BEIJING (Bloomberg) — The European Union (EU), which tied with the United States as the world’s biggest farm product exporter in 2011, signed a plan on cooperating in agriculture with China, the leading global consumer of grains and cotton.

The accord was signed June 11 in Beijing by EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos and Han Changfu, China’s minister for agriculture, the European Commission reported on its website. The plan is intended to address issues including food security and the environment, with a goal of enhancing trade relations and sustainability, it stated.

Agricultural exports from the EU were a record 105 billion euros ($132.7 billion USD) last year and equaled shipments from the United States, the commission – the 27-nation bloc’s executive arm – said last month. China and Hong Kong make up the third-biggest agricultural import market for the EU, with shipments climbing by about 2.5 billion euros ($3.16 billion USD) in 2011.

“Agriculture is of crucial interest for both China and the European Union,” Ciolos said in a statement on the commission’s website. “This cooperation plan is a new step in our commitment to work together to address common challenges – in particular, food security, rural development, food safety and climate change.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) — The Senate has turned back an effort by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul to drastically cut food stamp spending and replace the food aid program with block grants to the states.

The 65-33 vote last week to defeat the Paul amendment was part of debate on a five-year, $500 billion farm and food bill. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) makes up about $80 billion of the $100 billion yearly cost of the farm bill, providing aid to some 46 million people.

The farm bill would reduce food stamps spending by $4 billion over the next decade by eliminating abuses. Paul’s amendment would have saved $322 billion over the same period by capping spending at $45 billion a year and turning over funding decisions to the states.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling for letting states require that any food or beverage containing genetically engineered ingredients be clearly labeled. 

Sanders blames the demise of a labeling bill in the Vermont House this year on the threat of a lawsuit from a producer of genetically engineered products. Sanders and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) have offered an amendment on the farm bill that would make clear that states can require labeling of foods produced through genetic engineering or derived from organisms that have been genetically engineered.

The measure also would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the USDA to report to Congress within two years on the percentage of food and beverages in the United States that contain genetically-engineered ingredients.

REMSEN, Iowa (AP) — A 30-year-old man has been injured in a collision between his farm machine and a train at a crossing in northwestern Iowa.

Authorities said David Keffeler was driving a self-propelled sprayer about three miles east of Remsen when it was hit just before 6 p.m. June 12. The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office said Keffeler apparently didn’t see the westbound train.

Keffeler was flown to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City for treatment. A hospital nursing official said last week she couldn’t provide any information on Keffeler.

Authorities are investigating the accident.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP) — Cougars are again spreading across the Midwest a century after the generally reclusive predators were hunted to near extinction in much of the region, according to a new study billed as the first rigorous statistical look at the issue.

The findings, detailed in The Journal of Wildlife Management, showed 178 cougar confirmations in the Midwest and as far south as Texas between 1990-2008. While confirmed sightings of Midwest cougars were sporadic before 1990, when there were only a couple, that number spiked to more than 30 by 2008, the study shows.

Researchers said the study poses fresh questions about how humans and livestock can coexist with the reemerging predators, whose movements appear to be following natural dispersal instincts. The study sorts through various reported sightings and affixes a number to those it could confirm, which is significant because no government agency tracks the number of large cats across the country.

Wildlife officials have for years said it’s unclear how many of the animals may be in the Midwest, where they are not federally protected and, in some states, can be hunted. In the study, researchers relied on carcasses, cougar DNA from scat and hair samples, animal tracks, photos, video and instances of attacks on livestock across 14 states and Canadian provinces to measure the number of cougars east of the Rocky Mountains.

Of the cougar confirmations by researchers, roughly 62 percent took place within some 12 miles of habitat considered suitable for the animals’ populations. Sixty-seven of the confirmations were in Nebraska, 31 in North Dakota, 12 each in Oklahoma and Texas, 11 in South Dakota and 10 in Missouri. Single-digit tallies were in Arkansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Kansas and Michigan.