Dan Charles

New rules — such as giving chickens more space to roam — were approved by the Obama administration, but put on hold under Trump. Now the organic industry is suing the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Hurricane Irma smashed through one of the country's top areas of fruit and vegetable production. The storm destroyed half of the citrus crop in some areas, as well as housing for seasonal workers.

Michael Jacobson invented a new style of food activism. For four decades, he led the fight against "junk food." He's now stepping down as president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Big food companies like Walmart want farmers to reduce greenhouse emissions from nitrogen fertilizer. But the best-known program to accomplish this may not be having much effect.

Walmart has promised big cuts in emissions of greenhouse gases. To meet that goal, though, the giant retailer may have to persuade farmers to use less fertilizer. It won't be easy.

A record-setting "dead zone," where water doesn't have enough oxygen for fish to survive, has appeared this summer. One major cause is pollution from farms.

The poultry industry could be on the verge of major changes, driven by demands that it treats its chickens more humanely. Perdue Farms has agreed to give its chickens more space and daylight.

The poultry industry may be on the verge of adopting ambitious new animal-welfare standards, giving chickens more space and daylight, and even returning to older, slower-growing chicken breeds.

Whole Foods has been forced to stop selling goat cheese made from milk that came from a prison farm, where inmates work for less than a dollar an hour. Yet the inmates themselves aren't complaining.

As many as 2 million acres of soybeans may have been harmed by a popular weedkiller drifting into neighboring fields. Arkansas' proposed ban on the herbicide, dicamba, is awaiting final approval.

A huge new study conducted in 33 sites across Europe finds that seeds coated with neonicotinoid pesticides harm bees living nearby. The damage, though, depends on local conditions.

A weedkiller called dicamba, which farmers hoped could banish herbicide-resistant weeds, has become a plague itself in Arkansas. The state's regulators just voted to ban it for 120 days.

There's a global shortage of vanilla beans because big food companies now want natural vanilla, rather than the synthetic kind. Prices have soared, squeezing bakers and ice cream makers alike.

Right now, the government rents farmland to help protect soil and water. But once the land is farmed again, the benefits disappear. Environmentalists want to change that.

Journalist Chris Clayton writes for an audience filled with climate skeptics: farmers and leaders of agricultural businesses. He's telling them that a changing climate will disrupt their lives.

The apple renaissance of recent years has given us new varieties of fruit. But that's only half of the story, and half of the tree. Another revolution is happening below ground, in the tree roots.

Two scientists agree that pesticide-laden dust from planting equipment kills bees. But they're proposing different solutions, because they disagree about whether the pesticides are useful to farmers.

The Trump administration wants to cut both food aid to the poor and subsidies for the nation's farmers. Supporters of both programs are joining forces to fight the cuts in Congress.

Government statistics show a big increase in the number of foreign guest workers approved to work on American farms this year. It's up 36 percent over the same period last year.

Amid the wreckage of economic crisis in Puerto Rico, a local food movement is taking root. Hopeful farmers are leasing long-abandoned land. But why was the land abandoned in the first place?