Illinois’ young corn crop was rated Sunday as 13 percent excellent, 48 percent good, 31 percent fair and 8 percent poor or very poor, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Illinois Crop Progress and Condition Report. (The Telegraph)

At least 17,000 meat and poultry processing facility workers in the U.S. have been infected with COVID-19, the vast majority being racial and ethnic minorities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed in a new analysis released Tuesday. (The Hill)

U.S. meat production, upended earlier this year by the coronavirus pandemic, which shuttered meatpacking plants around the country, has rebounded to near-normal levels, Agriculture Department figures show, but workers still are getting sick. (International Business Times)

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is in Washington for meetings Wednesday with U.S. President Donald Trump days after a new trade deal among the two countries and Canada went into effect. (Voice of America)

Last month the Illinois Farmers Market Association updated its COVID-19 guidelines featuring best practice recommendations for social distancing and enhanced sanitation. You can find all of the resources on our Local Foods and Specialty Crops page.

The U.S. government delivered far less food aid than it had pledged by the end of June, according to food bank managers and data from the agriculture department sent to Reuters, after it hired inexperienced companies to box food during the pandemic. (Reuters)