Projects will pay farmers to reduce water use in the West
Eighteen water districts in the arid U.S. West will receive a share of $400 million from the USDA for local projects that pay farmers to reduce water consumption while keeping land in production, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. Irrigation use could drop by 50,000 acre-feet on 250,000 acres in 12 states, from Texas to California and Oregon.
Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ is larger than average<,/h2>
As predicted, the low-oxygen “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico is larger than average this year, said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday. At 6,705 square miles — or roughly the size of New Jersey — this year’s dead zone is more than three times the size of the target set for 2035.
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
H5N1 infections undercounted?: “I am confident more people are being infected than we know about,” said a disease researcher after tests found H5N1 antibodies — a sign of infection by the avian flu virus — in two Texas farmworkers who were not on the U.S. list of bird flu victims. (NPR)
Ruling upholds CAFO limits: The Michigan Supreme Court ruled, 5-2, that state regulators have the power to set stricter limits on water pollution from factory farms without having to go through a lengthy rulemaking process. (Bridge Michigan)
Newhouse faces primary test: Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse, who voted to impeach then-President Trump in 2021, will face Jerrod Sessler, a Trump-backed challenger, and Tiffany Smiley, a Trump acolyte, in Tuesday’s primary election in Washington’s 4th U.S. House District. (Associated Press)
45Z for domestic feedstocks: Sixteen farm-state senators said in a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the IRS rule for 45Z tax credits, due later this year, “must make it clear the tax credit may only apply to biofuels produced from domestic feedstocks.” (Sen. Marshall)
Beyond cover crops: An environmental research center says the USDA is pouring money into cover crops as a climate-smart practice when it would make more financial sense to identify where cover crops are appropriate and support other climate mitigation practices with a greater payoff. (Breakthrough Institute)
