents to clarify its risk-based oversight of the creatures and their developers. The agency exercises varying levels of scrutiny, ranging from full-scale review of an animal and its risk profile to instances in which developers can take an animal directly to market without consulting the FDA.

Three months after President Biden signed an executive order to accelerate biotechnology innovation, the administration formally asked stakeholders and the public on Monday to identify gaps, ambiguities and inefficiencies in federal regulation of the sector.

Farms in Puerto Rico are used in the research and development of up to 85 percent of the corn, soybean, and other hybrid seeds grown in the United States. “So the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria in September stretches to the croplands of the Midwest and Great Plains,” reports Harvest Public Media.

Sales of plant-based alternatives to red meat, poultry, and seafood are down 20 percent from their peak in 2020 and the industry "faces something of a tipping point," said a report by agricultural lender CoBank on Monday. "Consumers remain interested in the concept of plant-based meats, but concerns about highly processed products and higher prices have put off many prospective regular consumers," wrote CoBank senior economist Billy Roberts.

Americans are twice as likely as Britons to say they would eat so-called cultured meat grown in a laboratory, according to an online survey of 1,000 consumers in both countries. Overall, 29 percent said they were willing to try the meat, with 60 percent of vegans saying they would try it, says Ingredient Communications.

Maple Leaf Foods, Canada's largest distributor of packaged meats, says it will buy Field Roast Grain Meat Co. in an expansion of its role in the North American market for alternative proteins. Based in Seattle, Field Roast produces grain-based "meat" and vegan cheese products, such as plant-based roasts, sausages, burgers and sliced cheese. It also makes a frozen vegan mac-and-cheese.

The chief financial officer of Impossible Foods told Bloomberg that the company's veggie burger – "it looks like a burger and even bleeds like a burger," says the news agency – is being offered to food service companies. The food service sector, which includes school and corporate cafeterias, accounts for half of U.S. consumption of ground beef.

After setting a record this year, the agricultural trade deficit will balloon further, to $27.5 billion in fiscal 2024, thanks to the unyielding American appetite for fresh produce, coffee, and wine, say government forecasters. More food and ag imports will flow into the United States at the same time that farm exports shrink, led by a decline in sales to China.

The third-most populous province in Canada discriminates unfairly against U.S. wine, said the Trump administration in asking the World Trade Organization to rule on retail wine sales in British Columbia. The issue of wine sales in grocery stores has been raised in negotiations over the new NAFTA as well.

A study published in the journal Nature Climate Change says that winemakers ought to be learning about the great diversity of grape varieties in order to adapt to a changing climate.

With wildfires still blazing in Northern California and 222,000 acres already destroyed, vineyard workers are breathing particulate-filled air as they bring in the grape crop. Many of the workers are undocumented and can't afford to lose a paycheck even if their homes were destroyed in the fires that have consumed the region.

With more than 38 million Americans food insecure, President Biden announced on Wednesday the White House will hold a conference on hunger and nutrition in September. It will be the first hunger conference since 1969 and would launch a national plan on ending hunger in the United States, said the White House.

Join FERN on Wednesday, May 19th at 4:00 pm ET for an exclusive, subscriber-only LIVE Ag Insider briefing featuring our amazing reporting team — Chuck Abbott, Leah Douglas and Karina Piser — on Zoom. They’ll be discussing the issues that are top of mind for anyone immersed in food and ag policy.

Wisconsin-based Organic Valley, the largest U.S. cooperative for organic farmers, launched a project to become the largest food company in the world to get all of its electricity from renewable sources. The co-op will be part of a "community solar partnership" that will install 12 megawatts of solar power in the state.

The board of the largely agricutlural Westlands Water District voted 7-1 against taking part in Gov. Jerry Brown's twin-tunnel project "to remake the fragile estuary that serves as the hub of California's water delivery network," reports the Sacramento Bee. The decision, by the first water agency to vote on the project, is "a potentially fatal blow" to the $17-billion project.

An audit by the Interior Department's inspector general says the government improperly spent $84 million to help plan the mammoth twin-tunnel project to ship water to Southern California from northern parts of the state, reported The Associated Press. The audit said the expenditures meant the Bureau of Reclamation paid for one-third of the cost of project planning through 2016, when California water districts were supposed to bear the costs.

At least 57 groups, ranging from local governments to crab boat owners, filed suit against the mammoth twin-tunnel project in the Sacramento River delta, using "one of the most powerful legal weapons found in any courtroom — the California Environmental Quality Act," reports the Sacramento Bee. "History suggests that suing under the California environmental law won't be enough to kill the tunnels."

Colorado native David Bernhardt won Senate confirmation as deputy Interior secretary, the No. 2 job at the department, on a mostly party-line vote, reported the Denver Post. A high-ranking Interior official in the past and most recently part of a law-and-lobbying firm in Denver, Bernhardt was described by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren as a walking conflict of interest.

Dairy farmers who were forced to dump milk during a natural disaster are eligible for up to $250,000 in compensation from the new Milk Loss Program, said the USDA on Monday. The program covers losses in 2020, 2021, and 2022 from droughts, wildfires, hurricanes, floods, derechos, excessive heat, winter storms, freezes, and smoke exposure.

In a step that settled two WTO disputes brought by Vietnam, the United States rescinded anti-dumping duties against the Minh Phu Group for its shipments of frozen shrimp. The Commerce Department said anti-dumping duties will remain in place for all other exporters of warm-water shrimp from Vietnam.

Chicken farmers in Vietnam say they will file an anti-dumping complaint with their nation's Competition Authority next month against imports of U.S. poultry meat, just days after the TPP trade accord was reached. "Vietnam’s Southeastern Livestock Association asserts the poultry is sold at prices lower than those in the United States," Bloomberg reported.

On a 47-0 vote, New York’s city council passed legislation to create a digital hub meant specifically for urban agriculture, said Metro Media.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to reduce property taxes by up to $15,000 for owners who convert vacant lots in unincorporated parts of the county to agricultural use.

The board of supervisors in Los Angeles County took the first step toward implementing a state law that allows local governments to designate urban agriculture incentive zones, with lower taxes for owners of small plots who promise to grow food on them for five years, reports the Los Angeles Times.

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.