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Japan and South Korea are continuing to test the U.S. wheat they buy to make sure the grain is not contaminated with an experimental version developed by Monsanto Co, but could soon stop the practice, the head of a U.S. wheat association said on Thursday. The two countries, which are among the top purchasers of U.S. wheat, have been sampling and testing all the U.S. wheat they have purchased since last year, when news broke that a farmer in Oregon had found Monsanto's unapproved biotech wheat growing in his field, according to U.S. Wheat Associates, which markets American wheat to international buyers. All of their test results on over five million tonnes of wheat have been negative, it said.

Monsanto Co's experimental genetically engineered wheat, never approved for sale, has been found growing in a second U.S. state, and regulators said on Friday they could not explain how the plants escaped field trials that ended almost a decade ago. About a year after discovery of the company's unapproved wheat in a single Oregon field disrupted U.S. wheat export sales, the GMO wheat has also been found in Montana, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said on Friday.

U.S. wheat exports should not be hurt by the second discovery of experimental Monsanto Co. genetically modified wheat growing in a U.S. state where it was not approved, industry leaders said on Friday, because the wheat is not believed to be in commercial channels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) announced Friday that it was investigating the discovery of wheat plants containing an unapproved genetic alteration in Montana.

U.S. approval of Dow AgroSciences' new genetically-modified corn and soybeans takes the agricultural giant a step closer to its "most important" product launch ever, but a series of hurdles remain, the company said on Thursday. "We sure are aware of the concerns that have been expressed," said Dow AgroSciences President Tim Hassinger in an interview.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday gave final approval to new genetically modified corn and soybeans developed by Dow AgroSciences that, while heavily criticized by environmentalists and some farmers, are portrayed by Dow as an answer to weed resistance problems that limit crop production. Approval of the specialty corn and soybeans to be sold as part of a branded "Enlist Weed Control System" means the traits could be on the market for the 2015 U.S. planting season, according to Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical.

Agriculture experts raised a number of concerns with genetically modified crops, including safety and spreading weed resistance, at the first public meeting of a a U.S. government sponsored study of genetically engineered crops held Monday. The study, led by the National Research Council (NRC) and sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, comes at a time of growing consumer suspicion of genetically modified crops, which are used in a variety of packaged food products. Many U.S. states are seeking mandatory labeling of foods with GMO ingredients, and a growing number of food companies are offering non-GMO products.

DuPont will pay a $1.85 million penalty to resolve allegations that the global chemical company did not properly disclose the risks of using one of its herbicides, leading to widespread damage to tree species through several U.S. states. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered DuPont to stop selling the herbicide, Imprelis, in August 2011 after the agency received more than 7,000 reports of tree damage or death tied to its use. Damage to trees, primarily Norway spruce and white pine, was reported throughout Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin and several other Midwest states.

Opponents of mandatory labeling for foods made with genetically modified organisms spent more than $27 million in the first six months of this year on GMO-related lobbying, roughly three times their spending in all of 2013, according to an analysis released Wednesday. The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and major food makers such as Coca-Cola Co and PepsiCo Inc and top biotech seed makers Monsanto Co and DuPont were among heavy spenders on GMO labeling-related lobbying, among other food issues, according to a report issued by the Environmental Working Group.

DuPont will pay a fine of $1.275 million and spend an estimated $2.3 million more to settle claims by U.S. officials that the global chemical conglomerate failed to prevent toxic releases of hazardous substances in West Virginia that killed at least one man, environmental regulators said on Wednesday. E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co reached the settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice in a case about eight alleged releases of harmful levels of hazardous substances between May 2006 and January 2010 from a DuPont facility in Belle, West Virginia, the EPA said.

A group of global biotech crop companies won a court victory on Monday that blocks enactment of a law passed last year limiting the planting of biotech crops and use of pesticides on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren of the U.S. District Court in Hawaii ruled that the law passed in November by local leaders on the island was invalid because it was pre-empted by Hawaii state law.