Farms hit by bird flu could resume production this fall
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack says poultry producers who lost flocks in the worst avian influenza epidemic ever to hit the United States could have birds back in the barn by fall, according to USA Today.
Nunnelee dies, was on House panel for USDA funding
Mississippi Rep. Alan Nunnelee, a fiscal and social conservative who was the second-ranking Republican on House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture, died on Friday at age 56, only a few weeks into his third term in Congress.
If you are what you eat, America is becoming more diverse
Gwinnett County in suburban Atlanta exemplifies how the American menu is getting longer and broader, says USA Today. Seventy percent of lodging and food-related businesses in the county are minority-owned.
Federal court hearing is first day of long GMO fight
Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell says a federal court hearing was just the first day of a long legal battle over the state's law that requires, from July 1, 2016, special labels on foods made with genetically modified organisms.
Higher crop, flood insurance costs with climate change
The Government Accountability Office says cost of the taxpayer-subsidized crop and flood insurance programs could rise substantially in coming decades due to climate change.
Berkeley soda tax and Maui GE limits win, GMO labels lose
Voters in Berkeley, Calif, approved the nation's first municipal soda tax and Maui County, Hawaii, passed an initiative that bars cultivation of genetically engineered crops during Tuesday's general elections. Statewide referendums in Oregon and California to require labels of food made with genetically modified organisms were defeated.
Rogue GE wheat puts USDA controls in doubt
Food and environmental groups are renewing calls for the Agriculture Department "to adopt a slower, more stringent approval process" for genetically engineered crops, says USA Today.
Food group targets Southerland, Kansas poll favors Orman
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.
A deadlock in Senate race in Iowa
Democrat Bruce Braley and Republican Joni Ernst are tied at 40 percent each with 15 percent undecided in a Suffolk/USA Today poll of one of the races that could determine control of the U.S. Senate.
Egg farm owners plead guilty after salmonella outbreak
The owners of Quality Egg, based in northwest Iowa, pleaded guilty to charges related to a massive salmonella outbreak in 2010 in which thousands of people fell ill and 550 million eggs were recalled, says USA Today.