Nitrogen pollution flowing out of Iowa to the Gulf of Mexico has grown by close to 50 percent over nearly two decades, a new report shows, despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent to stem nutrients entering the state's waterways.A University of Iowa study shows the state's contribution to the Gulf dead zone spiked 47 percent to 618 million pounds in 2016, based on five-year running annual averages."Just based on water quality data, I think we can say we’ve not made much progress over the past 20 years in terms of nitrogen," said Chris Jones, a research engineer at the UI's IIHR–Hydrosc [node:read-more:link]

Round two of President Donald Trump's trade assault on Beijing is expected by the end of this week, when the Treasury Department rolls out new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States and on the technologies that can be sold to China.After an internal debate, the administration appears to have settled on more aggressive restrictions favored by U.S. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will propose setting a 19.88-billion-gallon biofuels blending mandate in 2019 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), up about 3 percent from 2018, according to two sources briefed on the matter. The proposal will include 15 billion gallons for conventional biofuels like corn-based ethanol, unchanged from this year, and 4.88 billion gallons for advanced biofuels, up from 4.29 billion from this year, the sources said, asking not to be named. The targets for biodiesel will be 2.43 billion gallons, up from 2.1 billion this year. [node:read-more:link]

As food companies struggle to prop up their profits in an increasingly competitive marketplace, many are turning to deceptive food labeling to distinguish their products. And they’re doing it by playing upon food safety fears and misconceptions. This includes claims like: Gluten-free water! (which could never contain gluten in the first place). GMO-free tomatoes! (all tomatoes currently available for consumption are already GMO-free). No high-fructose corn syrup peanut butter! (true for all brands). GMO-free milk! (all milk is inherently GMO-free). [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a massive Republican farm bill with changes to the government food stamps program that make it unlikely to become law in this form. The Senate is considering its own farm bill with no major changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) used by more than 40 million Americans, or about 12 percent of the total U.S. [node:read-more:link]

President Trump plans to propose a reorganization of the federal government as early as Thursday that includes a possible merger of the Education and Labor Departments, coupled with a reshuffling of other domestic agencies to make them easier to cut or revamp, according to administration officials briefed on the proposal. Mr. Trump and his budget director, Mick Mulvaney, the architect of the plan, have sought to redefine as welfare subsistence benefit programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and housing aid. [node:read-more:link]

U.S. producers of pork, already saddled with duties enacted in an earlier round of the escalating trade dispute with China, are bracing for further pain after Beijing hit the products with additional tariffs due to come into effect next month.  China implemented a 25 percent duty on most U.S. pork items on April 2, and a 15 percent tariff on a range of fruits and nuts, in response to U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum products. Last week it included both categories in a second round of tariffs to be imposed on July 6. [node:read-more:link]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will propose reallocating biofuel blending obligations waived under its small refinery exemption program to other refiners, in an announcement that could come as early as Friday, according to two sources familiar with the agency’s plans. The move is a nod to biofuel groups frustrated with the agency’s broad expansion of the waiver program under the Trump administration, but will antagonize refining companies who say it will unjustly increase their regulatory costs. U.S. [node:read-more:link]