By Luis Velazquez, Investigate Midwest | July 29, 2021 The federal government subsidized commercial farms much more than family farms in 2019, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture figures. In 2019, commercial farms, which means they gross more than $350,000 annually, received an average of about $85,000 from the government. On the other hand are residence farms that have less income; the […]
By Eli Hoff, Investigate Midwest | July 29, 2021 In the mid-2000s, a poultry researcher approached James MacDonald, then a branch chief for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, with some data. Its detail and depth shocked him. “My reaction was, ‘Jeez, is this legal?’” MacDonald said. The question remains unanswered, albeit not for lack of trying: Agri Stats — a widely […]
By Eli Hoff, Investigate Midwest | July 21, 2021 Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics shows meat processing workers were paid an average hourly wage of $15.53 in May 2020, its latest calculation. Workers experience higher illness and injury rates compared with other manufacturing jobs, but their average wage is lower than the average wage for all […]
By Mary Hennigan, Investigate Midwest | July 21, 2021 While consumers pay high beef prices at the grocery store, very little has trickled down to ranchers — in fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the gap between the retail price for beef and the price producers receive is the largest it's ever been. In interviews, eight ranchers in seven states agreed their profits have stagnated or even decreased, while the meatpacking companies — which buy the animals for slaughter, then package the meat to be sold at grocery stores — have benefited.
By Mary Hennigan, Investigate Midwest | July 14, 2021 Young producers, farmers and ranchers who are 35 and younger represented 9% of all American producers in 2017, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Nearly all, 96%, of the young producers were white. This left 14,111 young producers of color in the U.S. Socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, those who have experienced racial or […]
By Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest | July 12, 2021 The petition comes about four months after an Investigate Midwest and USA TODAY story found the popular flea and tick collar had been linked to about 1,700 pet deaths and more than 75,000 incidents of harm.
By Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest | July 8, 2021 Although President Joe Biden has promised to limit people’s exposure to “dangerous chemicals and pesticides,” his administration has defended several actions by the Trump administration that generally deregulated pesticides.
But months into the new presidency, the Biden administration has chosen to defend some of the Trump administration’s decisions on pesticides.
By Amanda Perez Pintado, Investigate Midwest/Report for America | July 7, 2021 In a historic low, U.S. consumers spent 8.6% of their disposable income on food last year, a 10.1% decrease from 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Between 1960 and 2000, the percentage of disposable income — the amount of money consumers have left after paying taxes — spent on food dropped from 17% […]
By Colleen Wouters, Missouri Information Corps | July 7, 2021 This story was originally published by the Missouri Information Corps. New crop diseases pervading Missouri have been linked to climate change, and they’re directly impacting crop production. Climate change has already made Missouri a little more hot and humid, but has also caused some diseases for crops like corn and soybeans to become more prevalent. […]
By Kit Wiberg, Missouri Information Corps | July 7, 2021 This story was originally published by the Missouri Information Corps. Loaded up with camera gear and permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get up close, John Moon III made his way to Harry S. Truman Reservoir in Warsaw, Mo. A contracted stormtracker for KSN TV, Moon stood on the side of gushing […]
By Madison McVan, Eli Hoff and Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest | July 2, 2021 It’s well-established that Trump administration officials wanted meatpacking plants to keep operating, often with industry pressure, as workers fell ill and died by the dozens. But new emails obtained by nonprofit Public Citizen show Perdue personally lobbying to keep plants open, including pressing Robert Redfield, the former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director.
By Pam Dempsey, Investigate Midwest | July 1, 2021 The old term , "Knee high by Fourth of July" was used as a marker to gauge the year's corn crops, meaning that the height of a corn stalk should be at or above an average person's knee cap.
By Colleen Wouters, Missouri Information Corps | June 25, 2021 This story was originally published by the Missouri Information Corps. A staple of industry and identity in the state — agriculture has a stake in Missouri's economy and people's livelihoods. But Missouri’s agriculture industry will face the harsh realities of the climate emergency if action isn’t taken. The Fourth National Climate Assessment by the U.S. […]
By Dave Dickey, Commentator | June 24, 2021 The CEO's of all the major meat packers have just collectively set their hair on fire and are likely calling internal company meetings RIGHT NOW about how to handle the industry's greatest threat in, like, forever. That's because the United States Department of Agriculture announced this month that it will attempt to significantly strengthen enforcement […]
By Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest | June 24, 2021 Since close to the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has tracked complaints it's received about the virus by industry. And through May of this year, agriculture — think crop farming, cattle ranching and the like — has had relatively few complaints.
