Environment

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Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is proposing a sweeping 10-year plan to carry out the Green New Deal and reshape U.S. agriculture through regulations and subsidies to reduce its environmental impact and push farmers into organic methods and smaller scales of production.

Democratic presidential candidates looking to break through in rural areas are seeking advice on farm policy from activists, farmers, economists and organizations, and those ideas are popping on the stump, in detailed policy proposals as well as in debates.

The Interior and Commerce departments have announced changes to the Endangered Species Act that were cheered by farmers and ranchers but harshly criticized by environmentalists, who vowed to challenge them in court.

The Environmental Protection Agency has granted 31 small refinery exemptions from the 2018 Renewable Fuel Standard compliance year, a move that immediately angered the biofuel industry.

The Democratic presidential candidates from the top to the bottom of the polls are making climate change a major feature of the campaign message and trying to make the case that farmers will benefit from addressing it.

Six states, including California and New York, have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its decision to allow continued use of chlorpyrifos, alleging the agency did not adequately ensure infants and children are protected.

Crop developers say USDA’s effort to streamline its regulation of biotech crops will still slow the commercialization of many gene-edited products, but groups representing grain traders, food processors and restaurant chains are slamming the department's proposal, claiming it could lead to trade disruptions and undermine consumer confidence.