Two more bird flu cases: The Centers for Disease Control confirmed two additional human cases of bird flu, one each in California and Washington State, bringing the U.S. total to 36 since late March; California has 178 of the 380 infected dairy herds in the country. (CDC)
Winter wheat condition slips: With 58 percent of winter wheat territory in drought, only 38 percent of the crop is in good or excellent condition, compared to the five-year average of 47 percent, said the weekly Crop Progress report. (USDA)
Iowa culls chickens: Unable to find a processor, the Iowa state Agriculture Department arranged the culling of 1.3 million broiler chickens that it took charge of following the bankruptcy of Pure Prairie Poultry. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)
What’s a factory farm?: Initiatives like the proposal to ban “factory farming” in a California county raise the question of how to define a term that has different environmental, ownership, and animal welfare connotations. (Ambrook Research)
Acute hunger in Congo: More than one-fifth of the population of the Democratic Republic of Congo faces acute hunger due to armed conflict and loss of livestock and cropland in the eastern parts of the county in central Afria. (FAO)