Walker vs. Warnock?: Herschel Walker, a Georgia football legend and ally of former President Trump, said he will decide soon whether to run for the Senate against Raphael Warnock, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Investigate Perdue deal: Senate Agriculture chairwoman Debbie Stabenow said the Office of Government Ethics should examine “deeply concerning” reports that a company owned by Sonny Perdue purchased a grain elevator from ADM for $250,000 while he was awaiting confirmation to become agriculture secretary. (Senate Ag)
Biofuel incentives: Midwestern senators announced a trio of provisions to expand the use of biofuels: $1 billion for installing equipment to dispense higher blends of ethanol; $200-per-vehicle credits to automakers for producing vehicles that can burn higher blends of biofuels; and tax credits to retailers and blenders for marketing fuels that are at least 15 percent ethanol. (Klobuchar)
Deadly heat: Labor officials in Oregon are investigating the case of a farmworker who died over the weekend while working in 104-degree heat on a farm in the Willamette Valley. (The Oregonian)
Little use of cover crops: Corn Belt farmers plant cover crops on only a fraction of their land — 3.2 million acres out of the 68 million acres surveyed — despite their value in preventing nutrient runoff and potentially mitigating climate change, said the Environmental Working Group. (InsideClimate News)