Today’s quick hits, June 27, 2024

Assessing climate-smart practices: With an eye toward the sustainable aviation fuel market, the USDA is seeking suggestions on how to quantify, report, and verify the effects of climate-smart farming practices on growing crops used to make biofuels. (USDA)

Cookout costs are up: Although the food inflation rate has slowed, the grocery bill for a summer cookout is 5 percent higher than it was a year ago, according to spot checks of prices across the country. (American Farm Bureau Federation)

Child labor concerns: Congress should prohibit federal contracts with meatpackers that violate child labor laws, said Texas Rep. Greg Casar, a Democrat, ahead of a closed-door meeting of industry lobbyists and Republican members of the House Agriculture Committee. (Rep. Casar)

H5N1 in 129 herds: Additional outbreaks of bird flu in dairy cattle in Colorado raised the U.S. total of infected herds to 129. The leading states are Idaho (27 herds), Michigan (25), Texas (21), and Colorado (20). (USDA)

Tampering charges: The U.S. attorney in Minneapolis announced charges against five people for attempting to bribe a juror in the Feeding Our Future trial about the theft of federal child nutrition funds. (Sahan Journal)