Today’s quick hits

EPA bows to Monsanto (Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting) The EPA scaled back protections for crops and wildlife habitat after Monsanto supplied research that lowered estimates of how far the weedkiller dicamba can drift.

Trump’s effect on beer (WashingtonianPresident Trump’s planned 10 percent aluminum tariff could raise the price of your favorite beer. A D.C.-area brewer notes that aluminum accounts for at least 20 percent of the cost of producing a case of beer.

Climate change and the farm bill (Harvard) A new report from Harvard’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic features recommendations for how the farm bill can address agriculture’s impact on climate change, including disseminating climate data to farmers and better conservation compliance.

The status chickens of Silicon Valley (Washington Post) Backyard poultry has long been an urban signifier of food-movement cred. “But in the Bay Area — where the nation’s preeminent local food movement overlaps with the nation’s tech elite — egg-laying chickens are now a trendy, eco-conscious humblebrag on par with driving a Tesla.”