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Agribusiness

With no guaranteed protections from COVID-19, agricultural workers face tough decision: protect their lives or retain financial security

By By Frank Hernandez, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | 17 hours ago

Some states have enforced rules to prevent COVID-19's spread among farmworkers, but the federal government hasn't done so, leaving many workers unprotected, advocates said.

Agribusiness

GRAPHIC: Design of South Dakota meatpacking plant contributed to high number of COVID-19 cases, CDC says
By Pramod Acharya, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | September 16, 2020
In an August report, the CDC noted a difference between salaries employees in an office setting and the hourly workers on the production line.
A week before Trump’s order protecting meat plants, industry sent draft language to feds
By Sky Chadde, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, Kyle Bagenstose and Rachel Axon USA TODAY | September 14, 2020
Even as thousands of their employees fell ill with COVID-19, meatpacking executives pressured federal regulators to help keep their plants open, according to a trove of emails obtained by USA TODAY and The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting.
U.S. Department of Labor cites Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. for failing to protect employees from coronavirus
By U.S. Department of Labor | September 11, 2020
September 10, 2020 U.S. Department of Labor Cites Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. For Failing to Protect Employees from Coronavirus SIOUX FALLS, SD - The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for failing to protect employees from exposure to the coronavirus. […]

Coronavirus

GRAPHIC: Design of South Dakota meatpacking plant contributed to high number of COVID-19 cases, CDC says
By Pramod Acharya, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | September 16, 2020
In an August report, the CDC noted a difference between salaries employees in an office setting and the hourly workers on the production line.
SURVEY: We asked farmers how they’re dealing with stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what they said.
By Marissa Plescia, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | September 10, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened some farmers' stress. A few shared how they're managing it.
Graphic: COVID-19 has plunged more people of color into food insecurity
By Pramod Acharya, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | September 1, 2020
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, more Americans — and particularly Americans of color — have experienced limited or uncertain access to adequate food.

Dicamba on Trial

Conservation groups push EPA to deny dicamba registration over wildlife concerns
By Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | August 12, 2020
A new report from conservation groups says that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should not re-approve the herbicide dicamba for use on genetically modified crops until the agency can prove it doesn’t harm wildlife.
In Roundup settlement, Bayer reaches $400 million deal with farmers over dicamba
By Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | June 24, 2020
Bayer has reached a $400 million settlement with farmers whose crops have been damaged by drift from the herbicide dicamba, the company announced Wednesday. The settlement was announced alongside the company’s $10 billion settlement over claims that the herbicide Roundup causes cancer.
Federal court denies motion to hold EPA in contempt of dicamba ruling
By Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | June 19, 2020
A request to hold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in contempt of a June 3 Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals order to vacate registrations of the weed killer dicamba was denied Friday.

Wellness on the Farm

“Fall-off-a-cliff moment”: Covid-19 adds new dimension to farmers’ stress
By Marissa Plescia, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
Farmers faced high levels of stress before the pandemic. But the virus’s impact on agriculture has only deepened some farmers’ stress, experts said.
SEEDS OF DESPAIR: Isolated, and with limited access to mental-health care, hundreds are dying by suicide.
By Katie Wedell, USA TODAY NETWORK Lucille Sherman, USA TODAY NETWORK Sky Chadde, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
American farmers produce nearly all of the country’s food and contribute some $133 billion annually to the gross domestic product. Yet they now are saddled with near-record debt, declaring bankruptcy at rising rates and selling off their farms amid an uncertain future clouded by climate change and whipsawed by tariffs and bailouts. For some, the burden is too much to bear.
Seeking a Cure: Mental health access scarce in rural, farming communities
By Claire Hettinger and Pam Dempsey, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
With farmers facing increasing stress and depression, Midwestern states and national farm groups are making more efforts to better provide services to alleviate the high rate of suicide among the agriculture industry. Yet in rural areas, this care is more of a challenge.

Government

New pesticide regulations would fix “broken and outdated” system at the EPA, sponsors say
By Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
Called the Protect America’s Children from Toxic Pesticides Act of 2020, the bill provides a framework for fixing a regulatory system sponsors Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico) and Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colorado) dub “broken and outdated”.
The fertilizer that might have caused the Beirut explosion is all over the US. It’s unevenly regulated.
By Joe Wertz, Center for Public Integrity
As investigators work to find the official cause of the blast, Lebanon President Michel Aoun said it was fueled by an estimated 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate that was stored unsafely in a warehouse.
Thousands of households have received those mysterious packages of seeds. All 50 states warn against planting them.
By Pramod Acharya, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
The unsolicited packages of seed appear to be coming from China, according to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). USDA on Tuesday asked the recipients to hold the seeds and packaging, including the mailing label, until authorities contact them.

Environment

EPA Inspector General: Covid-19 could affect agency’s ability to communicate health risks to communities
By Samuel Trilling, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | June 25, 2020
Covid-19 could hamper the EPA’s ability to inform communities of health risks, according to a report released this month from the agency’s Office of Inspector General. Specifically, the inspector general’s office worried the EPA might not be able to inform residents who live near facilities with emissions that could cause cancer. In a separate report […]
EPA sidesteps normal public process to approve BASF’s cancer-linked pesticide
By Johnathan Hettinger, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | April 3, 2020
This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that soybean farmers in 25 states are now able to spray a pesticide that the agency has determined is likely to cause cancer and drift hundreds of feet from where it is applied.
As sales of the pesticide chlorpyrifos ends in California, maker Corteva announces it will stop producing it.
By Sky Chadde/Gannett Ag Data Fellow | February 7, 2020
Corteva Agriscience – the main manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that has been linked to brain damage in children – said it would stop its production by the end of this year.

Investigate Midwest The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Agribusiness

With no guaranteed protections from COVID-19, agricultural workers face tough decision: protect their lives or retain financial security

By By Frank Hernandez, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | 17 hours ago

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