Alex Milan Tracy for Underscore
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The dozens of independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations that make up the Rural News Network are developing the broadest news alliance reporting on rural America. These newsrooms are pursuing coverage that provides a more complete picture of what it means to live and work in these communities.
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Wisconsin dairy industry fights back as towns seek to curb CAFO growth
September 11, 2024
Since 2018, large Wisconsin dairy farms have filed 13 lawsuits against city and state governments, according to an Investigate Midwest analysis of court records and state permitting data for concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
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Fertilizer from human waste faces scrutiny but remains a profitable industry
August 07, 2024
Concern is growing over ‘forever chemicals’ in biosolid fertilizer.
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GRAPHIC: Hiring foreign visa workers skyrockets at meatpacking plants
August 06, 2024
The modern meatpacking industry was built on immigrant labor, but some of the biggest US meatpacking companies are filling labor shortages with foreign workers.
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As investors pay top-dollar for land, farmers are often priced out
July 24, 2024
America is losing farmers. This is the role land values play.
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The people who feed America are going hungry
July 22, 2024
Climate change is escalating a national crisis, leaving farmworkers with empty plates and mounting costs.
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GRAPHIC: Top commodity crop and CAFO states are responsible for the most nutrient pollution, USGS model shows
July 09, 2024
An estimated quarter of all phosphorus runoff in the Midwest and 40% of all nitrogen runoff from farming practices comes from just three states — Illinois, Indiana and Iowa.
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GRAPHIC: Ports in New Orleans and the Northwest account for most agricultural export traffic
March 19, 2024
Around 20% of U.S. agriculture products are exported to other countries, making the nation’s seaports a critical part of the crop and meat industries.
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Oklahoma governor says China is buying up the state’s farmland. The data he cites points to other countries.
November 09, 2023
Dozens of states and Congress are looking at ways to stop foreign companies from buying American land.
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Crops and solar intersect as Iowa’s first agrivoltaics project prepares to power up
October 31, 2023
The collaboration between Iowa State University and Alliant Energy is the first utility-scale agrivoltaics project in the Midwest. Researchers will raise bees and plant vegetables, fruits and pollinator habitat within the 10-acre solar farm.
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A new network of attorneys seeks to defend abuses of industrial agriculture. First up, Colorado.
September 21, 2023
FarmSTAND focuses resources on specific cases that can change precedent on agricultural issues in the courts, working in collaboration with grassroots organizations from local to national levels.
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Pillen’s Water: High nitrate detected on hog farms owned by Nebraska’s governor
September 07, 2023
Monitoring wells at 16 Pillen family-tied operations have tested for nitrate levels far above legal drinking water limit. One was so high, an expert said, “it should be a 911.”
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Poor regulatory safeguards leave farmworkers suffocating in the face of increasing heat waves
August 24, 2023
A fifth of reported heat-related deaths between 2017 and 2022 were agricultural workers, according to OSHA data. Academics, occupational health specialists and advocacy groups are calling attention to the under-reported impact of climate change on this group from heatwaves.
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EPA posts databases of pesticide harm to people, pets and wildlife for first time in agency history
July 27, 2023
“This is the most significant step the EPA has taken in years to increase transparency about pesticides’ harms,” one advocate said.
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Three widely used pesticides driving hundreds of endangered species toward extinction, according to EPA
July 20, 2023
Analysis: The chemicals known as neonics are killing bees and other pollinators, polluting waters and ending up in people’s urine.
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Facing high fertilizer costs, farmers still struggle to use less
July 13, 2023
Fertilizer use can harm the environment, but farmers rely on it for increased yield and profits.
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