Dan Charles

Microorganisms play a vital role in growing food and sustaining the planet, but they do it anonymously. Scientists haven't identified most soil microbes, but they are learning which are most common.

Venison, a luxury meat sold in high-end stores also shows up on the winter menus of expensive restaurants. But venison from deer killed by hunters can't be sold, so much of it is given away for free.

During the New Deal, the government set up hundreds of public canneries in small towns. Most have disappeared, but a surviving cannery in Farmville, Va., is getting a boost from local farmers.

For the first time in history, soybeans are about to become America's most widely grown crop. Yet compared to corn or wheat, they remain curiously invisible in American culture.

Archaeologists say early civilizations in North and Central America were more egalitarian than the societies of Eurasia — and they think it's because early Americans didn't have cattle or horses.

Scientists have found evidence of ancient winemaking in Georgia, a country which prides itself on its vino. It's the earliest trace of viniculture using wild grapes similar to those used today.

Many organic tomatoes or peppers are grown in greenhouses, where they get nutrients from water. Critics say that violates the spirit of "organic." A bid to strip them of the label failed this week.

Scientists are accusing the seed and pesticide giant of denying the risks of its latest weedkilling technology. Monsanto has responded by attacking some of those critics.

Puerto Rico's dairy farmers account for about a third of the island's total agricultural production. Now they're struggling to recover their cows and get them milked.

Arkansas regulators are on a collision course with Monsanto, voting to ban use during the growing season of a drift-prone herbicide that Monsanto says is farmers' best hope for weed-free fields.

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.

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.