Hunger groups back Fudge for USDA: Five dozen food banks, hunger relief and anti-poverty groups from across the country signed a letter to President-elect Biden in support of Ohio Rep. Marcia Fudge for agriculture secretary, hailing her as a stalwart advocate of public nutrition programs and efforts to address the root causes of hunger. (Oregon Food Bank)
Highest food inflation since 2011: Persistently high meat prices, a consequence of coronavirus outbreaks in meatpacking plants, are pushing U.S. food prices up 3.5 percent, the largest annual increase since 4.8 percent in 2011. (Economic Research Service)
Enforce ethanol ruling, says coalition: Biofuels and ag trade groups filed a motion in a U.S. appeals court to force the EPA to carry out within six months a 2017 court decision that would require the agency to boost the ethanol mandate by 500 million gallons to make up for an improper reduction in 2016. (Renewable Fuels Association)
Oystermen struggle to stay afloat: Sales of oysters harvested in Massachusetts waters plunged by 50 percent this year because of coronavirus-related shutdowns of restaurants, the main outlet for the shellfish. “Some of us will make it, others of us won’t,” says one oysterman. (Boston Globe)
As world warms, what’s an alien species?: Scientists have documented the migration of countless species in response to climate change, which “will require require a transformation in the way we think about wildlife management and conservation” and what is native or alien in a habitat. (Yale Environment 360)