State fair cannabis: With cannabis a legal crop, the California State Fair will award prizes for plants with the highest concentration of terpenes, THC and CBD; critics say it is a wrongheaded contest. (LA Times)
Solar vs. land: Local governments in states such as California, Indiana, Maine, New York and Virginia have barred massive solar farms in a competition between clean energy and the preservation of wildlife and open space. (NBC News)
Conaway to lobby: Mike Conaway, who retired from Congress as House Agriculture chairman at the end of 2020, has registered to lobby for a cryptocurrency industry group, the Association for Digital Market Assets. (Politico)
‘Strong’ US plantings: With high commodity prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. farmers will likely increase spring wheat, corn and soybean plantings; even if other major exporting nations grow more grain, it would not offset loss of Black Sea production. (ING)
Brazil turns drier: The Amazon-Cerrado transition zone in Brazil is becoming hotter and drier, the result of deforestation and climate change, says a new study in the journal Scientific Reports. (Mongabay)