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IowaWatch

Voluntary measures may not be enough: Bacteria and algae plague Iowa beaches

By Brittney J. Miller, The Gazette; Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest/Report for America; and Erin Jordan, The Gazette | October 3, 2022

The Gazette and Investigate Midwest analyzed 20 years of beach monitoring data from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Our Latest

Opinion

Opinion: Is the end near for California’s Proposition 12?
By Dave Dickey, Columnist | 19 hours ago
California's Proposition 12 reaches a legalistic crescendo next week at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Agribusiness

Scaling Up: Production contracts more common in North Carolina than Midwestern pork states
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | 20 hours ago
Researchers think long-tenured farmers in the Midwest are less likely to make deals with Big Ag companies.
Climate Change

WHEN IT RAINS: The Mississippi River basin is getting wetter as climate change brings era of extreme rain, floods
By Bryce Gray, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and Connor Giffin, The Courier-Journal | 20 hours ago
Recently, Eastern Kentucky and St. Louis saw severe flooding. Longtime residents said they'd never seen anything like it — and they were right.
Climate Change

WHEN IT RAINS: Your questions, answered
By Joshua Rosenberg, The Lens | 21 hours ago
The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk answers your questions about flooding and increased rainfall across the region.
Ag & Water Desk

WHEN IT RAINS: How we reported this series
By Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk | 23 hours ago
After floods hammered St. Louis and eastern Kentucky this summer, the Ag & Water Desk wanted to know: Is rainfall increasing in the Mississippi River basin?
USDA News Release

FTC and State Partners Sue Pesticide Giants Syngenta and Corteva for Using Illegal Pay-to-Block Scheme to Inflate Prices for Farmers
By Federal Trade Commission | September 30, 2022
The Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan coalition of 10 state attorneys general have filed a complaint in federal court against pesticide manufacturers Syngenta Crop Protection and Corteva, Inc. for allegedly paying distributors to block competitors from selling their cheaper generic products to farmers.
National

USDA spending only a sliver of conservation funding on climate-smart practices, a new report finds
By Eva Tesfaye, Harvest Public Media | September 28, 2022
In 2020, the agriculture industry accounted for more than 11% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Opinion

Opinion: 2023 Farm Bill needs to address consumer-food information gap
By Dave Dickey, Columnist | September 28, 2022
In 1790, everyone knew eggs came from chickens. Today?
Agribusiness

Scaling Up: Raising hogs has gotten less expensive, especially for big farms
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | September 28, 2022
Technological innovation, specialization, increased farm size and policy decisions have driven down the cost of production.
Coronavirus

She says her passion is teaching. Congress called her the meatpacking industry’s ‘go-to fixer.’
By Mary Norkol, Investigate Midwest | September 28, 2022
Mindy Brashears, the former head of the USDA's agency overseeing meatpacking plants, has been largely quiet about her agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in exclusive interviews, she addresses the criticism the USDA put food production over worker safety.
Government

Texas State University program will mentor Black and Latina women in ag
By Kristi Eaton, The Daily Yonder | September 21, 2022
The program will pair high school and college students in what’s called a “near peer” model to help ease the minority participants into the mentorship.
Agribusiness

Scaling Up: Use of production contracts has become the norm
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | September 21, 2022
Production contracts lock farmers into guaranteed prices and lower financial risk, but put meat companies in control of some aspects of the operation.
Opinion

Column: Foreign investors are snapping up US land … but exactly how much, who knows?
By Dave Dickey, Columnist | September 21, 2022
Foreign acquisition of U.S. farmland has become big business, Dave writes.
Corn Belt

Research seeks ways to grow solar and crops together in the skeptical Corn Belt
By Sarah Bowman, Indianapolis Star; Brittney J. Miller, The Gazette; and Joshua Rosenberg, The Lens | September 20, 2022
Researchers want to know how co-locating solar and crops — a practice known as "agrivoltaics" — could benefit farmers and be a salve to a growing strain in the Corn Belt, where rural residents and towns are pushing back on solar projects that can often take farmland out of production.
Graphic of the Week

Scaling Up: Pork producers are becoming more specialized
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | September 14, 2022
So-called farrow-to-finish operations have become a smaller and smaller share of the hog industry as more specialized operations have taken over, according to a recent study published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.