The US Department of Agriculture is highlighting the difficulty food stamp recipients have in affording healthy meals as it seeks to revise the program’s funding formula. As directed by Congress in the 2018 Farm Bill, the agency is reevaluating the Thrifty Food Plan, which is used to set benefit amounts for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the formal name for food stamps. (CNN)

Farmers from Georgia to California, including Illinois farmer Jeff Kirwan, told a House Agriculture subcommittee on Wednesday that the foundation of the 2023 farm bill should be the taxpayer-subsidized crop insurance system. They also expressed interest in the creation of a standby disaster relief fund. (Successful Farming

The Senate on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation aimed at granting farms access to carbon offset markets by a 92-8 vote. The Growing Climate Solutions Act, introduced by Sens. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), next heads to the House. (The Hill)

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said he expects dining inside the fast-food giant’s restaurants to bounce back. He cites the social aspect of dine-in experiences as one of the main factors that drives demand. (CNBC

One of the joys of video games is the way they let the player experience a new world and do things they would never do in real life — and it turns out that includes the thrill of plowing a soybean field, the excitement of bailing hay and the exhilaration of harvesting wheat. Players of the Farming Simulator game experience these activities virtually. (NPR)

The famed farming valleys of California are being swept into what feels like permanent dryness, raising the specter of food inflation. (Bloomberg)