USDA appointments: Two former Democratic members of the House Agriculture Committee were named to top USDA posts. Iowa’s Cindy Axne will be senior adviser for rural engagement, and Arizona’s Tom O’Halleran will be senior adviser to the Natural Resources Conservation Service. (USDA)
Weak global economic recovery: Global GDP is forecast to slow to 2.7 percent this year and then improve modestly, to 2.9 percent, in 2024, while inflation is expected to ease. (OECD)
Ukraine dam disaster: The country’s Agriculture Ministry said that in the wake of the Kakhovka dam explosion, nearly 25,000 acres of arable land on the Ukraine side of the Dnipro River and an area “several times” larger on the Russian-controlled side would be flooded. (Kyiv Independent)
New leader for milk group: A day after Jim Mulhern announced his retirement, the board of directors of the National Milk Producers Federation voted to hire Gregg Doud, former U.S. chief agricultural negotiator, as the group’s new chief executive. (NMPF)
Prop 12 vexes NPPC: While the National Pork Producers Council, which lost a Supreme Court challenge of California’s Proposition 12 animal welfare law, said the U.S. pork industry will struggle to comply with the law, some foreign producers say they can. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)