Will consider field studies: The USDA’s Center for Veterinary Biologics said it would accept submissions from drugmakers to conduct field studies of vaccines to protect cattle from the H5N1 avian flu virus if the trials use nonviable, non-replicating vaccines. (Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service)
Steady growth: So-called total factor productivity, which measures all farm outputs, grew 1.49 percent per year over the past seven decades, so that farm output is now 2.9 times what it was in the years after World War II. (Economic Research Service)
Expanding food distribution: In an effort to meet people in need where they are, food banks are increasingly using farms, libraries, shopping malls, county offices, and even racetracks as food distribution sites. (Food Bank News)
Disappearing wetlands: In the decade ending in 2019, about 670,000 acres of swamps, bogs, and marshes were lost across the United States, often drained for development or clear-cut for timber, said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Minnesota Star Tribune)