Ag labor abuse in Southeast: In 2023, investigators with the Wage and Hour Division’s Southeast Region identified violations in 90 percent of their approximately 240 completed investigations of agricultural employers. (DOL)
France snubs Ukraine: France has joined Poland in calling for further restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, threatening to derail negotiations on extending Kyiv’s free-trade access to the EU for another year. (Politico)
Corn and cocaine: Roger Reaves forged the most astounding farm life of modern times as the preeminent drug smuggler of the 20th century. From row crop poverty to moonshine to marijuana to cocaine, he amassed a $60-million fortune as the highest paid narco-pilot in history. (AgWeb)
Disease-spotting robot: Theo is a new high-tech weapon in the battle to root out disease from Dutch tulip bulb fields as they erupt into a riot of springtime color. (AP)