Mississippi River Basin: Ag & Water Desk
The Ag & Water Desk team is made up of ten partner news organizations: Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Madison, WI; the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, Champaign, IL; The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee, WI; The Daily Memphian, Memphis, TN; Northern Public Radio – WNIJ, DeKalb, IL; Harvest Public Media, Kansas City, MO; Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN; The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, IA; and The Lens in New Orleans, LA. Each news outlet applied to be part of the project through Report for America. Each outlet has hired one reporter to participate as a member of the Ag & Water Desk.
Additionally, the desk has five expert journalists and two senior advisors based at the following outlets: Inside Climate News, Washington, D.C.; The St. Louis Post Dispatch, St. Louis; DTN/The Progressive Farmer; the Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis; WWNO, New Orleans Public Radio, New Orleans and The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate | NOLA.com, New Orleans.
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New research suggests silage has been overlooked as a substantial producer of nitrous oxide. A team at Kansas State University figured out why – and a potential way to tackle the problem.
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Cultivated meat — meat grown from animal cells — is touted as a way to meet growing global demand with far fewer climate impacts. Yet two states banned the sale of cultivated meat earlier this year, and there are proposals in several Midwestern states to do the same.
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The extension of the 2018 Farm Bill expired in September. Pressure is mounting for Congress to pass new legislation, as tough weather and low crop prices challenge farm budgets.
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Kernza is a perennial grain that can produce an annual crop, even as it stays in the ground for up to four years. Its deep root system make it a sustainable crop, but the grain doesn't have many markets.
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Fall is typically a drier time of the year for the Great Plains and Midwest. But drought is once again rearing its head in much of the region, and experts are not seeing relief anytime soon.
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Crop prices have returned to more normal levels this year — down from record highs. As farmers expect less income this year, that's likely to send ripples through the larger agricultural economy.
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Midwest states are spending millions to manage invasive carp in rivers and lakes. If left unchecked, conservation experts say the fish could wreak havoc on local ecosystems and fishing industries.
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Research shows that college students are going hungry at a higher rate than the U.S. population as a whole. Some campuses are taking alternative approaches to tackling student hunger.
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Decades of data show nitrate levels in rivers often drop during dry years and spike when rain returns. Experts say more conservation practices in and around farm fields could help smooth out the sharp peaks to protect drinking water and downstream impacts.
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While corn and soybeans dominate the Midwestern landscape today, some farmers are integrating strips of native prairie back into their fields. This conservation practice has expanded to more than a dozen states.