Agriculture

"At a beef industry conference in Denver last week, the animal health auditor for meat producer JBS USA presented a video showing short clips of cows struggling to walk and displaying other signs of distress. The animals appeared to step gingerly, as if on hot metal, and showed signs of lameness, according to four people who saw the video."

"The beepocalypse is on the cover of TIME, but it looks like managed honeybees will still pull through. Wild bees—and wild species in general—won't be so lucky in a human-dominated planet."

"U.S. EPA has backed down from an ambitious target for cellulosic biofuel production, releasing a final rule today that requires refiners to blend 6 million gallons into the nation's supply of gasoline this year."

"State legislatures are pushing to stifle farm investigations, and some news associations are fighting back."

"As an extended drought bakes the West, nowhere are ravages of changes in the climate worse than in New Mexico."

"The world's soil is in trouble. Ecologists say without dramatic changes to how we manage land, vast swathes of grassland are at risk of turning into hard-packed desert. To make sure that doesn't happen, researchers are testing out innovative ways to keep moisture in the soil."

"PARIS, France -- Japanese biotechnologists on Sunday said they had developed a rice plant with deeper roots that can sustain high yields in droughts that wipe out conventional rice crops."

"ANNAWAN, Ill. — The outside world is not allowed in a sanitized and isolated pig farm here, not far from the Iowa border."

"FORT VALLEY, Ga. -- Peaches, the gem of the Southern summer, are just not so sweet this year."