China forms Pacific FTA group: China and 14 other nations, including Australia, Japan and South Korea, formally joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the largest regional free-trade agreement yet and a pact engineered by Beijing as a counterweight to the United States in the western Pacific. (New York Times)
Black farmers persevere in Oklahoma: “Our heart is in it,” says Nathan Bradford Jr, one of the fewer than 1,800 Black farmers in Oklahoma, many of whom must work second jobs to make a living; after the Civil War, Blacks owned 1.5 million acres of land in the state. (KOSU)
Tyson earnings rise despite pandemic: Tyson Foods, one of the largest U.S. meat processors, reported net income of $692 million in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year, up from $369 million a year ago, due to higher sales of beef, pork, chicken and prepared foods and despite $200 million in Covid-19 expenses during the quarter. (MarketWatch)
Complaint says Iowa failed to protect workers: The ACLU of Iowa and labor unions said in a federal complaint that the state’s workplace safety agency failed to protect meatpacking employees from outbreaks of Covid-19. (Des Moines Register)