"Parasitic mites wiping out bee colonies by transmitting deadly virus directly into the bloodstream of the bees, research reveals"

"There is a 50 percent chance the feared El Nino weather pattern which can trigger droughts in Southeast Asia and Australia and floods in South America may strike later this year, the U.S. Climate Prediction Center warned on Thursday."

"In its strongest prediction so far that El Nino could emerge, the CPC said conditions are still expected to be neutral between June and August, but there is a 50 percent likelihood that El Nino will develop in the remainder of the year.

"A five-year farm and food bill that would revamp the federal safety net for farmers and eliminate direct government payments for idle crop fields took its first step toward passage Thursday in the Senate."

"A federal judge asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reexamine its decision to reject citizen calls to restrict the use of antibiotics in animal feed, court filings showed. The latest ruling is the second such setback for the FDA over concerns that overuse of antibiotics in animal feed is endangering human health by creating antibiotic-resistant 'superbugs'."

"Mason Hansen guns his pickup and cranks the steering wheel to spin through sand up to 4 feet high, but this is no day at the beach. Hanson once grew corn and soybeans in the sandy wasteland in western Iowa, and his frustration is clear. Despite months spent hauling away tons of sand dropped when the flooded Missouri River engulfed his farm last summer, parts of the property still look like a desert."

"MANHATTAN, Kansas -- The site of a proposed facility to fight animal diseases, including those which could be spread by bioterrorists, is little more than a parking lot today because of safety and budget concerns."

"France said it plans to ban a pesticide made by Swiss agro-chemical group Syngenta that is widely used to treat rapeseed crops after scientists suggested it could pose danger to bees."

"A sharp decline in bee populations across the world in recent years, partly due to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder, has prompted criticism of pesticide use, although research has yet to show clearly the causes of falling bee numbers.

"It appears high fructose corn syrup will still be called high fructose corn syrup. On Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration denied a petition by the Corn Refiners Assn. (filed in 2010) to allow 'corn sugar' as an alternate name for HFCS."

"WASHINGTON -- From the beginning, Michelle Obama's kitchen garden has been an overachiever, churning out more peppers, parsley and eggplant than expected, and generating interest that -- yes, really -- crosses oceans."