Hello and welcome to the Intelligence on Economist Radio. I'm your host Jason Palmer.

Every weekday we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world.

As China first responded to the COVID-19 crisis, thoughts quickly turned to agriculture.

Farmers needed to get the spring planting season underway.

What the country did to ensure the flow of food could serve as a lesson to other countries in lockdown.

And for generations people have hunted crocodiles in the Congo River Basin,

but over hunting and the rising price of crock meat is driving the hunters to bigger and bigger prey.

That's more likely to prey on them.

First up though.

Early this morning, American lawmakers agreed to a $2 trillion relief plan meant to shield the country's economy from the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

It's the largest rescue package in America's history.

This is a wartime level of investment into our nation.

The men and women of the greatest country on earth are going to defeat this coronavirus and reclaim our future.

Much like European approaches to this kind of stimulus, the plan offers aid to hospitals,

provides direct payments to the newly unemployed and sets aside $500 billion to bailout struggling businesses.

After days of fraught negotiations in Congress, the prospect of a deal cheered investors,

driving the Dow index yesterday to its biggest daily gain since 1933.

Even as a plan was being worked out for a nation grounds to a halt,

President Donald Trump said he hoped businesses would soon reopen.

Ultimately the goal is to ease the guidelines and open things up to very large sections of our country

near the end of our historic battle with the invisible enemy.

I hope we can do this by Easter.

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