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A federal judge announced Friday a decision to halt payments in a USDA loan forgiveness program designed to help farmers of color. USDA has until Friday to respond to the court’s temporary restraining order.

Cargill’s CEO says the company is in the middle of a major shakeup as it says consumers will continue to demand more plant-based protein products.

The change in the weather forecast sent commodity prices plummeting Monday. Corn and soybean prices saw pressure after the weather models produced an outlook for wetter and cooler weather by the end of the week.

It’s a steady theme since USDA introduced corn crop condition ratings this year. The quality of the crop continues to decline, with corn dropping 4 points each week. Soybean conditions also fell.

Meteorologist Mike Hoffman takes a closer look at what’s going on in the West.

The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows nearly 10% of the contiguous U.S. is now under an “exceptional drought,” which is the highest the rate has been since 2011.

Just before leaving for the G-20 Summit in Italy this week, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told leaders from around the globe that agriculture will lead the way in creating climate solutions.

“I like to say you’re going to have to have a permit to do normal farming decisions,” he told Chip Flory, host of AgriTalk.

USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey says dryness is a major factor impacting corn condition ratings in some areas. U.S. corn crop condition ratings dropped another 4 points this week, according to the latest USDA report.

Could Palmer amaranth, the king of resistant weeds and crippler of herbicides, be dethroned by its own sex drive? A herbicide-free technology is under testing and aims to attack pigweed with its own pollen.