Ag News: NCBA Blasts Biden and Food Production Solutions
**Rice plantings in California are at the lowest level since 1992, with farmers expecting to harvest 405,000 acres this year, down 21% from 2020.
Medium-grain rice remains the dominant variety grown in California, with much of that coming from the Sacramento Valley.
All told, California accounts for nearly 70% of the U.S. medium- and short-grain rice supply.
**The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Public Lands Council are criticizing the Biden administration after they put sweeping unilateral designations on millions of acres in Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.
After months saying they intended to work collaboratively with state and local governments, the NCBA says the administration opted INSTEAD to ignore efforts to reach a permanent solution.
**Food production faces challenges from climate change, scarce resources and supply chain disruptions.
One solution, according to the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, is controlled environment agriculture, in controlled spaces that can enhance desirable traits in crops.
The Foundation’s Precision Indoor Plants consortium seeks research applications focused on understanding the genetic and biochemical elements responsible for premium strawberry flavors and environmental control of these elements.
The funding looks to increase scientific understanding of premium flavors in a controlled environment.