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DuPont Co will pay Monsanto Co at least $1.75 billion in a new licensing deal and both companies have agreed to dissolve their bitter legal battles over rights to technology for genetically modified seeds, the world's top seed companies said on Tuesday. The companies agreed to drop antitrust and patent claims against each other while forging the new collaboration, and agreed to toss out a $1 billion jury verdict DuPont was ordered to pay Monsanto last August.

U.S. environmental regulators are failing to protect honey bees and their role in pollinating important food crops, and should immediately suspend use of some toxic insecticides tied to the widespread deaths of the bees, a lawsuit filed on Thursday charges. "It is a catastrophe in progress," said migratory bee keeper Steve Ellis who maintains 2,000 bee hives for pollinating crops from Minnesota to California. "We have an ongoing problem that is worsening."

Giant U.S. food and grain-handling companies ConAgra Foods Inc, Cargill and CHS Inc plan to combine their North American flour milling businesses into a new venture that would control more than a third of U.S. capacity, dwarfing all competitors in size and market reach. Dubbed Ardent Mills, the operation would encompass 44 flour mills with locations coast to coast, from California to Massachusetts as well as bakery mix and specialty bakery facilities, with footholds in Canada and Puerto Rico.

Animal rights groups are threatening to sue the U.S. government if officials move ahead with plans to allow meat-packing companies to resume the slaughter of horses for human consumption, a practice that was banned in 2006. "It's a big fight," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. "We will sue if we have to. We're also working with Congress to stop this."

DuPont is expanding its pipeline of new products under development to include the potential for a biotech wheat, a company official said on Tuesday. DuPont and its Pioneer Hi-Bred agricultural seed unit said a hybrid wheat technology project has been added to its roster of crop research programs that are advancing into deeper development. DuPont currently is largely focused on genetic improvements to corn and soybeans, as well as enhanced canola and rice.

High levels of a dangerous toxin found in bagged dog food on a grocery store shelf in Iowa have highlighted the prevalence of a problematic mold in last year's U.S. corn crop, as state and federal officials work on limiting the food safety concern. "Last year's corn crop - it is a huge issue. We test every load coming in. And we reject a lot of loads," said Michael Wright, chief executive officer of Pro-Pet, an Ohio-based pet food manufacturer that learned last week some of its product was tainted with aflatoxin, a naturally occurring poison that can cause serious illness or even death if consumed.

CoBank, a major lender to U.S. agriculture through its role in the U.S. Farm Credit System, reported higher quarterly earnings and its 13th consecutive year of profit gains on Thursday, but warned 2013 would be a more daunting year. Denver-based CoBank, a $92 billion co-op bank and member of the Farm Credit System, said net profit for the fourth quarter rose 7 percent to $153.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, and year-end income climbed 21 percent to $853.9 million.

The heavy winter snowstorm sweeping across the U.S. midsection was a welcomed event for U.S. winter wheat farmers worried that their drought-stricken fields were too parched to produce a healthy crop this year. Nearly a foot or more of snow fell across key growing areas in Oklahoma and Kansas in the last 24 hours, and more was coming.

Developing countries accounted for the first time last year for more than half the global biotech crop area, though the United States remains the primary nation making use of genetically altered crops, according to an industry report. "The developments we will see over the next five years will be in favor of developing countries. That is where the mouths are that we have to feed," said Clive James, chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA), which issued the report.

A 75-year-old Indiana grain farmer will take on global seed giant Monsanto Co at the U.S. Supreme Court next week in a patent battle that could have ramifications for the biotechnology industry and possibly the future of food production. The highest court in the United States will hear arguments on Tuesday in the dispute, which started when soybean farmer Vernon Bowman bought and planted a mix of unmarked grain typically used for animal feed. The plants that grew turned out to contain the popular herbicide-resistant genetic trait known as Roundup Ready that Monsanto guards closely with patents.