New York Times

The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development, Rajiv Shah, announced he will leave the agency early next year, said the New York Times. Shah served briefly as an agriculture undersecretary before becoming USAID administrator in 2010.

The power of comfort food, be it ice cream, artisanal chocolate or Mom's meatloaf, to cure a bout of the blues may be overrated, says the New York Times, describing a study by University of Minnesota researchers.

The renamed Citizens Bank of Weir, located in a town of 700 people in southeastern Kansas, could be the bank of the future, says the New York Times.

The government funding bill approved by Congress would relax a requirement for schools to use more whole-grain rich foods and block USDA from creating a new beef checkoff program.

An innovative program combats obesity by helping families buy fruits and vegetables, says the New York Times, in describing the Fruit and Vegetable Prescription Program, being tested at four hospitals in New York City.

The government-wide funding bill being assembled in private on Capitol Hill would scale back school lunch reforms approved in 2010 and "curtail some clean-water regulations," says the New York Times.

"A pungent, turnip-like vegetable called maca, heralded as a cancer-fighting superfood and sold on the shelves of supermarkets like Whole Foods," is grown in the Andes in Peru and is the new global rock star of the food world, says the New York Times.

With 20,000 acres, Indiana farmer Kip Tom "harvests the staples of modern agriculture: seed corn, feed corn, soybeans and data," says the New York Times.

Adweek declares National Magazine Award-winner Modern Farmer to be the "hottest newcomer" among magazines. "Founded in 2013 by former Monocle editor Ann Marie Gardner, the indie is targeted at anyone with an interest in where his or her food...

California is the world's largest grower of almonds, with trees on 860,000 acres, a crop that be imperiled especially in the drought now entering its fourth year, says the New York Times.

Seed companies such as Scotts Miracle-Gro and Cellectis Plant Sciences are utilizing techniques to genetically modify crops that are outside of federal jurisdiction or use methods that were not imagined when the regulations were created, said the New York Times.

When President Barack Obama unveils an executive order affecting up to 5 million illegal immigrants, it is not expected to include agricultural workers, according to published reports.

At least three-quarters of the forests of the world have been cut down or damaged, says the New York Times in a two-page story that says...

Two studies suggest that school meals are more nutritious than meals packed at home, says the New York Times blog Well. The studies, conducted in urbanized Houston and in rural Virginia found the school food to be lower in fat and sugar than ...

The FDA program to phase out use of antibiotics as a growth promotant in food animals "may allow some injudicious uses to persist," says the Pew Trusts' Campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.

In a series that opened on Sunday, the New York Times describes the oil rush in North Dakota and "its rapid transformation from a tight-knit agricultural society to semi-industrialized oil powerhouse."

One result of Russia's ban on food imports from Europe and the United States is a surge in interest in domestic food producers, especially organic farms, says the New York Times in a story from Moscow.

When lunchtime at school gets shorter, students eat less of their meals and discard more food, said the New York Times in summarizing a study of 1,000 children at six elementary and middle schools.