Monsanto confirmed it made a private proposal to Syngenta to acquire its rival for $45 billion, which the Switzerland-based company rejected.

Some no-tillers ease into continuous no-till and transition their whole farm to the new system over a few years.

Despite strong opposition from farm organizations to the original version of the federal government’s Clean Water Rule, the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers went ahead and released updated rules on May 27. While the 1972 Clean Water Act dealt mostly with larger rivers, lakes and bays, a major worry with the new rules is that farmers may now need government permits to deal with fairly simple matters such as on-farm ditches, ponds and even puddles.

It Was About 6 years ago when the first cracks in the armor — in this case, Bt corn — were discovered in Iowa. And today, the threat of Bt resistance in corn hasn’t really lessened, as it’s been detected in many other areas of Iowa and several other Midwestern states, particularly in the western corn belt.