California aggies back Costa: Nearly six dozen farm groups and water districts in California wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging her to make Rep. Jim Costa, who represents part of the Central Valley, the new House Agriculture chairman. (Farm Journal)
Higher MPG, less ethanol: Corn farmers’ profits could fall nearly 10 percent if demand for ethanol falls by the same amount as the projected 30-percent decline in gasoline consumption by 2050, mostly due to higher fuel efficiency. (CARD)
China gobbles global grain: China is importing so much grain that it will break previous records for purchases, potentially fueling food inflation worldwide in 2021. (Reuters)
More bison for Catalina: To the dismay of wildlife biologists, the nonprofit Catalina Island Conservancy, which owns nine-tenths of the island off the California coast, plans to boost tourism by adding more bison to a herd of roughly 100 head that are descendants of bison abandoned by a film crew in 1924. (Los Angeles Times)
Test of ‘Food as medicine’: One of the largest U.S. food banks, Operation Food Search of St. Louis, plans a three-year study of 750 women and their families with hopes it will convince insurers of the value of a steady supply of healthy food during pregnancy. (Food Bank News)