Associated Press

Independent Greg Orman campaigned in typically Republican rural Kansas with the argument incumbent Pat Roberts doesn't keep the state's agricultural interests in mind, says the Associated Press.

Sen Pat Roberts, potentially Agriculture Committee chairman if Republicans win control of the Senate, rarely mentions his record on agriculture - defender of crop insurance and author of the 1996 Freedom to Farm law - on the campaign trail.

Arkansas Sen Mark Pryor's chances are fading against Republican Tom Cotton, saysSabato's Crystal Ball, adding "it’s increasingly hard to see him overcoming Arkansas’ hard shift to the right.

The just-adopted constitutional amendment guaranteeing a "right to farm" in Missouri is under challenge before the state Supreme Court. The amendment was approved by voters in August by a 2,375-vote margin out of nearly 1 million cast.

The opposition to state-level labeling of GMO foods is out-spending the proponents in Colorado and Oregon, which hold statewide referendums on the issue on Nov 4, says Food Safety News.

In the first debate of the Senate race in Arkansas, Sen Mark Pryor, chairman of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, said opponent first-term Rep Tom Cotton, a Republican, is more interested in foreign policy than...

Cosmic Crisp is a new variety of apple developed by Washington State University and should appear in orchards in 2017, says the Associated Press.

Republican Pat Roberts is the leader in newly released polls by CNN and Fox. Roberts, potentially the next chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, was ahead of independent Greg Orman 49-48 with 3 percent undecided in the CNN poll...

Food Policy Action, a two-year-old advocacy group, says conservative Rep Steve Southerland, who proposed the largest food stamp cuts in a generation, is its No 1 target for defeat in the November 4 elections.

House Agriculture Committee member Scott DesJarlais is the undisputed winner of the Republican primary in Tennessee's fourth congressional district.

Democrat Alison Grimes faulted Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for missing many Agriculture Committee hearings and for not being one of the negotiators who wrote the 2014 farm law, says the Associated Press.

State Attorney General William Sorrell asked for dismissal of the food industry lawsuit against the Vermont law that will require special labels on foods that include genetically modified organisms.

Second-term Rep Scott DesJarlais, a House Agriculture Committee member, had a 33-vote lead with all precincts reporting in his Tennessee congressional district, a razor-thin margin in a race that may not be decided until the month, said the Associated Press.

Missouri voters narrowly approved a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right to farm, said the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch.

In Missouri, the top agriculture issue is a constitutional amendment to create a "right to farm." Says the New York Times, "The debate over the proposed amendment has roiled Missouri for more than a year, with supporters saying it would end what they see as meddling by outsiders in its business practices.

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.

Voters in Oregon agree by a 3-to-1 margin that foods made with genetically modified organisms should be labeled, says a poll commissioned by a Portland television station.

States in the Chesapeake Bay region made progress in controlling water pollution from agriculture and communities but many jurisdictions are short of goals, says the Associated Press in summarizing...