Ken Beck has carefully planned what to plant on the majority of his 1,800 acres this spring, but he also gave himself a little leeway. On 240 acres of his LaSalle County land, he will make the verdict of corn or soybeans just before the seed goes into the ground — depending on weather and market signals. Last year taught him the best plans can be scuttled — more than once. (The Southern)

A relatively small number of plants process much of the beef and pork in the United States, and some of them have closed because workers are getting sick. (New York Times)

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, discussed the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on Illinois agriculture with leaders from Illinois agricultural groups. (Illinois AgriNews)

Iowa had its largest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases Sunday, driven largely by new positive tests at meatpacking plants. State officials said 261 of the 389 new cases of COVID-19 reported Sunday were discovered as part of testing done at Iowa meat processing plants. (Des Moines Register)

From the streets of Southern California, to the sidewalks of Maine, the financial fallout from the pandemic crisis is triggering a hunger crisis. Food banks are struggling to find new ways to help record numbers of Americans who are out of work. (CBS News)

There has been a surge of people interested in growing their own food. Is this a turn back toward the victory garden era? (NPR)