Agriculture

"The Indonesian government announced Monday it had acted against 23 companies that, officials said, were involved in burning forest and peatland in the country."

"Researchers point to concerns over pesticides as diseases as bee numbers drop while farmland requiring the pollinators increases"

"With California working to list atrazine as toxic to the reproductive system, three of the United States' most-widely used pesticides are under fire for adverse health effects."

"A series of powerful snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada has resulted in a small milestone in drought-stricken California: The snowpack is now higher than average for this time of year."

"Biologists in the United States and Europe are developing a revolutionary genetic technique that promises to provide an unprecedented degree of control over insect-borne diseases and crop pests."

"In places around the world, supplies of groundwater are rapidly vanishing. As aquifers decline and wells begin to go dry, people are being forced to confront a growing crisis."

"Pigweed, with its ability to quickly adapt genetically, has developed Roundup herbicide resistance nearly as quickly as the crops altered by scientists to do so."

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) finalized a new rule Monday that will require all producers of raw ground beef to keep records of where the meat has come from."

"In the U.S., even chicken that has passed all federal food safety requirements still can make people sick."