Smithfield to shut down hog farms: As meatpackers face declining profits and lower demand for their products, Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork processor, said it would close 35 hog farm sites and lay off 92 employees in Missouri in October. (Reuters)
Climate change imperils food supply: A warming planet and extreme weather events, including heat waves and deadly floods, “are primed to strike commodities and the food supply like never before” through impacts such as lower crop yields. (Axios)
Clean air and right-to-repair: The Clean Air Act and EPA regulations “clearly support repair by parties other than manufacturers,” said EPA administrator Michael Regan in a letter that supported farmers’ right to repair equipment that includes pollution controls. (NFU)
Phillips, ADM talk biofuels: U.S. petroleum company Phillips 66 and grain processor ADM are discussing a joint venture that would use ADM’s dry corn mills to produce grain alcohol for conversion into lower-carbon jet fuel, said three unnamed sources. (Reuters)