Air Force sees national security threat in Chinese-owned corn mill
China-based Fufeng Group may be forced to abandon plans for a corn milling plant in North Dakota, with the Air Force declaring the project “a significant threat to national security.”
Ag corporations boom despite California’s historic drought
In a report released Wednesday, Food & Water Watch found that agricultural corporations have used California’s outdated water rights system to their advantage and expanded their most water-intensive operations, even as some of the state’s rural communities have run out of water completely.
Famine projected if food USAID falters
After five seasons without meaningful rainfall in the Horn of Africa, famine is projected in parts of southern Somalia in the spring without reliable food aid, a top USAID official told senators on Wednesday. “Preventing famine and large-scale deaths across the region in the coming year will require sustained and robust humanitarian assistance from the international community,” said Sarah Charles, head of USAID’s Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Deep snowpack: Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is twice as deep as normal for a Feb. 1 and the deepest in four decades. (Los Angeles Times)
Market-development funds: Companion bills in the Senate and House would double the funding, to $469 million, for two USDA programs that share the cost of developing foreign markets for ag exports. (King)
Monarchs rebound again: The population of western monarch butterflies has rebounded for the second year in a row, according to a survey that found more than 330,000 butterflies wintering along the California coast. (Associated Press)
Ag appropriations members named: Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop will be the senior Democrat on the House Appropriations subcommittee on agriculture this session, with Democrats Chellie Pingree of Maine, Lauren Underwood of Illinois, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Barbara Lee of California and Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida also on the subcommittee. (House Appropriations)
