Bayer AG and Syngenta AG face renewed pressure over their neonicotinoid farm pesticides after research funded by the companies supported accusations that the chemicals are responsible for harming bee colonies.  The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Science at a time when the European Union’s executive arm is preparing to propose a ban on use of such pesticides in the countryside of the 28-nation trade bloc.Bee colony numbers tested in Hungary fell 24 percent by the spring and survival of colonies in the U.K. [node:read-more:link]

Rural hospitals may not save money when they treat an emergency-room patient via tele-medicine instead of transferring them to a larger facility, but patients do, according a new report. Previous studies haven’t reached a clear conclusion about whether avoiding transfer of an ER patient saves the hospital money. [node:read-more:link]

Dow Chemical Co.'s proposed $74 billion merger with DuPont Co. has garnered another two important antitrust clearances and heads into July on track for an August closing date, the companies confirmed by email June 28. Mexico’s antitrust authority and Canada’s Competition Bureau both cleared the deal with conditions on June 27, meaning that all of North America has cleared the merger.The merger is one of a trio of mega-deals that would reshape the global agrochemicals industry and the second deal to approach the finish line. China National Chemical Corp. [node:read-more:link]

Farm groups are cautioning the Trump administration not to open a "Pandora's Box" by claiming restrictions on steel and aluminum are needed to protect "national security."  Eighteen agricultural groups wrote to Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Tuesday, stressing that such a move would be a disaster for global trade, "and for U.S. agriculture in particular."The Trump administration is expected to decide any day whether to place tariffs on steel imports, stemming from an April investigation announced by the Commerce Department over whether those imports are harming U.S. [node:read-more:link]

New research suggests that warm spells at the top of the world can, surprisingly, cause unusually cold weather in parts of North America — and that could be hurting plants, damaging agriculture and even affecting the amount of carbon dioxide that goes into our atmosphere. Plus, it further reinforces a controversial but persistent theory suggesting that the fast-warming of the Arctic could be causing weather extremes in the heavily populated mid-latitudes as well. [node:read-more:link]

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue today gave the go-ahead to conduct emergency haying on Conservation Reserve Program lands to help provide feed for livestock in drought-stricken areas of Montana and North and South Dakota. “Because of the rapidly worsening drought and increasing degradation of existing forage, the Secretary is authorizing emergency haying beginning July 16,” the Farm Service Agency said in a notice. Farmers typically would be allowed to start haying on Aug. 1. [node:read-more:link]

Wet spring weather in the U.S. has provided perfect conditions for mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON), T2-HT2 and zearalenone to develop in the wheat crop. Nine states have confirmed reports of DON in wheat, according to Neogen’s Mycotoxin Report from July 3.  The states reporting DON in wheat are:Alabama,Texas,Missouri, Georgia, Virginia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland. [node:read-more:link]

Among the key findings revealed was that the overall high level of multi-drug resistance of Salmonella found in Europe could be traced mainly to two serovars, namely S. Typhimurium and monophasic S. Typhimurium. With salmonellosis the second most commonly reported foodborne disease in the EU, the high level of resistance in some of the causal bacteria is cause for concern. [node:read-more:link]

The European Union and Japan announced a broad agreement on Thursday that would lower barriers on virtually all the goods traded between them, a pointed challenge to President Trump on the eve of a summit meeting of world leaders in Germany. Though the deal still needs further negotiation and approval before it can take effect, it represents an act of geopolitical theater, a day before a Group of 20 summit meeting begins in Hamburg. [node:read-more:link]

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a motion to impose sanctions against JBS USA, a unit of São Paulo, Brazil-based JBS SA, for losing or destroying evidence in a religious discrimination and retaliation case. In a statement, JBS USA denied any wrongdoing. [node:read-more:link]