Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/category/agribusiness/page/2/)
In late July 2019, a group of migrant farmworkers from south Texas was working in a cornfield in DeWitt County, Ill., when suddenly a crop duster flew overhead, spraying them with pesticides. Panicked, the crew, which included teenagers and a pregnant woman, ran off the field with clothes doused in pesticides. Their eyes and throats burned and some had trouble breathing.
Internal company records show the companies knew crop damage from their weed killer would be extensive. They sold it anyway.
The Trump Administration took a step on Friday to severely weaken state regulation of pesticides, taking away a tool that state regulatory officials say helps protect farmworkers and the environment.
While president-elect Joe Biden has not announced any specific plans to protect meatpacking workers, advocates believe there are things he could, and should, do.
Archer Daniels Midland, one of the world's largest agribusinesses, has yet to make good on its promise to capture a million tons of carbon a year at its Decature, Illinois, facility.
The American Soybean Association and the Plains Cotton Growers contend the EPA overstepped in its new restrictions on the weed killer dicamba.
Last year saw the most farm bankruptcies since the early 2010s. This year has a similar trend.
Honeybee colonies' average yearly production has dropped 30 percent since 1995.
About 150 agricultural pesticides that the World Health Organization considers “hazardous” at some level to human health were used in the United States in 2017, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.
The Trump administration in recent days took steps toward continuing to allow the use of two popular pesticides linked to developmental issues in children. In both cases, the agency weakened its metrics for assessing human health protections. On Sept. 18, the EPA approved the continued use of atrazine, the second most commonly sprayed herbicide in the United States. Atrazine, whose main manufacturer is Syngenta, is banned in more than 35 countries, including the European Union, because of its links to human health, which include reproductive issues, an increased chance of birth defects, a loss of fertility in men and a potential to cause cancer.