Agriculture

At first, Ted Turner, the billionaire who invented cable news, thought of his bison as pets.

"The food industry is pressuring Congress to act before the state of Vermont requires food labels for genetically modified ingredients."

"BELLE GLADE, Fla. — Dozens of farmworkers looked up at the little yellow plane buzzing over the Florida radish field, a mist of pesticide falling from its wings."

"California, Oregon and the federal government are working on a way around congressional barriers to the removal of hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River."

"What do we know about the human health effects of neonicotinoids? Astonishingly little. Here’s why scientists say that isn’t good enough."

"On a treeless plain in eastern Ethiopia, thousands of destitute pastoralists have set up camp outside the tiny village of Fedeto. Over the past six months the camp has swelled as one of the worst droughts in decades has decimated herds, dried up pasture and made even drinking water scarce."

"AMES, Iowa — Tim Recker has been growing corn in this state his whole life, and using his crops to make ethanol almost as long, at first by the jar for his trucks, now by the barrel for the nation. That is in large part because Congress in 2005 mandated that oil refiners blend ethanol into gasoline."

"From the air, the Midwest looks like a patchwork of cropland and pastures. But before the land was turned over to plows and center pivots, most of it was a sea of grass."

"North Carolina is one of the country's largest poultry producers — and getting bigger. Large-scale chicken farms are spreading across the state. Government regulations have allowed these farms to get much closer to where people live. That's not just a nuisance. Neighbors say it's also a potential health hazard."

"Canada's official environmental watchdog on Tuesday expressed concern that authorities were allowing the long-term use of pesticides linked to bee deaths despite not having enough information about the products."