Good day and welcome to the Sprout, where your host hopes everyone had a fabulous weekend. (Some rain in Ottawa would be nice, though!) For those looking to kick off the week with a sweet treat, today is National Strawberry Shortcake Day — perfect, considering my Twitter feed has confirmed many strawberry patches are now ready for picking!

Now, here’s today’s agriculture news.

The Lead

Canadian restaurant owners say they want temporary caps imposed on food delivery apps like UberEats and SkipTheDishes during the coronavirus pandemic to become permanent. As The Canadian Press reports, many restaurant owners say the app has been allowed to take too big of a bite out of their revenues for too long.

“I really hope they do keep the lower fees because it does help a lot,” Sharon Bond, the owner of Westbank, B.C.’s Kekuli Cafe, told The Canadian Press. “Costs have gone up tremendously.”

Around Town 

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada has extended the deadline to apply to be part of the National Program Advisory Committee to June 21. You can find more information here.

ICYMI: The Alberta government has streamlined its Canadian Agricultural Partnership (CAP) grant process to make it easier for producers to access grants. You can find more details here.

In Canada 

Farm groups in Manitoba say they’re pleased two pieces of legislation focused around biosecurity and anti-trespassing concerns have passed into law. The Manitoba Co-operator reports. 

Meanwhile, members of the legislative assembly in the Northwest Territories have passed a motion calling for the creation of a food security strategy in the region. CBC News has that story.

Internationally 

Pope Francis is demanding food aid be allowed into the war-torn region of Tigray in Northern Ethiopia, where the United Nations has warned more than 350,000 people face famine. The Associated Press has more.

In other hunger-related news: food bank officials in the United States are bracing themselves for a surge in demand after several states started to cut unemployment benefits early. As The Guardian reports, the move to end benefits early by some Republican governors is expected to hit millions of Americans.

Ireland is calling for some sort of middle ground as discussions between the United Kingdom and the European Union on aligning food standards in a post-brexit trade environment continue. Reuters has that story,

The Guardian examines the United Kingdom’s poultry industry — where more than a quarter of the region’s chickens come from three counties.

And a new study has found caffeine might help you feel more focused but, if you caffeine habit is accompanied by sleep deprivation, coffee will not assist with procedural tasks. CBC News reports.

Noteworthy 

The Kicker

“Just hear those sleigh bells jingling…” An Alberta family auctioned off a historical collection of a horse-drawn carriages and sleighs over the weekend, with some dating back as far as the 1800s. As CTV News reports, the collection was one of the largest private collections of horse-drawn carriages in North America.

Until tomorrow.