Thinly sliced: NPR’s Blue Apron segment tastes of infomercial, a tax bill breakdown, and more

This is the web version of a list we publish twice-weekly in our newsletter. It comprises the most noteworthy food stories of the moment, selected by our editors. Get it first here.

1. Should Amazon put down HQ roots in a rural state? The Daily Yonder makes the case.

2. A Blue Apron bumble: NPR reporters visited the company’s test kitchen for Thanksgiving, and listeners thought the resulting All Things Considered segment sounded a heck of a lot like sponsored content. Ombudsman Elizabeth Jensen parsed the issue here, adding that, though the segment did disclose that Blue Apron was a sponsor, the choice to profile the company’s test kitchen was an independent editorial decision. Perhaps, she added, they shouldn’t’ve used the word “delicious” when describing the company’s dinners.

3. Mars has taken a minority stake in Kind, the New York Times reports. The deal could lead to an acquisition.

4. As the Monsanto-Bayer merger looms large, Texas farmers worry seed prices will rise. The Texas Tribune has more.

5. Toronto’s Royal Agricultural Winter Fair happened recently, and a photographer captured these elegant portraits of farmers and their livestock, CBC reports.

6. How do farmers fare under the proposed tax code? Shawn Williamson has a breakdown at Successful Farming.

7. A new McKinsey report finds automation could replace a third of the American workforce by 2030, so there’s that. Futurism has more.

8. Christmas trees are more expensive and harder to find this year, the New York Times reports. Blame it on the ‘08 recession.