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Cancer drugs for cats, pain relief for dogs, diarrhea drugs for hogs and hormones for dairy cattle: The "animal pharm" industry is increasingly drawing the interest of Wall Street investors. One of the newest companies to market in the emerging sector, California-based Jaguar Animal Health, notified the Securities and Exchange Commission in late August of intent to launch an initial public offering valued up to $70 million for development of gastrointestinal products for pets and livestock.

Monsanto Co (MON.N), the world's largest seed company, reported a narrower fourth-quarter loss on Wednesday and said it sees continued growth in the new fiscal year on sales of corn and soybean seeds. Monsanto, known for its genetically engineered corn, soybeans and other crops as well as the popular Roundup herbicide, forecast earnings in a range of $5.75 to $6.00 per share for the 2015 year. Analysts were expecting $6.03.

A majority of U.S. packaged foods labeled as "natural" and tested by Consumer Reports actually contained a substantial level of genetically modified ingredients, according to a report issued Tuesday by the non-profit product testing group. Consumers are being misled by the "natural" label, said Urvashi Rangan, executive director of Consumer Reports Food Safety and Sustainability.

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.