Rural America slow to be counted: Some 38 percent of rural counties have a response rate of less than 50 percent to the 2020 census, compared to only 9 percent of metropolitan counties responding at that level, according to Census Bureau data. (Daily Yonder)
Conservation chief to leave USDA: Matt Lohr, chief of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, announced on social media that he would leave the USDA next month to work full time at his Virginia farm, following the retirement of his farm manager. (Agri-Pulse)
Inside the unsolicited seed packets: Most of the unsolicited seeds arriving from China and a handful of other countries seem to be harmless herbs, flowers, vegetables and grasses, says USDA. (Business Insider)
Overtime pay on the farm: A potentially precedent-setting case before the Washington state Supreme Court would require employers to pay overtime to an estimated 100,000 farmworkers. (NPR)
House chairman has coronavirus: Arizona Rep. Raul Grijalva, chairman of the House Natural Resource Committee, which has oversight of public lands, endangered species, mining law and fisheries, said he was self-quarantining after testing positive for the coronavirus and hoped “to make a quick and speedy recovery.” (Rep. Grijalva)