Cutting out CAFOs in SD (Press & Dakotan): Community members in Bon Homme County, South Dakota, are pushing for a moratorium on the construction of new CAFOs in the region.
Google’s grocery push (Reuters): France’s largest grocer, Carrefour, signed a deal with Google that will allow customers to buy its food products on Google’s shopping site and via Google Home or Google Assistant.
Cauliflower, the new flour (New York Times): Cauliflower and other vegetables are replacing flour and rice in foods from muffins to pizza and even chocolate brownies for Americans looking for low-carb and gluten-free diets.
Too much sugar for toddlers (Eurekalert): U.S. toddlers aged 19-23 months consume more than seven tablespoons of added sugar daily, and many of them consume more sugar than the maximium recommended for adults, say researchers.
Turning church-owned land into farm land (Civil Eats): Religious institutions own a lot of land, some of it a gift from parishoners and some of it purchased directly; the FaithLands movement put the land to work for beginning farmers, to create a local supply of food and to provide reparative justice.
Farming row by row by robot (Medium): In the world of autonomous robot agriculture, small is the big idea – machines that are narrow and nibble enough to fit between rows of crops while dispendiing small doses of fertilizer or weedkiller.
Novak changes ag leadership hats (CropLife): Chris Novak will begin work Aug. 20 as chief executive of CropLife America, a trade group for ag chemical makers. Novak has been chief executive of the National Corn Growers Association since October 2014 and previously was chief executive of the National Pork Board.
Not enough dentists or jobs (Washington Post): More than 43 percent of rural Americans lack access to dental care and one of the reasons is many don’t make enough money to afford a dentist.
Hogs running wild (Marketplace): Farmers are facing economic losses due to the rampage of feral swine, which one USDA economist called the “worst invasive species we’ll ever see.”