Food crisis may ease: While calling for decisive action to keep food and energy flowing from the Black Sea region, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, “I think there is progress” in the negotiations to mitigate a world food crisis. (VOA News)
Destructive moth in Napa: The grapeleaf skeletonizer moth, which devours the green matter in grape leaves, was found for the first time in the Pope Valley region of wine-producing Napa County, California. (Modern Farmer)
Volatile cotton prices: Pointing to “many variables and unknowns,” the International Cotton Advisory Council announced a temporary pause in its monthly forecast of season-average cotton prices and said it would decide in August whether to resume the estimates. (ICAC)
Thumbs-down on solar: Nearly half of farmers in a straw poll on solar power chose the response “We want nothing to do with it,” while 9 percent said they have solar power “for personal use” and 32 percent were considering it. (Farm Progress)
Costs are organic challenge: Seven of every 10 organic farmers in California say that managing production costs is a substantial challenge and that farm labor is their leading non-production problem, according to a survey of growers. (Organic Farming Research Foundation)
Grasslands near hives = fatter bees: Large areas of grassy-herbaceous land around apiaries can moderate the detrimental effects of a warmer, wetter climate that threatens honeybees in the Midwest, according to new research. (Penn State University)
California ups composting game: The state’s new composting law requires communities to cut the amount of methane-emitting organic waste in their landfills by 75 percent by 2025. (Inside Climate News)