KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Significant levels of the world’s most-used herbicide have been detected in air and water samples from two U.S. farm states, government scientists said on Wednesday, in groundbreaking research on the active ingredient in Monsanto Co’s Roundup.

“It is out there in significant levels. It is out there consistently,” said Paul Capel, environmental chemist and head of the agricultural chemicals team at the U.S. Geological Survey Office, part of the U.S. Department of Interior.

, Aug 31 (Reuters) – U.S. ethanol
production slipped nearly 2 percent last week and stocks were
depleted at the same pace as good demand met with tight
competition for high-priced corn, ethanol’s key ingredient. The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. ethanol production totaled 888,000 barrels per day in the seven days to Aug. 26, down 16,000 barrels per day from the previous week. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Graphic of weekly ethanol production: r.reuters.com/zyj53s ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Ethanol stocks fell 350,000 barrels to 17.89 million barrels over the last week, the EIA said in its weekly report. Chicago Board of Trade corn futures have been rising on strong demand and tight supplies ahead of harvesting of the new U.S. crop. On Wednesday, however, the corn futures market was setting back on some profit taking. The benchmark CBOT December corn futures contract was off 4-1/2 cents at $7.70-3/4 per bushel. Ethanol futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ZEc1 were also lower on Wednesday, with the spot month down 0.014 cents to $2.908 per gallon. (Reporting by Carey Gillam; Editing by Alden Bentley)

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Triple-digit temperatures baking the south were amplifying the effects of historic drought in the region, and forecasts offered little hope for relief anytime soon.

Despite scattered rainfall earlier this month, increasingly hot and dry weather over the last week mitigated the benefits of the recent rainfall across the southern Plains, according to a report issued Thursday by a consortium of state and federal climatologists dubbed the U.S. Drought Monitor.

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) – Dow AgroSciences, a unit of chemical conglomerate Dow Chemical is launching a genetically altered soybean seed aimed as a direct assault on the dominance of global seed leader Monsanto Co.

Dow submitted a regulatory package on Friday seeking government approval for a glyphosate-tolerant soybean that the company says would be the “first-ever, three-gene,” herbicide-tolerant soybean.

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) – U.S. grain prices tumbled on Thursday as investors fled to safe havens such as gold amid renewed concerns over global growth, with wheat sliding nearly 3 percent to snap its longest rally in six months.

Most commodity markets fell as the Dow .DJI plunged more than 4 percent and the dollar surged 1 percent after a slew of data reinforced concerns over sputtering U.S. economic growth.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – A band of showers has offered some relief to parched areas from Kansas to Mississippi, but the historic drought causing billions of dollars in losses in the South is showing no signs of abating soon.

Some parts of hard-hit Texas saw more rainfall in one day last week than they have seen all year. Still, much more would be needed to help that state, which has more than 90 percent of its land area suffering “extreme or exceptional” – the worst levels of drought.

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) – U.S. wheat rose for a seventh straight session on Wednesday to match the longest rally since January as a drop in the dollar improved export prospects for U.S. supplies while production concerns grew.

High-quality spring wheat futures traded at the smaller exchange in Minneapolis led the charge, rising more than 2 percent amid concerns over poor yields from the crop being harvested.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – Kansas farmer Larry Kepley is almost out of hope.

After drought left the veteran wheat farmer with what he called the “worst wheat harvest” he’s ever known, the odds for next year’s crop are looking just as grim.

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) – U.S. grains ended higher on Monday as they continued to rebound with the stock market on renewed investor confidence in riskier assets and a weaker dollar encouraging export business.

Benchmark December corn rose to a new contract high and led soybeans higher for the fourth straight session.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) – The heavy use of Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide appears to be causing harmful changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of the genetically modified crops that farmers are cultivating, a government scientist said on Friday.

Repeated use of the chemical glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, impacts the root structure of plants, and 15 years of research indicates that the chemical could be causing fungal root disease, said Bob Kremer, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.