Arizona no-irrigation zone: The state Department of Water Resources designated the Hualapai Valley, near Kingman, as an irrigation non-expansion area, the first such designation in Arizona in four decades. (Associated Press)
Try again next year: Despite another fruitless congressional session, supporters of labor reforms that include legal status for undocumented farmworkers and modernizing the H-2A guestworker visa “will not give up seeking these important changes,” said Jim Bair, president of the U.S. Apple Association. (U.S. Apple)
Mosquitoes develop tolerance: Mosquitoes in Cambodia and Vietnam are evolving to carry a mutation that resists doses of the pyrethroid insecticide widely used to prevent the spread of diseases such as dengue fever, scientists reported. (Washington Post)
Food donation liability eased: Congress passed and sent to President Biden the Food Donation Improvement Act, which would expand legal protections for food makers, retailers, farmers, and restaurants that donate food directly to needy people. (Food Tank)
Golden State groundwater crisis: Groundwater overpumping is accelerating in California’s Central Valley, which could potentially devastate a critically important water source for the state. (Los Angeles Times)