A lot of the nations vegetable and fruit crops arent covered by U.S. government-backed insurance plans that help compensate farmers for losses after natural disasters.
Determined to avoid a repeat of the nations worst-ever avian-influenza outbreak, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is stockpiling up to 500 million doses of a new vaccine but many in the $48 billion poultry industry dont want it.
Insurers have incurred almost $5 billion in wildfire losses during the past 10 years. Wildfires blamed in part on climate change are consuming timber in the U.S. West at such a furious pace that half the Forest Services budget is now spent fighting them.