Profits won’t sprout from shower of prevented-planting payments
Some growers may collect three or even four payments on land where they were unable to plant a crop this spring due to persistent rain and flooding, but no one is going to get rich off of it, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.
USDA tries to plug the holes as ERS staff flows away
The USDA is already recruiting employees to replace Economic Research Service staff workers who will not relocate to Kansas City this summer, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Arkansas hit with ag-gag suit (Public Justice): A coalition of animal welfare, food worker, and environmental groups filed suit in U.S. district court in Little Rock to overturn Arkansas’ broadly written “ag-gag” law, the eighth such lawsuit in the nation.
Hand-pollinating the Ozark chestnut (National Geographic): The Ozark chinquapin, cousin of the American chestnut, was believed extinct, victim of the same fungus that ravaged other chestnuts, but a few survived and are now being propagated at secret locations.
Who’s smuggling meat into China? (Reuters): China stopped the import of Canadian meat after finding “counterfeit” veterinary health documents, and while Canada confirmed the inauthentic certificates, it said it is not clear if the meat actually came from Canada.
EPA air-quality official out (NPR): Bill Wehrum, the EPA’s chief air-quality official, whose job includes overseeing biofuel regulations, has resigned, effective the end of June, amid scrutiny over possible ethics violations.
Heavy rains could bring algal blooms (InsideClimate News): The historically wet spring in the Midwest flushed vast amounts of fertilizer and manure into waterways, potentially triggering an unprecedented season of algal blooms.
Food inflation is modest again (USDA): With the year nearly at its midpoint, grocery prices are headed for their fourth year in a row of lower-than-usual inflation rates, as prices for beef, poultry, cereals, and bakery products stayed soft.
