Regional food hubs are businesses or organizations that connect farmers and buyers by offering production, distribution and marketing services. Last month, USDA released its new Regional Food Hub Resource Guide – a collection of information, resources and background on everything needed to develop or participate in a regional food hub.

In a joint study, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and Arizona State University found evidence suggesting that a class of antibiotics previously banned by the U.S. government for poultry production is still in use. New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof shares his take on these findings.

Since the introduction of a particular insecticide used as a coating on corn seeds, beekeepers have observed a decline in honeybee populations around the time of corn planting. New research out of Europe provides additional evidence linking the use of this insecticide to bee colony collapse disorder.

Researchers from Dartmouth University found levels of inorganic arsenic, a chemical linked to cancer, chronic diseases and developmental effects, at concentrations well above the legal limits for drinking water. Products included in the study included brands of infant formulas, cereal bars and energy drinks.

A new feature explores eight ways that Monsanto has failed to deliver on sustainability claims.

A new study finds methicillan-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in retail pork products at nearly double the levels suggested by previous research.

Agriculture officials in Ohio are concerned about the backlog of manure that farmers have because an especially rainy fall kept them from spreading manure on their fields, according to The Columbus Dispatch. There were 39 manure spills into streams across Ohio last year, four of which occurred in winter months. Spills also happen when liquid manure is spread on already rain-soaked farm fields or after rainstorms. Ohio has as many as 40 million chickens, hogs and cows that produce more than 17 million tons of manure each year.

Controversial new science is raising suspicion that chemicals in the environment may be programming us to be fat. And it starts before we’re even born. That’s the subject of a new documentary called Programmed to be Fat?, a production of the Vancouver-based Dreamfilm. It’s true that we eat too much and don’t exercise enough, but a small group of scientists have begun looking beyond the obvious because of a group that can’t chew, let alone jog: infant obesity rose more than 70 per cent in just 20 years.

Purdue University researcher Arun Bhunia predicts that probiotics (beneficial bacteria) could help reduce Listeria infections. He and his colleagues found that probiotics can be modified to stop Listeria cells from passing through intestinal walls and into the bloodstream. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Listeria sickens about 1,500 and kills about 250 people each year in the United States and primarily affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults and those with weakened immune systems.