The U.S. environmental agency is considering banning sprayings of the agricultural herbicide dicamba after a set deadline next year, according to state officials advising the agency on its response to crop damage linked to the weed killer.

Reuters reports that Monsanto Co. turned down a sweetened $64 billion acquisition offer from Bayer AG, but said it was open to further talks with the German healthcare and chemicals group as well as other parties.

U.S. agribusiness giant Cargill Inc. said it won't accept Syngenta AG's genetically modified Agrisure Viptera corn at its North American wet milling plants until the corn variety is approved by the European Union.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore reportedly has had a change of heart on ethanol, telling a conference on green energy in Europe that he only supported tax breaks for the alternative fuel to pander to farmers.