Dan Charles

Satellite images show the amount of green vegetation on Earth increasing, despite deforestation. But some of the added greenery has a downside.

Some farmers say they're buying a popular new soybean seed partly because they're afraid of crop damage from herbicide drift. A new lawsuit claims the seed maker is violating antitrust laws.

The Food and Drug Administration is inspecting less food these days, thanks to the shutdown. And while that has raised questions about food safety, the food business is largely carrying on as usual.

Scientists have re-engineered photosynthesis, a foundation of life on Earth, creating genetically modified plants that grow faster and bigger. They hope it leads to bigger harvests of food.

We check in on some stories we did this year to find all kinds of updates.

Steven Falk of Lafayette, Calif., has resigned because he says he cannot carry out policies that fail to address the urgent threat of a changing climate.

Investigators who are trying to track down the source of E. coli in romaine lettuce have seen this movie before. They're tracking the exact strain of bacteria that caused a small outbreak a year ago.

Supermarkets are clearing romaine lettuce off the shelves, following a warning that some of it may be contaminated with E. coli. Investigators are trying to figure out where the contamination started.

E. coli in romaine lettuce is back. The CDC has issued a warning for people not to consume any romaine lettuce from any source as it investigates another illness outbreak tied to the leafy green.

The Pentagon wants university researchers to find ways to protect crops in the field using infectious viruses carried by insects. Critics think it looks like bioweapons research.

The Environmental Protection Agency has given farmers the OK to continue to spray the controversial weedkiller dicamba. The chemical is prone to blowing in the wind and damaging other vegetation.

Smithfield Foods says it will pay farmers to cover their manure ponds with plastic on more than 1,000 U.S. farms. Those "lagoons" have become increasingly controversial.

The plants that nourish us won't disappear entirely. But they may have to move to higher, cooler latitudes. Some places may find it harder to grow anything at all, because there's not enough water.

Cottonseed is full of protein but toxic to humans and most animals. The USDA has approved a genetically engineered cotton with edible seeds. They could eventually feed chickens, fish — or even people.

Many farmers are defying efforts by regulators to strictly limit the use of dicamba, a popular weedkiller that's prone to drifting into neighboring fields.

The EPA is deciding whether to let farmers keep using an herbicide called dicamba. The chemical is controversial because it can damage nearby crops. What's less well-known: It's hurting wildlife, too.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is moving forward with a hearing Monday on sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Also, a look at public health after the hurricane.

At least 1.7 million chickens have died from flooding in the state. The impact is now coming into focus — including overflowing pools of hog manure and waterlogged sweet potato fields.

Hurricane Florence is heading toward a part of North Carolina where pigs far outnumber people. Farmers and environmentalists are worried about the fate of hundreds of open-air manure lagoons.

It involves a super solar farm the size of the United States.