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Last month, the National Wildlife Federation reported that more than 398,000 acres – 620 square miles – of grasslands, forests and other land were plowed, cleared or otherwise converted to grow crops...

Today, officials at the USDA will don their Santa Claus outfits a few months early and disburse almost $5 billion dollars in direct payment farm subsidies to landowners across the country.

Doesn't it make sense to subject some of the richest farmers to a means test when they seek federal subsidies to pay for their crop insurance?

An interactive map developed by the Environmental Working Group shows where more than 660 U.S. newspapers have published editorials since 2007 demanding meaningful reform of the federal farm bill.

Mark Lynas, maybe the most famous apologist for GMO foods ever, this week urged a gathering of food and biotech industry employees to stop battling the growing movement to label foods made with...

The pending Senate version of the farm bill includes a provision to relink conservation compliance with crop insurance subsidies. Chairman Lucas's competing House version does not.

The Food and Drug Administration's food inspectors have also been deemed non-essential – meaning that America's food manufacturing plants will not be inspected until Congress decides to pass...

A Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released Tuesday (Oct. 8) found that of the $1.5 billion in farm subsidies doled out in 2012 to people who were supposedly “actively engaged” in farming...

It is essential to take fully into account the long-term risks and costs to health, environment and communities of all energy resources and to adopt policies based on least cost to consumers and...

What's worth denying even a single child with cancer available and potentially life-saving treatment? Nothing – in my book. By shuttering the federal government, the Tea Party wing of the House of...

McDonald's restaurants finish the job of eliminating polystyrene containers as they switch to paper cups for hot beverages.

Even if the government miraculously opens for business tomorrow, several critically important USDA conservation and nutrition programs will be shuttered.

Last Friday, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a major bill that promises to regulate fracking in California for the first time. But don't get too excited. Sen. Fran Pavley's fracking bill, known as S.B. 4, is...

Michael Bradley of Tunnel Hill, Georgia has spent the past 17 months in and out of surgery fighting peritoneal mesothelioma, a rare and usually fatal abdominal cancer caused by exposure to asbestos...

I had two challenging pregnancies filled with uncertainty and stress. Thankfully, the end result was two healthy kids. One thing was certain, though – I could handle the truth. I wanted all the facts...

Rep. Stephen Fincher (R-Tenn.) is no longer the only member of Congress who's publicly quoting the Bible to justify his votes to cut food stamps for the poor while increasing farm subsidies for the...

There are safe, affordable alternatives to the dangerous chemicals like the ones used in the Texas fertilizer plant that exploded in April. But instead of making the switch, the chemical industry has...

Toxic “fracking” fluids that spilled into a Kentucky creek after they were used to drill four natural gas wells were the cause of a major fish kill that included a threatened species, a new federal...

If you live in one of America's 100 hungriest counties, there is a one-in-three chance that you rely on food stamps. There is also a pretty good chance that your member of Congress just voted to kick...

There are more than 12,000 chemical plants that put Americans at risk with large amounts of chemicals, and 89 of those endanger more than 1 million people. Unfortunately, those most at risk in the...