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Monsanto Co is hosting a "Bee Summit." Bayer AG is breaking ground on a "Bee Care Center." And Sygenta AG is funding grants for research into the accelerating demise of honeybees in the United States, where the insects pollinate fruits and vegetables that make up roughly a quarter of the American diet. The agrichemical companies are taking these initiatives at a time when their best-selling pesticides are under fire from environmental and food activists who say the chemicals are killing off millions of bees. The companies say their pesticides are not the problem, but critics say science shows the opposite.

Canadian regulators have given a green light to Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical Co, to introduce a controversial new herbicide meant to control spreading weed resistance, Dow said on Thursday. Health Canada's Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA)approved "Enlist Duo" herbicide for use in Canada, making it the first country to authorize the new herbicide.

Monsanto Co, the world's largest seed company, is developing two new platforms that diverge from its core business and are seen as potential key long-term growth drivers, according to top Monsanto executives. The first, a precision planting product called "FieldScripts," is being rolled out for beta testing this year to more than 150 farmers in the U.S. Midwest.

U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for overseas lobbying that promotes controversial biotech crops developed by U.S.-based Monsanto Co and other seed makers, a report issued on Tuesday said. A review of 926 diplomatic cables of correspondence to and from the U.S. State Department and embassies in more than 100 countries found that State Department officials actively promoted the commercialization of specific biotech seeds, according to the report issued by Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit consumer protection group.

Monsanto Co. is pushing on with plans to introduce a controversial new type of herbicide-tolerant crop, and last week's decision by the U.S. government to extend its scrutiny of the proposed new crops should not spell a significant delay, a top company official said Tuesday. U.S.-based Monsanto is setting up 20 field locations around the United States to test and market its "Xtend" soybean product at the same time that company officials said they would be working quickly to provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture with additional study data to show the product's safety. The company continues to have a goal of securing regulatory approval by 2015 or shortly after, Monsanto Chief Technology Officer Robert Fraley said in an interview.

The Department of Agriculture said Friday it will extend its scrutiny of controversial proposed biotech crops developed by Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical, and Monsanto Co. after receiving an onslaught of opposition to the companies' plans. The news frustrated Dow officials who had hoped to have secured regulatory approval and have their new herbicide-tolerant corn called "Enlist" on the market by 2013 or 2014 at the latest. But 2015 is now likely the best hope for commercialization, said Dow AgroSciences spokeswoman Kenda Resler Friend. Farmers need the new technology to better manage weeds, she said.

Dangerous antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been found in ground turkey on U.S. grocery shelves across a variety of brands and stores located in 21 states, according to a report by a consumer watchdog organization. Of the 257 samples of ground turkey tested, more than half were found to be positive for fecal bacteria and overall, 90 percent were contaminated with one or more types of disease-causing organisms, many of which proved resistant to one or more common antibiotics, Consumer Reports found.

Heavy use of the world’s most popular herbicide, Roundup, may be linked to a range of health problems and diseases, including Parkinson’s, infertility and cancers, according to a new study.

The report, published this month in the online journal Entropy, said evidence indicates that residues of glyphosate, the chief ingredient in Roundup and other weedkillers, has been found in food.

Those residues enhance the damaging effects of other food-borne chemical residues and toxins in the environment to disrupt normal body functions and induce disease, according to the report, authored by Stephanie Seneff, a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Anthony Samsel, a retired science consultant from the management consulting firm Arthur D. Little and a member of the Union of Concerned Scientists, an advocacy group.

New efforts to force labeling of foods made with genetically modified crops, including a bill introduced by U.S. lawmakers Wednesday, have struck a nerve with biotech crop developers who say they are rushing to roll out a broad strategy to combat consumer concerns about their products. Executives from Monsanto Co., DuPont, and Dow Chemical, among the world's largest developers of biotech crops and the chemicals used to help produce them, told Reuters this week they are putting together a campaign aimed at turning the tide on what they acknowledge is a growing public sentiment against genetically modified organisms (GMOs) used as ingredients in the nation's food supply.

Drought conditions across portions of the central United States continued to moderate as rain and snow boosted soil moisture in the past week, according to a report released on Thursday by state and federal climatologists. The "Drought Monitor" report, which tracks the land area affected by drought, said the High Plains, the region suffering the most from drought, was seeing significant relief.