Salmonella Smacks: Food and ingredient manufacturing company Kerry Inc. agreed to pay over $19 million in criminal fines after pleading guilty to manufacturing Kellogg’s Honey Smacks under insanitary conditions, which triggered a salmonella outbreak in 2018. (Department of Justice)
Lakes Mead, Powell unlikely to refill: The water crisis in the Colorado River is so dire that the reservoirs are unlikely to refill in our lifetimes, according to water managers and climate scientists. (Los Angeles Times)
Biodiversity slow to bounce back: A new study shows that after 80 years, abandoned farm fields still lacked the flora that the land supported before it was plowed under. (Journal of Ecology)
First House Ag meeting: The new chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Glenn Thompson, scheduled an organizational meeting of the committee for Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. ET to prepare for work that includes writing a new farm bill. (House Agriculture)
Welch to chair subcommittee: Newly-elected Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said he will chair the Senate Agriculture subcommittee on rural development; his farm bill priorities include climate change, public nutrition, dairy, organics and value-added local production. (Politico)
Minnesota re-confirms agriculture director: The Minnesota state Senate voted 63-0 to confirm Thom Peterson, a former Minnesota Farmers Union official, to a second term as state agriculture secretary. (Minnesota Department of Agriculture)