Farmworker hazard pay: The Coachella City County in Southern California included farmworkers in an ordinance ordering a $4-an-hour “hero pay” increase for essential workers, becoming the first city to require the premium for ag labor. (Palm Springs Desert Sun)
Fertilizer subsidy ruling: After a months-long investigation, the Commerce Department determined that Morocco and Russia unfairly subsidized exports of phosphorus fertilizer, opening the possibility of U.S. tariffs on the goods. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Spending stimulus checks: A nationwide survey found that U.S. households allocated the largest share of their $1,200-a-person stimulus payment last spring “toward nondurable goods, especially food,” suggesting that additional payments would alleviate part of the burden of the pandemic, say researchers. (Choices)
Rural job loss: Rural areas had 3.2 percent fewer jobs in December than they did a year earlier, part of the nationwide decline in the final months of 2020 as the pandemic limited economic revival. (Daily Yonder)
Projections go wrong: The USDA’s projections of plantings several years into the future repeatedly have underestimated the amount of land planted to soybeans and overestimated wheat sowings, say its analysts. (Economic Research Service)