Higher food prices in small towns (Atlanta Journal-Constitution): Food-stamp benefits don’t stretch as far in rural Georgia as they do in cities because rural grocers, who have fewer competitors, charge more for items such as lettuce or macaroni and cheese.
Twice as costly as the auto bailout (Los Angeles Times): President Trump’s trade-war bailout of U.S. farmers could cost twice as much as the Obama-era rescue of the auto industry and the money is “mostly going to a bundle of states that are essential to his re-election chances.”
RFS delayed until winter (Politico): The EPA won’t announce the RFS for 2020 until “this winter,” says a spokesman, because the agency needs time to review comments on a supplemental rule that tries to offset the impact of exempting small refineries from the ethanol mandate.
‘A series of plagues’ ruined sugarbeets (Reuters): A wet spring and an icy fall ruined the sugarbeet crop for many growers in Red River Valley where Minnesota borders the Dakotas, freezing the crop into the ground and leaving farmers to pay penalties to processors for failure to deliver sugarbeets.
Decline? Yes. Crash? No. (AP): After years of large lobster harvests in Maine, scientists say the warmer waters engendered by climate change will pull down catches to “historical levels” but there still will be enough lobsters to support the fishing industry and to supply seafood lovers.