Wow, what an election. Can you believe all the great stuff that happened?

• Despite zillions of dollars poured by the beverage industry, voters in San Francisco, the East Bay cities of Oakland and Albany, and Boulder, CO, all approved taxes on sugary beverages. And while we’re at it, Cook County commissioners passed a soda tax — or, as the Chicago Tribune prefers, a “pop” tax — on Nov. 10. 
• California voters also upheld a statewide ban on single-use plastic grocery bags. And believe it or not, in a little-noticed (by me, anyway) roll-call vote in October, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives killed a bill that would have banned stores from charging for bags. Can a do-over on Philadelphia’s single-use bag law be far behind?
• Massachusetts banned inhumane confinement of food animals. OK, that was Massachusetts. But even in Oklahoma, voters smelled a rat and dumped a “right to farm” ballot question that probably was really intended to block environmental regulation of farmers and ranchers.
• Recreational marijuana was approved in Massachusetts, Maine, Nevada and California. Even Arkansas and Florida approved medical marijuana. 
• And finally, this analysis from my pals at Politico’s agriculture desk. (Love you guys!) ELECTION CEMENTS LARGEST GMO-FREE ZONE IN THE U.S. GMO opponents slipped in another win Tuesday: Sonoma County, Calif., located just north of the Bay Area, passed a ban on GMO crop cultivation. . . . Added to existing bans in adjacent counties, Sonoma’s prohibition completes the largest GMO-free zone in the U.S. “Because Sonoma County connects Marin County to Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity, the ban’s passage creates a 13,734-square-mile zone where genetically engineered plants cannot be grown, the largest such area in the United States,” the San Francisco Chronicle wrote.

Let’s keep America great, OK?