Pandemic boost for grocers: $ 6 billion a month
When the pandemic closed schools and restaurants last winter, Americans went to the supermarket to stock up on food for the stay-at-home weeks. Grocery sales skyrocketed by 32 percent last March and have remained strong, averaging $ 6 billion a month above pre-Covid levels, said the Census Bureau on Wednesday.
Frigid weather hits meat plants, ports, citrus, and livestock
Snow and bitter cold damaged the citrus crop in Texas, slowed meat production in the Plains, and threatened to snarl grain exports through the Gulf of Mexico. Some traders have claimed force majeure because of ice and cold weather in Houston and New Orleans, reported AgriCensus
TODAY’S QUICK HITS
Grapevine threat: Climate change could bring a devastating threat to California vineyards: the spread of grapevine-killing Pierce’s disease, which is caused by a bacterium carried by the glassy-winged sharpshooter. (InsideClimate News)
Restoring the prairie: Texas rancher Adam Isaacs, calling his cattle “my land management tool,” says he intends to have them stomp weeds into the ground while grazing as part of a longer-running plan to revive the mixed-grass prairie. (New York Times)
Mexican glyphosate battle: The president of the country’s top farm group says he expects lawsuits will be filed soon by “all the people who use glyphosate and genetically modified corn” to overturn a government plan to ban use of the weedkiller and GMO corn over the next three years. (Global Ag Media)
Palmer amaranth resistance: University of Arkansas weed scientists confirmed the presence of glufosinate-resistant populations of invasive Palmer amaranth in two counties in the northwestern part of the state. (DTN/Progressive Farmer)
Fallout from walkout: Although poultry processor George’s responded to a walkout by workers worried about coronavirus safety by reinstituting staggered work times, other promises have gone unfulfilled and the company took away daily bonuses, according to workers. (Facing South)