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Agribusiness

For farmland conservation, it comes down to who owns it

By Dana Cronin, Illinois Public Media and Harvest Public Media | June 8, 2021

TOLONO — Lin Warfel puts farmland owners in central Illinois into two categories: Those with a deep connection and desire to preserve their land, and those obsessed with short-term money. The 80-year-old still owns the land that’s been in his family since his great-grandfather arrived in Champaign County in the 1800’s. After farming it for decades, he now rents the corn and soybean operation to his neighbors down the road.

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GRAPHIC: Acres in federal conservation program have decreased steadily in past decade
By Ignacio Calderon, USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellow, Investigate Midwest | June 10, 2021
Since 2007, the number of acres the government has paid farmers and ranchers to conserve has declined. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program subsidizes the removal of environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production. But, between 2007 and 2016, the enrollment cap set by the farm bill shrank, allowing fewer farmers to participate, according to an agency report
Opinion

OPINION: Courts need to end Big Meat data sharing
By Dave Dickey, Commentator | June 9, 2021
Big Meat's secret weapon is a company called Agri Stats. Every week a bunch of Big Meat companies send Agri Stats a raft load of internal sales documents which Agri Stats merges into a industry wide sales report and sends back to subscribers. Agri Stats and those reports are at the heart of numerous lawsuits alleging that the reporting system allows Big Meat to participate in illegal anticompetitive activity.
Agribusiness

‘I don’t know who will still be here in five years’: Texas vineyards sue over dicamba damage
By Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest | June 4, 2021
The lawsuit raises the question of what’s next for specialty crop farmers, many of whom have said dicamba damage limits their ability to grow their products and make a living.
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GRAPHIC: Expect to pay more for food in 2021 – except for eggs
By Pam Dempsey, Investigate Midwest | June 3, 2021
In 2020, the price of food rose more than 3% over the price the year before. This includes both food eaten out and food cooked at home, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Consumers saw the price of meat spike in 2020 as well with beef and veal prices increasing 9.6%, poultry prices increasing 5.6% and pork prices increasing 6.3%
Agribusiness

Among Big Ag facilities, ADM’s Decatur plant emits most carbon dioxide, EPA data shows
By Ignacio Calderon, USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellow, Investigate Midwest | June 3, 2021
Among agricultural facilities with emissions tracked by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, this ADM plant has emitted the most carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — by far — over the past decade, according to an Investigate Midwest analysis of agency data.
Health

Watchdog group finds toxic ‘forever chemicals’ in popular flea and tick collars
By Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest | June 2, 2021
The EPA said it is reviewing the findings as part of a larger investigation into PFAS contamination in pesticide products.
Opinion

Opinion: Tyson’s attempts to litigate COVID in federal courts a scam
By Dave Dickey, Commentator | May 26, 2021
All through 2020, Big Meat and the Trump White House abused immigrants and low-income people working at the nation's slaughterhouses, all but physically forcing them to work in a cauldron pot of coronavirus. The White House named meat packers essential workers while Big Meat failed to do enough to protect its on-line employees from COVID-19. Predictably, avoidable illness and death followed. Now comes litigation.
Agribusiness

EPA watchdog: Trump officials interfered in 2018 dicamba decision
By Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | May 24, 2021
Senior Trump Environmental Protection Agency officials changed career scientists’ analyses and conclusions in order to support the re-registration of the herbicide dicamba in 2018, according to a report from a federal watchdog published Monday.
Agribusiness

In what’s likely a first, a meatpacking plant employee won a COVID-19 workers’ comp case
By Madison McVan, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | May 21, 2021
Many workers compensation claims have been denied throughout the pandemic. But the court ruled the JBS employee was infected with COVID-19 at the plant and should be compensated for lost wages after he fell ill.
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GRAPHIC: East Asia leads world in purchases of U.S. meat
By Madison, McVan, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | May 19, 2021
Since 2016, meat and livestock exports to China have increased 75 percent. China displaced Mexico last year as the 2nd-largest buyer of U.S. meat.
Opinion

Opinion: The courts’ awful dithering on chlorpyrifos must end
By Dave Dickey, Commentator | May 18, 2021
After looking at the facts, anyone with half a brain would say the pesticide chlorpyrifos has no place in agriculture. The Environmental Protection Agency first registered the Dow Chemical and DuPont concoction way back in 1965 to kill bugs on a host of crops from corn and soybeans to fruit and nut trees, broccoli, cauliflower, cranberries and Brussels sprouts. And for good measure it was also heavily applied on golf courses.
Government

Secret Subsidies: Payments to farms allowed to stretch far beyond rural America
By Emily Featherston, Lee Zurik, Jackson Hicks and Jamie Grey, InvestigateTV | May 18, 2021
Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are directed each year to the country’s farms to help keep agriculture afloat when times get tough. But the federal government is sending millions of these subsidy dollars in the names of people who live and work hundreds of miles from the farms that get the money.
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GRAPHIC: Americans are drinking less cow milk and more plant-based alternatives
By Ignacio Calderon, USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellow, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | May 12, 2021
In the past half century, people started drinking less cow milk, and recently more and more people have joined in the trend, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Health

‘Unique historical fear’ of Carle Health billing practices may lead some to skip COVID-19 vaccine, health officials worry
By Kyra Senese, Documenting COVID-19 project, Brown Institute for Media Innovation | May 12, 2021
The hospital's decades-long reputation for aggressively billing patients has resurfaced anew during the pandemic.
Opinion

Opinion: Bader Farms v. Monsanto could open floodgate of third-party lawsuits
By Dave Dickey, Commentator | May 11, 2021
As one would expect, Bader Farms v. Monsanto Company – as the first dicamba-related case to go to trial – was about as high profile as it gets. Especially after the jury punched Monsanto right between the eyes in awarding Bader Farms $265 million for dicamba damage to the farm's peach orchards.