Food inflation redux: Persistently high meat prices and an upturn in fresh fruit and vegetable oil prices will combine for a 3-percent increase in food prices this year, the second year in a row that food inflation exceeds the 20-year average of 2.4 percent annually. (USDA)
Another farm subsidy: Iowa’s new carbon-sequestration task force, dominated by the ag industry, might be “just another subsidy scheme” for farmers, said the retiring director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
Heat wave harvesting: With temperatures forecast above 100 degrees in the Pacific Northwest, orchard owners are trying to save as much of the cherry crop as possible, “using canopies, deploying sprinklers and sending out workers in the night to harvest cherries.” (Yakima Herald)
More intense drought: The drought blanketing California is outpacing the intensity of the 2012-16 drought, say state officials, who expect a summer of widespread fires and mandatory water conservation in some regions. (Los Angeles Times)
EU revises CAP: The Common Agricultural Policy — the EU farm program — will be “fairer, greener and more animal friendly” with higher environmental and climate ambitions under an agreement covering the next five years. (Brussels Times)