Investigate Midwest - The Midwest Center for Investigative ReportingInvestigate Midwest | The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Coronavirus

Reports on “recovered” Covid-19 cases inconsistent and incomplete

By Dylan Tiger, Isaiah Baba, Daria Makhneva and Samantha Boyle / For Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | July 10, 2020

As Covid-19 surges again in the U.S., the high percentage of “recovered” cases might be cited as a sign that a vast majority of those infected quickly rid themselves of the virus.

But the “recovered” statistics are incomplete, inconsistent and call into question the accuracy of any total number of recovered cases, according to a review of 50 state public health sites by the Midwest Center for Investigative reporting.

Agribusiness

Amid price-fixing indictment for poultry processors, growers say they continue to struggle
By Madeline Perry and Sky Chadde, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | July 10, 2020
While poultry processors have seen large profits, poultry growers — the farmers that care for the chickens while they’re maturing — have not shared in the wealth, current and former growers said.
Four restaurant chains sue Tyson and Pilgrim’s Pride, saying companies fixed chicken prices
By Heather Schlitz | July 10, 2020
Four restaurant chains have sued the country’s biggest poultry companies, including Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride, saying they conspired to inflate prices, manipulated price indices and restrained production.
New Bayer-engineered seed raises questions among experts on the future of weed control
By Johnathan Hettinger/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | July 3, 2020
A new genetically engineered corn seed designed by Bayer to be sprayed by up to five herbicides could represent the future of farming. But for how long?

Dicamba on Trial

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.
EPA defends decision to allow continued dicamba use
By Johnathan Hettinger/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | June 17, 2020
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defended its decision to allow farmers to continue to spray a recently banned herbicide through July 31 in a court filing on Tuesday evening. The agency argued that it has the power to regulate existing stocks of herbicides that have been canceled.

Coronavirus

COVID-19 disproportionately affects minority meatpacking workers. These groups say racial discrimination is the reason.
By Heather Schlitz | July 10, 2020
Although they make up about 60 percent of all meatpacking workers in the U.S., people of color account for about 90 percent of those infected, according to federal data released this week. The companies did not follow the federal guidance that would have mitigated the virus’s spread among its minority workforce, according to the complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Amid COVID-19 Concerns, Clinics Step Up Testing For Migrant Farmworkers
By Christine Herman, Side Effects Public Media | July 9, 2020
“When the pandemic first started, and we were just beginning to hear information about the impact on farmworkers, we knew it was coming,” Partida says. “You just knew that it was going to get worse and worse and worse.”
Temporary worker at Central Illinois meat processing plant tests positive for Covid-19
By Pam Dempsey | July 3, 2020
After 26 days of no new reported cases, a Rantoul Foods worker has tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Wellness on the Farm

“Fall-off-a-cliff moment”: Covid-19 adds new dimension to farmers’ stress
By Marissa Plescia
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

EPA Inspector General: Covid-19 could affect agency’s ability to communicate health risks to communities
By Samuel Trilling
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 […]
Feds could do more to investigate forced labor claims in the seafood industry, GAO report finds
By Madeline Perry
The federal government struggles to evaluate forced labor allegations in the seafood industry, according to a Government Accountability Office report released this month.
EPA temporarily suspends monitoring of a pesticide in water over COVID-19 concerns
By Johnathan Hettinger
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has allowed Swiss agribusiness giant Syngenta to halt its water monitoring program of a pesticide linked to reproductive issues and cancer that is found in the drinking water of millions of Americans because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Environment

EPA sidesteps normal public process to approve BASF’s cancer-linked pesticide
By Johnathan Hettinger | 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.
Despite federal, state efforts, dicamba complaints continue
By Johnathan Hettinger/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | August 27, 2019
For the third straight year, a volatile pesticide is damaging crops across the Midwest and South, despite federal and state efforts to lessen the drift.

Investigate Midwest The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Coronavirus

Reports on “recovered” Covid-19 cases inconsistent and incomplete

By Dylan Tiger, Isaiah Baba, Daria Makhneva and Samantha Boyle / For Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | July 10, 2020

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