Over 100 billion pounds of food goes to waste every year in America. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm to Food Bank is trying to cut down on that waste by connecting local farmers and food pantries, but it’s future depends on how much funding is included for the program in the next farm bill.

As some states move to put stricter regulations on the meat and eggs sold within their borders, the agricultural industry and lawmakers are figuring out how to respond. That’s after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld California’s law earlier this year on animal confinement for pork sold in the state.

After the success of a two-year pilot program, Overland Park residents will be now allowed to keep backyard chickens on lots greater than .20 acres. Only hens are eligible — no roosters.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture published its new standard for organic livestock production. Industry groups say that this will help producers compete and promote trust in organic products for consumers.

Drought has affected several pumpkin-producing states, including Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. But rain arrived at the right time to produce a bumper crop in parts of the Midwest.

Thousands of competitors come to the American Royal Livestock Show in Kansas City, Missouri, each year to show their best livestock. The competition includes children as young as 7 years old, who take part in a long tradition of raising and showing their animals.

Monarch butterflies travel hundreds and even thousands of miles in their migration to Mexico. Volunteer efforts to tag the butterflies have helped scientists learn more about their journey.

About a quarter of the United States’s irrigated cropland sits on top of the Ogallala Aquifer in the Great Plains. But water levels are dropping, and states are taking different approaches to monitoring how much groundwater irrigators are pumping out.

Hot and dry weather across the Midwest is creating a ripe situation for wildfires, especially as farmers head into the fields for harvest.

Proposed projects would add more than 3,000 miles of new carbon pipelines through rural parts of the Midwest. Some emergency officials are concerned about safety, especially after a rupture on a similar pipeline three years ago.