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Climate Change and Agribusiness

Irrigation playing role in water issues across Illinois

By Johnathan Hettinger/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting | June 20, 2017

The State Water Survey projects that in the coming decades, Illinois will require 20 to 50 percent more water. But planning for the increase has been inadequate, largely due to a halt in planning because of the ongoing state budget crisis.

Database: Tracking Covid-19’s impact on meatpacking workers and industry

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat inspectors and graders perform their mission.

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Apply now for the USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellowship

We are seeking applicants for the USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellowship at the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting in Champaign, Ill. Deadline to apply is Nov.

Opinion

Opinion: OSHA and Big Meat should be investigated over COVID-19 response

Last month our worst fears were confirmed after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a pair of COVID-19 safety violation related fines against Big-Meat giants China WH-group owned Smithfield Foods and Brazilian-owned JBS. Mismanagement at Smithfield’s meat packing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota resulted in almost 13-hundred COVID-19 positive tests. Four plant workers died. JBS is equally culpable. At the JBS USA plant in Greeley, Colorado 290 workers tested positive for COVID-19. Six have died.

Our Latest

Opinion: OSHA and Big Meat should be investigated over COVID-19 response

Last month our worst fears were confirmed after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a pair of COVID-19 safety violation related fines against Big Meat giants China WH-group owned Smithfield Foods and Brazilian-owned JBS. Mismanagement at Smithfield’s meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota resulted in almost 1,300 COVID-19 positive tests.
After #MeToo, This Group Has Nearly Erased Sexual Harassment in Farm Fields

This story was originally published by Civil Eats.
Homegrown relief: Farming communities tackle rise in suicides

This story was originally published by the Christian Science Monitor LIME RIDGE, WIS.

Rural America

Minnesota has figured out a way to help stressed farmers. Can it be replicated?

This story is part of a yearlong project exploring the ways farmers and farming communities tackle mental health and is supported with a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. When Pam Uhlenkamp separated from her husband earlier this year, she knew the person to call. As a farm business management instructor, Uhlenkamp mentors farmers one-on-one.

From the USDA

Trump Administration Invests $72 Million in Distance Learning and Telemedicine Infrastructure in 40 States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

Distance Learning and Telemedicine Investments will Benefit More Than 12 Million Rural Residents WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2020 - U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue today announced the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is investing $72 million in grants to help rural residents gain access to health care and educational opportunities.

SEEDS OF DESPAIR: Isolated, and with limited access to mental-health care, hundreds are dying by suicide.

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The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit, online newsroom offering investigative and enterprise coverage of agribusiness,big ag and related issues through data analysis, visualizations, in-depth reports and interactive web tools. Learn More »

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