Environmental Reporting at WNIJ
The Mississippi River Basin spans nearly half of the continental United States. Millions of residents rely on the river system for drinking water, commerce and recreation.
More than 90% of America’s agricultural exports are grown in the Mississippi River Basin, including more than three-quarters of the world’s exports in feed grains, and most of the country’s livestock. More than 70% of nitrate pollution in the Mississippi River comes from agriculture, which harms human health and aquatic life and contributes to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. As the impacts of climate change become more severe, residents can expect more extreme weather, including flooding.
By making resources available on this beat, we support more complete coverage of these critical topics. As our reporters build deeper knowledge, they tap into a network of newsrooms, experts, and support that will help them tell more equitable, impactful and interconnected stories.
Harvest Public Media reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues through a collaborative network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest and Plains. Our goal is to provide in-depth and unbiased reporting on complex issues for a broad, diverse audience, often connecting the Heartland to the rest of the country. Primary topics include, but are not limited to, agribusiness, biofuels, climate change, farming and ranching, food safety, rural life and public policy.
Below you will find reporting from reporters across our collaborations.
Locally, Jess Savage reports on clean air, water, and agricultural systems in northern Illinois for WNIJ, part of the Mississippi River Basin Project and Harvest Public Media. They recently graduated from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Jess was awarded the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium Fellowship, where they reported on landscape-scale ecological restoration in England and its effects on local farmers. They studied ecology at the University of Vermont as an undergraduate.
Jess focuses on access and policy related to clean air, water and agricultural systems for northern Illinois residents. This includes storytelling that gives voice traditionally underserved communities and the impact of climate change on local communities. The beat is a solutions driven approach to reporting related to efforts to improve the quality of rivers and groundwater, policies and processes in agricultural practices and food systems, and overall access to healthy living.
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Thirty-six states have detected cases of CWD, but many hunters are more fearful of losing game than the disease itself. -
Cow cuddling, ice cream churning and farm tours are among the tactics dairy farmers are employing to compensate for low milk prices -
Under the current system, producers must be the sole owner-operator of their farm or ranch to qualify for loans from the federal government. A bipartisan bill would expand the eligibility requirements for applicants. -
Investigadores de la Universidad de Illinois analizaron rastros de ADN en ríos y arroyos para comprender cómo influyen las franjas de árboles cercanas al agua, llamadas zonas de amortiguación ribereñas, impactan en las especies terrestres. -
As the state limits sharing of independent data, the Trump administration is delaying new testing requirements for dozens of chemical plants around the Mississippi River Basin. -
From the Dakotas to Texas, wheat acres have been on the decline, due to higher temperatures, drought and farmers shifting to more profitable crops. New innovations could rejuvenate the state of wheat production. -
It’s not just that sea levels are rising. Scientists believe fossil fuel extraction and river engineering are also factors behind coastline disappearance. -
Five activists in Wisconsin share how belief has driven them to be better stewards of the earth -
University of Illinois researchers analyzed traces of DNA in rivers and streams to learn how strips of trees near water — called riparian buffers — impact land species.
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Scientists in the middle of the country told Harvest Public Media that 2025 was a year of major changes and uncertainty.
