Agriculture

A storm system that blasted Iowa last week with hurricane-force winds and left at least three people dead in the state and devastated millions of acres of farmland caused damage estimated at nearly $4 billion, according to officials. 

A land hurricane devastated Iowa earlier this week, and now the state is asking for federal assistance to help communities recover.

Farmers across a wide swath of Iowa are dealing with the heartbreaking aftermath of a rare wind storm that turned what was looking like a record corn crop into deep losses for many.

The powerful storm system that roared across the Midwest earlier this week killed at least two people and also caused widespread damage to millions of acres of crops in Iowa, according to officials.

Exclusive newly released photos show some of the alleged animal neglect found during a federal inspection of Netflix's “Tiger King” star Jeff Lowe’s Oklahoma zoo that led to multiple citations against the big cat handler for allegedly failing to provide veterinary care for his animals.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s division of Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has identified some of the mysterious seed packets that seem to have been sent to more than 1,000 American households from China.

Meatpacking plants have been particularly susceptible to the coronavirus because workers often stand shoulder to shoulder carving up meat.

Officials are trying to identify the seeds, which they worry could be invasive plant species, and threatening to native plants and crops, or could introduce diseases or be harmful to livestock.

Ranchers saw cattle prices drop after a temporary closure of slaughterhouses during the coronavirus pandemic while limited meat at grocery stores caused prices to surge, according to a 20-page analysis by the USDA. 

President Trump said Thursday that phase one of the U.S.-China trade deal means much less to him now despite China stepping up agriculture purchases in recent weeks. 

Cooks Venture is a company focused on raising its own breed of healthy chickens.

A California state appeals court has reduced Bayer AG's $289.2 million settlement with a former school groundskeeper who claimed the company’s Roundup weedkiller caused his cancer.

Several worker advocacy organizations have filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that meat processing companies Tyson Foods and JBS have engaged in racial discrimination during the coronavirus pandemic.

A sustained labor shortage could impact the soy and corn harvests that start in September.

Chipotle is launching a virtual farmers market for its suppliers with Shopify's help.

Tensions have flared over Beijing's handling of the coronavirus

A handful of the nation’s largest meatpackers was sued for collaborating in a “cartel”-like manner to limit the meat supply.

The lawsuit was among those Bayer inherited when it bought Monsanto for in 2018.

Beef prices are supermarkets spiked during the coronavirus pandemic, while prices paid to ranchers for cattle steadily dropped.

As the coronavirus pandemic has led to meat shortages across the country in recent weeks, some restaurants are raising their meat prices to prevent shutting down for good.