Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/author/mw-editor/)
“We've had to go back to our customers and request additional compensation to be able to make sure our drivers were getting paid enough,” an owner of a trucking company said.
Bottlenecks at ports and labor shortages are leading to higher prices for needed farming materials, such as fertilizer, pesticides and equipment.
Reflecting a national trend, rural counties in Illinois have seen an exodus of, primarily, white residents. Increases in Hispanic residents have fueled an uptick in diversity.
Overall, farm households received about $4.3 billion in pandemic aid from the federal government, according to the USDA.
Almost all farm households in 2019 derived some income from off-farm sources, such as pensions, investment income, or wages and salary from an off-farm job.
In Pembroke, the well-intended efforts of mostly white nature conservationists overlook one thing: The township’s Black farming community has never fully supported them. Now, a generations-old way of life is threatened by the push for conservation.
The male-dominated industry of American agriculture has challenged women both on the field and in the industry. They have had their knowledge doubted, been passed over for promotions and have been told starting a family would complicate their success.
We are seeking applicants for the USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellowship. Deadline to apply is November 2, 2020
Emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by Public Citizen and American Oversight show how industry helped shape a federal order to keep meat plants open during the pandemic.
Cows in the Salinas Valley area of California have been blamed for three E. coli outbreaks in late 2019 that sickened 188 people in at least 27 states, according to a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report released in May.