Plant Sugars to Feedstocks and Chicken Wing Sunday Super Bowl

**University of California researchers are sharing new findings on how to access the sugars locked up in plant materials to convert them into new feedstocks to produce fuels, materials and chemicals.

Tina Jeoh, the biological and ag engineering professor at UC

Davis who led the project, says the findings, published in the journal Green Chemistry, can help lower technological barriers and make it easier for the sustainable conversion of plant material, including ag byproducts.

**According to the National Chicken Council’s 2024 Wing Report, Americans will devour 1.45 billion wings while watching Kansas City and San Francisco battle in the Super Bowl.

Compared to last year, this year’s projection is flat, with USDA reporting chicken production levels down slightly and wing stocks in cold storage down 13% in November.

Retail fresh chicken wing prices are down approximately 5%, and frozen wing prices are down 11%.

**A new analysis from USDA’s Economic Research Service shows Livestock Forage Disaster Program payments are concentrated in the Western and Central United States.

Between 2008 and 2022, the program disbursed more than $12 billion of payments to livestock producers.

Counties with the largest aggregate payments per 1,000 head are concentrated primarily in the Western, Southern, and Central United States.

About 20% of the continental United States received no LFP payments.