No free lunch: The school board in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha opted out of a USDA program allowing free meals for all students this year year, with one board member saying families may “become spoiled;” free or reduced-price meals will be available to low-income children through the traditional school lunch program. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
Redirecting ag subsidies: Britain will support “public goods,” such as biodiversity, with its $3-billion-a-year farm program rather than the longstanding goal of food security, and then phase out the payments in seven years. (Washington Post)
Online groceries stick: Americans are shopping online for groceries more frequently and making fewer trips to the supermarket than before the pandemic, leading the marketing firm Acosta to conclude that e-commerce is here to stay. (Supermarket News)
Feral hog emissions: Worldwide, feral hogs release greenhouse gases equal to 1 million cars by rooting in the earth for food, says a study in the journal Global Change Biology. (Harvest Public Media)
Drier and wetter: The eastern half of the United States is getting more rainfall on average, and the western half is getting less, than during the 20th century, a pattern that could be the result of climate change or a long-term variation in weather. (New York Times)