’30×30′ is coming: The Biden administration plans to announce on Thursday a voluntary and locally led effort to meet its goal of preserving 30 percent of U.S. land and coastal waters by 2030. (FERN’s Ag Insider)
Food insecurity declines: The U.S. food insecurity rate dropped to 8.1 percent, according to the latest Pulse survey by the Census Bureau, down 0.7 points from mid-March, and that should continue to improve, says a Northwestern University social policy professor. (Diane Schanzenbach)
Sino-U.S. talks soon: U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai expects to talk “in the near term” with Chinese trade officials to assess the “phase one” agreement that de-escalated the Sino-U.S. trade war in early 2020. (Reuters)
Less rural Covid: Although the number of new Covid-19 infections in rural America dropped by 5 percent, to 42,462 cases, last week, the number of deaths rose by 14 percent, to 734 people. (Daily Yonder)
Ag exports boom: U.S. farm exports totaled $92.4 billion in the first half of this fiscal year, $18.7 billion higher than at the same point in fiscal 2020, said USDA data. Exports are forecast to set a record this year. (Economic Research Service)
Local food funding: Some $92.2 million in grant money is available through the Farmers Market program to expand farmer-to-consumer marketing and local and regional food markets. (USDA)