Agricultural stakeholders talked with congressional decision-makers about the importance of the lower Snake River dams even as they awaited the outcome of federal mediation. A coalition of environmental and fishing groups in 2020 sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation and Bonneville Power Administration over their operation plan for the dams.

Recently our local papers have been publishing opinion pieces suggesting the possibility or necessity of removing the four lower Snake River dams to protect Idaho salmon runs. And earlier this year the Idaho Press published an article reporting that the Biden administration has released two reports stating that removal of the four dams on the lower Snake River “may be needed to restore salmon runs to sustainable levels.”

More people died from suicide in the United States last year than any other year on record, according to provisional data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. At least 49,449 lives were lost due to intentional self-harm in 2022 — nearly 15 deaths for every 100,000 people. The suicide rate spiked in 2021, reversing two years of decline. And with the continued increase in 2022, rates surpassed the previous record from 2018. Last year’s suicide rate — 14.9 deaths for every 100,000 people — is 5% higher than 2018’s previous record high of 14.2 deaths for every 100,000 people and marks a 10% jump over the two years.

As wheat harvesting season comes to an end, farmers brace for a potential threat to their crop that costs tens of millions of dollars each year. High levels of alpha-amylase protein in wheat can lead to a low falling number score, a factor that determines the quality and price of wheat. Because alpha-amylase digests starch, wheat with a low falling number score produces flour with lower gelling capacity, causing cakes that fall or sticky bread and noodles, and significantly lowers the price growers receive.

Global wheat ending stocks in marketing year 2023-24 are estimated to decline to their lowest level in eight years, according to the US Department of Agriculture’s World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report released on Aug. 11. In its monthly report, USDA lowered its estimate by 900,000 tonnes to 265.6 million, the lowest since 2015-16. The record high for wheat ending stocks was 297.9 million tonnes in 2019-20.

Indian officials are considering a raft of measures to boost domestic wheat supplies and cool local prices which surged last week to their highest six months. Last year, India banned wheat exports after a sharp, sudden rise in temperatures clipped output, even as export demand picked up to meet the global shortfall triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The ban on wheat exports failed to stop prices from rising, prompting trade and industry officials to suggest that even this year's crop is lower than the government's estimates of a record 112.74 million metric tons.

The United States on Wednesday condemned Russia's continued attacks on Ukraine's grain infrastructure and said it was working with partners to identify alternative options to ensure Ukrainian grain exports. "The United States ... calls for Russia to immediately return to the Black Sea Grain Initiative," State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a briefing, referring to a pact that had allowed export of Ukraine grain by the Black Sea.