Spring brings big planting decisions (Iowa Public Radio): Wet weather has delayed crop plantings across the midwest, but with crop insurance deadlines approaching and a second round of bailout funds coming, farmers must decide which programs to stake their farms on.
The risks of foreign-owned land (NPR): Nearly 30 million acres of American farmland is held by foreign investors, a reality that some farm advocates—and even presidential candidates—have identified as a possible national security threat.
A moderate Democrat defends her post (Washington Post): First-term Rep. Abagail Spanberger, who chairs the House Agriculture subcommittee on conservation, already has a Republican challenger for re-election.
U.S. to delay decision on monarch butterfly (Sierra Sun Times): Environmental groups accepted an extended deadline, to December 2020, for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to decide whether to protect the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act.
Soda-warning bill advances in California (Los Angeles Times): The state Senate narrowly passed and sent to the state Assembly a bill to require health warning labels on sugary drinks.
Is disaster the springboard to change? (The New Republic): The vast floods that scoured eastern Nebraska at the end of last winter may also mark a thaw in long-frozen ideology about rural economic development and urban-rural alignments.