‘The easiest committee’: Retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy, a 48-year member and a former chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, said he was told as newly elected senator that Agriculture was “the easiest committee to get on and the hardest to get off.” (Senate Agriculture)
Southern Cone, not cornucopia: The countries of the Southern Cone — Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay — are net food exporters who could offset the effects of warfare in Ukraine on global food supplies, but it would be difficult in the face of drought, rising fuel and fertilizer prices and a history of export restrictions. (IFPRI)
Lake Erie pollution diet: Under a proposed consent order, the state of Ohio would have until next June to devise a plan to reduce nutrient runoff into western Lake Erie. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Food waste piles up: Nations around the world have made little progress on the global pledge in 2015 to halve food waste by 2030; on a per capita basis, the United States, Australia and New Zealand are throwing away more food. (Reuters)
Billion-dollar broadband funding: USDA expects to make more than $1 billion in grants and loans in spring 2023 to expand rural access to high-speed internet, said a department fact sheet on the one-year-old infrastructure law. (USDA)