Ninety-percent of meal-kit customers unsubscribe within six months of signing up for the service, says Fast Company, after analyzing data gathered by the market-research firm 1010data. The firm’s data indicated that only about half of customers of Blue Apron remain in the program after the first week, with numbers falling off quickly from there. The dropout rate is similar for other meal-kit companies, like Plated and HelloFresh.

The Obama administration will propose voluntary levels on sodium in processed foods as early as this summer, in "one of its last fights with Big Food," says Politico, citing current and former administration officials.

Under development for decades as an erosion-preventing perennial crop, Kernza, "a sweet, nutty-tasting new grain," is getting a big boost from General Mills, which intends to commercialize the drought-resistant crop, says the Associated Press. Kernza could appear in cereals and snack foods as early as next year, according to the foodmaker, which encourages other companies to help create a market for the food grain.

General Mills is teaming up with the Xerces Society, a wildlife conservation nonprofit, to help save pollinators, says The Guardian. The food manufacturer, which has contributed $4 million to other pollinator conservation projects since 2011,says it will give $2 million to the Xerces-led program to make 100,000 acres of North American farmland pollinator-friendly over the next five years.

More than 300 companies, including Monsanto and Unilever, called on President-elect Donald Trump, President Obama and Congress to continue U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement, reports NPR. The international treaty commits countries to lowering global climate emissions and keeping world temperature increases below two degrees beyond the pre-industrial standard.

Fifteen companies, ranging from food processors to grocery and fast food chains, make up the inaugural class of "food loss and waste champions," said the EPA and USDA. The companies won the designation by agreeing to reduce food waste 50 percent by 2030, in line with an administration goal to conserve resources and to combat climate change.

Diners can get a day's worth of calories, roughly 2,000 for an adult, from the Pasta Napoletana entree at The Cheesecake Factory or the Cheeseburger Omelette sold by IHOP, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest in its annual Xtreme Eating Awards. The consumer watchdog group declared the 2,310-calorie Pasta Napoletana to be "worst adapted pasta" and the 1,990-calorie Cheeseburger Omelette as the "least original breakfast."

In a hearing before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Michael Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, said that while Sam Clovis has a broad resume and “there are likely senior jobs in the Administration that he would have been qualified to hold, the job of USDA chief scientist is not one of them.”

The world's largest farm equipment maker, Deere and Co., said on Tuesday it will begin sales later this year of a "fully autonomous tractor that's ready for large-scale production," but limited for the moment to tillage. "The machine combines Deere's 8R tractor, TruSet-enabled chisel plow, GPS guidance system, and new advanced technologies," said Deere, which unveiled the autonomous tractor at a consumer technology show in Las Vegas.

Alaska imports more than 90 percent of its food, but with Covid-19 interrupting supply chains, especially to remote regions, people in the state are reacting by starting gardens and advocating for more locally grown food, reports Miranda Weiss in FERN's latest story. <strong>(No paywall)</strong>

In FERN's latest story, Michael Behar takes a close look at precision agriculture — cutting-edge tools like drones,  satellite imagery and artificial intelligence that help farmers keep careful watch over their crops. In addition to improving yields, Behar shows how the technology also allows farmers to reduce water and chemical use. The story was produced in collaboration with EatingWell magazine.<strong>(No paywall)</strong>

The so-called Chapter 12 farm bankruptcy rules would be revised by companion bills in Congress that would triple, to $10 million, the amount of debt that could be reorganized. A House version of the bill is sponsored by six representatives, including House Agriculture chairman Collin Peterson. It was filed three weeks after a Senate bill whose sponsors include Finance chairman Chuck Grassley.

Companion bills in the Senate and House would allow the hemp derivative cannabidiol, also known as CBD, to be used in dietary supplements, foods, and beverages, the bills’ four sponsors said on Thursday.

Pointing to a lack of scientific research, the FDA said on Thursday that it would not consider rulemaking for the use of cannabidiol products as dietary or food supplements or in animal feed. Instead, said principal deputy commissioner Janet Woodcock, the FDA wants to work with Congress on “a new regulatory pathway” for CBD.

Americans are consuming the cannabis derivative cannabidiol (CBD) in food, beverages, and supplements, and dosing their pets with it as well, but "there is still much that we do not know about ... potential risks," said FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn on Thursday.

Industrial hemp faces more regulatory and legal hurdles than many other newly hatched industries, says a report from agricultural lender CoBank. While growth in the industry is driven by cannabidiol (CBD), widely available in foods and as a supplement, two other markets hold potential: the fiber and the grain and seed sectors.

Hurricane Florence will pour 15 to 25 inches of rain onto the Carolinas when it reaches land on Thursday, with up to 35 inches in some places, according to the National Hurricane Center. The North Carolina hog industry says it survived Hurricane Matthew with minimal losses in October 2016 and asserts it is prepared for Florence.

In FERN's latest story, produced with Switchyard Magazine, reporter Mya Frazier explores the damage—physical, economic, and emotional—done to Ohio's rural communities by the explosion of data centers and the electricity generation needed to power those centers.

Speaking at the largest farm gathering in the country, EPA administrator Michael Regan announced the creation of a new EPA office to expand two-way communication with farmers and rural communities. "With the launch of this new office, we are ensuring agricultural and rural stakeholders will have a seat at the table for many years to come," said Regan at the Commodity Classic in Houston.

San Francisco is remodeling its public school cafeterias to make them more attractive to students, according to stories in The Atlantic and on KGO-TV. The idea is to ensure students eat a nourishing meal.

Affordable housing often is a debate heard amid gentrifying neighborhoods or high-cost cities, notes the Atlantic. "But cities aren’t the only places that are lacking when it comes to adequate housing at affordable prices.

The outbreak of Ebola infections in western Africa is disrupting food production so that hundreds of thousands of people will face hunger in coming months, says The Atlantic.

Broiler chickens, destined for the dinner table, are four times bigger than half a century ago, says Vox, which summarizes a paper in Poultry Science with the headline "Chickens have gotten ridiculously large since the 1950s."

The widely used herbicide glyphosate "could get a new life in Europe after being deemed safe by a key assessment largely based on classified industry papers," says the Guardian.

The bird-flu epidemic that claimed 48.1 million domesticated fowl on U.S. poultry farms "illustrates the scale of chicken farming in the United States," says the Guardian, asking if factory farming is viable.

Climate change could create a new kind of empty calories, by indirectly reducing the nutrition content of food crops, says the Guardian.

Vietnam has muscled into the top tier of rice exporters and produces vast amounts of shrimp from man-made ponds across the Mekong Delta, bringing prosperity to its farmers, says the Guardian.

In FERN’s latest story, published with Eater, Sean Sherman and Mecca Bos make the case for commercial development of the rich and extensive array of Native American food cultures across middle America. It’s a way, they argue, to diversify the food scene in a region long dominated by conservative fare.

In FERN’s latest story, in partnership with The New York Times, reporter Ted Genoways explains how Tim Walz, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee, is taking the fight to Republicans in rural America.

Nearly two years after a receiving a petition from eight governors, the Environmental Protection Agency approved on Thursday the year-round sale of higher-blend E15 gasoline in the Midwest, beginning in 2025. Corn growers and ethanol groups said temporary waivers will be needed for E15 again this summer, because otherwise sales will be banned in most of the country under air pollution laws.

Half of U.S. corn and soybean territory is in drought, compared to one-third of wheat land, said weekly drought reports on Thursday. Drought is far less prevalent for winter wheat than it was a year ago, while conditions for soybeans are little changed and corn has seen an 11 percentage point decline, said the USDA’s Ag in Drought report.