USDA is allowing participants in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 14 California counties affected by recent wildfires to buy hot foods with their SNAP benefits through Dec. 17.

America’s rural population is on the upswing, but the growth is concentrated in retirement areas or regions with meatpacking plants and other forms of agricultural processing that rely on Hispanics and other immigrants for labor, according to USDA’s Economic Research Service.

According to a new government report, E.coli 0157 illnesses during the 1998-2016 time period were most often linked to vegetable row crops and beef while salmonella illnesses came from a wide variety of sources.

The Organic Trade Association is asking stakeholders to send in their “biggest and brightest ideas” on how to go about establishing a voluntary “checkoff-like” program for the organic sector.