Corn losses in rainy spring will be ‘similar to a severe drought’ in scope
Heading into the final week of May, U.S. farmers have planted only 46 percent of the corn and soybean acreage that they intended this year, due to the rainy spring.
Controversial pesticide use sees dramatic increase across the Midwest
Farmers have been using the weed killer glyphosate – a key ingredient of the product Roundup – at soaring levels even as glyphosate has become increasingly less effective and as health concerns and lawsuits mount.
Republicans block House passage of disaster bill for second time
A conservative Republican prevented House passage of the long-delayed $19.1-billion disaster bill that includes $3 billion for agricultural relief. The next opportunity to act on the bill will be Thursday.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Spring brings big planting decisions (Iowa Public Radio): Wet weather has delayed crop plantings across the midwest, but with crop insurance deadlines approaching and a second round of bailout funds coming, farmers must decide which programs to stake their farms on.
The risks of foreign-owned land (NPR): Nearly 30 million acres of American farmland is held by foreign investors, a reality that some farm advocates—and even presidential candidates—have identified as a possible national security threat.
A moderate Democrat defends her post (Washington Post): First-term Rep. Abagail Spanberger, who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee on conservation, already has a Republican challenger for re-election.
U.S. to delay decision on monarch butterfly (Sierra Sun Times): Environmental groups accepted an extended deadline, to December 2020, for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether to protect the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act.
Soda-warning bill advances in California (Los Angeles Times): The state Senate narrowly passed and sent to the state Assembly a bill to require health warning labels on sugary drinks.
Is disaster the springboard to change? (The New Republic): The vast floods that scoured eastern Nebraska at the end of last winter may also mark a thaw in long-frozen ideology about rural economic development and urban-rural alignments.
