Climate change narrows pesticide window: Increasingly rainy and windy weather in the spring and early summer is reducing the number of days that farmers can spray pesticides onto their crops, and there are complaints annually in Iowa of pesticides drifting onto neighbors’ property. (Gazette)
Rice prices remain high: Although its fears of a short domestic crop did not materialize, India, the largest rice-exporting nation, has restricted rice exports for nearly a year, keeping prices on the international rice market elevated. (IFPRI)
USDA broadens ECO insurance: Five additional crops will join the 36 crops already eligible for Enhanced Coverage Option crop insurance in 2025 and the government will pay a larger share of the premium – 65 percent — “to make the policy more affordable.” (Risk Management Agency)
Oral rabies vaccine test: USDA’s animal health agency will distribute by airplane, helicopter, and vehicle 3.3 million packets of an oral rabies vaccine bait in eight states this summer and fall as part of an ongoing test of a vaccine to prevent rabies in wildlife. (USDA)