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Crowd funding has found the farm. AgFunder, an online platform for agriculture-related companies to seek capital through a form of crowd-sourced fundraising, said Wednesday it was launching its first campaign by focusing on a California agricultural data company. Through the online platform, Fresno, California-based OnFarm is looking to raise $400,000 in capital to grow a farm data software service, AgFunder said. The offering is the first to go live on New York City-based AgFunder, which started up late last year and is offering both debt financing and equity offerings for individual and institutional investors to play in the ag space, according to Rob Leclerc, AgFunder co-founder and CEO.

A group of biotech companies battling to increase U.S. consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods is increasing paid advertising efforts as it expands a social media marketing website it started last year. The paid ads will seek to drive traffic to the www.GMOAnswers.com website, started last year by agrichemical industry players that want to allay concerns about GMO foods, according to an executive who helps to run the site. The Internet campaign is part of a broad strategy by the biotech industry to try to beat back growing calls for GMO food labeling and for tighter regulation of the biotech seed industry in the United States.

A group of biotech companies battling to increase U.S. consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods is increasing paid advertising efforts as it expands a social media marketing website it started last year. The paid ads will seek to drive traffic to the www.GMOAnswers.com website started last year by agrichemical industry players that want to allay concerns about GMO foods, according to an executive who helps to run the site. The web campaign is part of a broad strategy by the biotech industry to try to beat back growing calls for GMO food labeling and for tighter regulation of the biotech seed industry in the United States.

Picking up a gallon of milk at the grocery store is getting pricier and the cost could hit a record high for U.S. consumers in March, analysts warned.

Strong global demand and stagnant production in other countries has led to increased exports of U.S. dairy products in recent months, generating more money for dairy farmers but resulting in likely price hikes of 10-20 percent at the retail level in some markets, according to analysts.

DuPont Pioneer, the agricultural seed unit of DuPont, said Tuesday that it signed a deal with DTN/The Progressive Farmer to provide weather and market information to farmers, along with new grain trading capabilities, all accessed through mobile devices. "Our customers are running small businesses. Production in the field is really important as well as the business side. So this is just another step to being able to address key needs," said DuPont Pioneer Director of Services Joe Foresman. Foresman said financial terms of the deal are not being released. Branding, packaging and pricing decisions for the offerings are still being determined, he said.

Critics of genetically modified crops protested at Monsanto Co's annual shareholders meeting on Tuesday, calling for the world's largest seed company to provide a report on contamination in non-GMO crops and to stop fighting mandatory labels on foods containing GMO ingredients. The requests came in the form of two shareholder resolutions that were backed by environmental, food safety and consumer activist groups. They said that more than 2.6 million members support their efforts.

Four U.S. lawmakers joined with more than 200 food companies, organic farming groups, health and environment organizations and other groups on Thursday to urge President Barack Obama to require manufacturers to label food products that contain genetically engineered ingredients. The groups delivered a letter to the president dated January 16 reminding Obama of a campaign pledge the groups said he made in 2007 as he campaigned in Iowa to work to label so-called GMO foods. The issue is hotly contested, with more than 20 states considering laws to mandate labeling of foods made with gene-altered corn, soybeans, sugar beets and other biotech crops. Currently, labeling of such foods is voluntary.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents more than 300 food companies, is preparing a petition to the chief U.S. food safety regulator and a push in Congress to require changes in oversight and labeling of new genetically modified foods, an association leader said Monday. The double-pronged strategy, which the group expects roll out early this year, is aimed at squelching state-by-state efforts to mandate labeling of foods containing biotech crops, and at the same time setting a standard that among other things would authorize GMO foods to be touted as "natural."

Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings on Wednesday as a rise in herbicide sales offset a decline in its corn business. The company also said it was making fast progress on more than two dozen new projects and was laying the groundwork for an extension of its precision farming platform, which uses data and technology to prescribe production tools for individual farmers. Shares of Monsanto were up 2.3 percent at $115.44 in afternoon trading. Analysts lauded the company's performance, saying it reflected a good balance of high-margin herbicide sales and advances in the seed businesses.

Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, said Wednesday it was making good progress on development of an herbicide-tolerant wheat, pushing what would be the world's first biotech wheat a step closer to market. Monsanto is already a leading developer of biotech corn, soybeans and other crops and the company has long tried to bring to market a wheat genetically altered to tolerate spraying of glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup herbicide.