What you need to know about Tyson’s former contract growers
Investigate Midwest spent months investigating how the company’s decision to close plants across the country affected contract growers.
GRAPHIC: High-speed internet access for farmers varies by state
A little more than half of all farms in America have access to broadband, according to the US Census of Agriculture.
Early morning calls. Barren chicken barns. Millions in debt.
Tyson Foods says recent plant closures ‘drove out waste from the business.’ Contract chicken farmers are now stuck with uncertainty and massive loans.
GRAPHIC: USDA has received almost 1,000 complaints about operations selling ‘organic’ products without certification in recent years
More than half of the investigations resulted in compliance or a civil penalty, according to newly released data.
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The US labor department added new farmworker protections, but agency needs more resources ‘to do what we need to do,’ agency head says
Labor officials and farmworker advocates praise the new rules, which aim to hold farmworker employers who violate workers’ rights accountable. But the acting secretary of labor says the agency needs more resources to get more ‘boots on the ground.’
‘It’s getting worse’: US failing to stem tide of harmful farm pollutants
The EPA has called fertilizer runoff the “single greatest challenge” to water quality.
FTC Chair Lina Khan listens to Iowa farmers’ concerns about fertilizer plant deal
The Federal Trade Commission, a bipartisan federal agency, can investigate or file suit to block deals, such as the proposed one between Koch Industries and Iowa Fertilizer Co.
Iowa environmental groups ask EPA to protect drinking water from agricultural runoff
Inspired by a successful campaign in Minnesota, the groups are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to step in and protect drinking water in northeast Iowa from agricultural runoff.
Cancer in Iowa: What role does agriculture play in Iowa’s high cancer rates?
In a state where college sports arenas blaze with fertilizer logos, the phrase “corn grows Iowa” is common on TV and radio and nearly 15% of lawmakers are farmers, there’s reluctance to pinpoint agriculture as a possible reason for Iowa’s rising cancer rate without conclusive evidence.
Midwest maple syrup producers adapt to record-warm winter, uncertainty in face of changing climate
This year’s record-warm winter caused sap in some places to flow early, bringing challenges for syrup producers.
More Stories
Illinois bills seek to regulate carbon dioxide pipelines and sequestration
Many Illinois residents and pipeline opponents are hoping both bills pass.
How tribes are reversing years of consolidation within the cattle industry with their own meat processing plants
Three Oklahoma tribes have opened facilities since 2000.
GRAPHIC: China returns as one of top poultry export destinations
End of ban on U.S. poultry, plus the popularity of chicken feet, drives industry’s growth in China.
GRAPHIC: More than a third of the food produced in the US is wasted
With food insecurity soaring, the EPA says solutions must include efforts to redistribute surplus food where possible.
GRAPHIC: Farms owned by African Americans are much smaller than those owned by all other racial groups
Smaller farms — and the type of commodities Black farmers produce — lead to wide disparities in farm production and value, according to USDA research.
Extreme heat drives up food prices. Just how bad will it get?
New research shows that climate change is already fueling heatflation, with worse to come.
Opinion
Response to avian flu in US dairy herd lacking
CDC, state agencies and the dairy industry need to work together on latest outbreak, Dave writes