Advocates of plant-based diets, including several people who claimed they had improved their health significantly by adopting them, showed up in force Thursday to make the case that the federal government should radically modify its nutritional advice. 

Editor's note: This is the third in our seven-part in-depth editorial series where we look ahead at “Farm & Food 2040.” Part three looks at how the failure to pass meaningful immigration reform is fueling adoption of the newest technologies in automation—primarily robotics—to stem the need for immigrant farmworkers. And we also feature new research identifying the "Farmer of the Future."

You won’t find any tourists in the muddy, mosquito-ridden town of Barcarena in Brazil’s state of Pará, but you can’t miss the almost constant parade of trucks pulling in and out of port facilities under the scorching sun or torrential rainfall on the country’s northern coast.

Lawmakers have reached agreement on new assistance for cotton and dairy producers, potentially clearing the way for House and Senate Agriculture committees to begin moving a new farm bill by spring.