Ethanol, facing slow recovery, rebrands as climate-friendly fuel
Battered by the pandemic, the ethanol industry labeled itself on Tuesday as the climate-friendly automobile fuel of the future. Officials said it could be a year or more before straggling biofuel sales recover fully from the coronavirus.
Ready cash sends farmland values higher
Higher commodity prices are putting cash in farmers’ pockets and as a result, farmland values are headed upward this year, said economist Brent Gloy. “The question most are considering is, ‘How high will farmland values adjust?'” asked Gloy in a blog.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Agriculture power trio: Three Black Georgians — House Agriculture chairman David Scott, House Appropriations subcommittee chairman Sanford Bishop, and Sen. Raphael Warnock — are “three of the most powerful voices in American agriculture” and food policy. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Hazard pay blowback from Kroger: Food retailer QFC, owned by Kroger, said it will close two Seattle grocery stores effective April 24 in part because of a city requirement to pay workers an additional $4 an hour in so-called hero pay during the pandemic. (Seattle Times)
Heirs property expert to USDA: Monica Rainge, who directed an heirs property program for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, will serve as deputy assistant agriculture secretary for civil rights, announced USDA. (USDA)
Covid’s rural plateau: The rural death rate from Covid-19 has held steady, at slightly below 8 per 100,000 people, since the week ending Jan. 13, but the weekly rate of new infections has been on a steep decline since the start of the year. (Daily Yonder)
Big wheat losses: Wheat growers in Kansas, often the No. 1 wheat-growing state, probably will abandon a quarter of their winter wheat land, the most since a drought in 2006, because of damage by icy weather this week, according to analysts. (Bloomberg)
