Bayer abandons key provision in glyphosate settlement plan
Two weeks after agreeing to pay up to $9.6 billion to resolve thousands of cancer lawsuits against glyphosate, seed and ag-chemical giant Bayer is still looking for a way to handle future litigation against the weedkiller. A proposal to appoint a panel of experts to decide if glyphosate is carcinogenic — a pivotal question for cases filed in coming years — died on Wednesday following criticism from the federal judge handling the lawsuits.
CDC updates Covid-19 numbers at meat plants but uses weeks-old data
As of May 31, more than 16,000 meat and poultry processing workers in 23 states had contracted Covid-19, and 86 had died of the disease, said a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Tuesday. Nearly 90 percent of the affected workers were identified as Hispanic, Black, or Asian. According to more up-to-date data, however, the numbers for infected and deceased workers are actually much higher.
AFBF chief is first U.S. farm group leader with coronavirus
Zippy Duvall, president of the largest U.S. farm group, is quarantining at his Georgia farm while recuperating from the coronavirus, said the American Farm Bureau Federation on Wednesday. Duvall is the first leader of a U.S. farm group known to have the virus.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Free school meals for all: The Urban School Food Alliance, which represents 12 school districts with a combined 3.6 million students, will launch a campaign on Thursday urging free meals for all public school students in the upcoming school year, said executive director Katie Wilson. (The Hagstrom Report)
USDA buys FMD doses for vaccine bank: The first purchase by the USDA’s new animal vaccine bank, created by the 2018 farm law, is for $27.1 million worth of vaccine against the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease, which affects cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, and other cloven-hoofed livestock. (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)
Landscape-level dicamba damage: So much dicamba weedkiller was used on corn and soybeans in Iowa this year that herbicide evaporation and drift appears to have caused damage on a landscape level. The damage started with soybeans that are not resistant to the chemical and extended to plants throughout the landscape, said weed specialist Bob Hartzler. (ISU Extension)
Throw out SNAP time limit: The House filed a “friend of the court” brief in a lawsuit seeking to overturn a Trump administration rule that would more stringently enforce the 90-day limit on food stamps in a three-year period for able-bodied adults without dependents if they do not work at least 20 hours a week. (Rep. Marcia Fudge)
