Last year, when COVID-19 emerged, there were runs on grocery stores that turned people to local sources of food. While vendors of local food are now as popular as ever, many of their income streams fluctuate wildly during the year and can be hit-or-miss, such as farmers markets, wholesale accounts, restaurant orders and roadside stand purchases. CSA can offer some stability. (The Pantagraph)  

Covid lockdowns helped to break the taboo against delivering great food to people’s homes. The world’s finest eateries now routinely offer gourmet home kits, with prices sometimes running to four figures. (Bloomberg)  

Overall warmer-than-normal trends are expected to continue through the end of March 2021 in the Corn Belt. (Successful Farming)  

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said on Friday that a Mexican plan to ban imports of genetically modified (GMO) corn would apply to grain used for human food products, not livestock feed, based on recent talks he had with Mexican Agriculture Secretary Victor Villalobos Arambula. (U.S. News & World Report)  

The Biden administration’s ambitious plan to create a multibillion-dollar bank to help pay farmers to capture carbon from the atmosphere is running into skepticism, challenging Agriculture Department officials to persuade the industry to get behind the massive climate proposal. (Politico

Kari Underly, the founder and owner of Range Meat Academy, was this year’s keynote presenter for the Kankakee County Farm Bureau Young Leaders. She spoke with the group virtually on Feb. 25, giving an overview of the cuts of meat, meat production in local agriculture and the role meat production plays in the overall economy. (Kankakee Daily Journal