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The watchdogs: After Wisconsin landowners discover plans to spread pig manure without consent, critics call for stronger oversight
* Critics of a proposed pig farm in Trade Lake, Wisconsin, found a way to stall it: preventing land use for spreading the millions of gallons of manure the farm would generate annually. * State rules require large livestock farm owners to have a sufficient land base on which to...
Ted Turner, longtime Nebraska land baron, still buying as next chapter nears
This story was originally published by the Flatwater Free Press. Long before anyone talked about China, Bill Gates or multinational corporations buying up Nebraska land, another name was spoken, with curiosity and frustration, on farms and ranches from Ord to Ogallala. Ted Turner, they said. Ted Turner is buying everything.
The businessman: Pig farm developer gains little trust in Wisconsin town. He doesn’t particularly care.
* Critics have accused an agriculture developer of disregarding local concerns and misrepresenting himself in his push to construct the state’s largest pig farm, which they believe foreshadows the lack of care and transparency under which the farm would operate. * As opponents gathered additional information about the proposed...
GRAPHIC: In past decade, global agriculture’s rate of growth has slowed
Globally, the agriculture industry has enjoyed increasing productivity over the past several decades. Technological advances, such as varieties of crops that can produce more than in the past, have helped spurred this growth. But the rate of that growth has slowed in the past decade, according to an analysis from...
The chairman: How a plan to develop Wisconsin’s largest pig farm upended a small town’s politics
* Concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, have proliferated tenfold in Wisconsin within the past three decades, stirring high-stakes local debates about their effect on quality of life, property values and public health. * A proposed swine operation in the Burnett County town of Trade Lake — pitched to be...
Who’s Buying Nebraska? Foreign companies deeply involved in farmland — but not how you think
This story was originally published by the Flatwater Free Press. first story and the second story in the series. On sweltering summer days Mike Zakrzewski’s cows neatly line themselves up by the hundreds in their pastures. They shift sideways as the sun crosses the sky, following a narrow line...
‘Forever chemicals’ found in freshwater fish, yet most states don’t warn residents
This story was originally reported by KFF Health News. Bill Eisenman has always fished. “Growing up, we ate whatever we caught — catfish, carp, freshwater drum,” he said. “That was the only real source of fish in our diet as a family, and we ate a lot of it.”
GRAPHIC: Ag emissions from world’s top ag emitters have trended up slightly since 2015, nonprofit data says
Tens of thousands of officials, political leaders, advocates and industry representatives have descended on Dubai for this year’s United Nations annual climate summit known as COP28. Delegates worldwide have signed pledges to reduce greenhouse emissions from agriculture sources this year. The summit focuses on food systems and sustainable agriculture,...
US push to produce methane from manure raises concerns
AMES, IOWA — In a gathering that drew the attendance of both farmers and Wall Street financiers, U.S. regulators joined with oil giant Chevron at a November conference here to promote what backers promise will be a monumental breakthrough — systemic changes that would turn polluting agricultural waste into a source of renewable energy that replaces fossil fuels and slows climate change.
Climate report indicates dire future for Mississippi River basin, which is already feeling impacts
The Fifth National Climate Assessment, released earlier this month, warns of wide-ranging climate impacts throughout the United States. The implications for people and the environment in the Mississippi River basin are extreme, but experts stress that it is not too late to slow the worsening effects. From its headwaters in...
‘Throw me a bone here’: Small meat processors say USDA measures don’t address consolidated industry’s root problems
Over the past two decades, Greg Gunthorp carved out a niche operating a small meat processing plant in northern Indiana. He sold several kinds of meat to chic Chicago and Indianapolis restaurants and to Chicago O’Hare International Airport, he said. He also sold direct to consumers. But selling in...
FDA must test food color additives to improve public trust
What food additive does the Food and Drug Administration deem potentially cancerous if applied to the skin, but is just peachy keen to digest?. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you erythrosine, more commonly known as FD&C Red No. 3, a synthetic food coloring derived from fluorone. I know what you...
GRAPHIC: Foreign-owned land growing across the United States
Since 2015, the amount of land owned or leased by foreign individuals or companies has more than tripled, sparking increased political attention on whether new restrictions should be put in place. Foreign-owned land nationwide remained steady at around 15 million acres during the 1980s and 1990s, according to USDA records.
Who’s Buying Nebraska? After shopping spree, Mormon church is top land purchaser
This story was originally published by the Flatwater Free Press. first story in the series here. Early in the summer of 2018, a nonprofit few Nebraskans have heard of bought a 22,613-acre chunk of land in Garden County. The next year, the nonprofit, tied to a P.O. Box in Salt...
A Kansas City farm school shows how the Farm Bill is helping develop urban ag
KANSAS CITY, Kansas, (DTN) — At a holiday market on Monday, the KC Farm School at Gibbs Road hosted about 20 vendors who included people selling beauty aids, teas and soap, but also fresh produce, baked items, and some meat and eggs. As people shopped, the farm also included information about using various federal and state food-aid programs as well.
Investigate Midwest event in Iowa City draws intimate crowd
A woman whose mother battled dementia finds comfort in Hawkeye tailgating. A drag queen recounts the ups and downs of competition. “Star Trek” bonds an adolescent in a new school. A father introduces his son to a love of NASCAR. A photographer who came from Mexico helps others find their inner luchador.
Who’s Buying Nebraska? Corporations, investors grabbing giant chunks of Nebraska farmland
This story was originally published by the Flatwater Free Press. There’s never a Black Friday discount when a piece of Nebraska farmland hits the market in 2023, be it a fertile field in the Platte River Valley or a vast swath of Sandhills pastureland. The market’s hot. And corporate...
‘What we’re up against’: North Dakota towns fight Farm Bureau to keep water clean
Articles in this project are edited by Carey Gillam, managing editor of The New Lede. DEVILS LAKE, North Dakota — When Clark Steinhaus first heard about a plan to build a feeding operation for 2,499 hogs near the shoreline of North Dakota’s largest natural lake, he was alarmed. As chair of Pelican Township’s board of supervisors, Steinhaus worried the manure generated by so many hogs could easily contaminate area waterways, including 160,000-acre Devils Lake and its 375 miles of shoreline.
DOJ has work cut out for itself in Agri Stats lawsuit
The splashy Department of Justice office of public affairs press release reads “Agri Stats Suppresses Competition by Organizing and Managing Scheme to Share Competitively Sensitive Information Among Protein Processors.”. It’s the latest lawsuit by the DOJ antitrust division trying to reign in what the the feds say is Agri...
GRAPHIC: USDA has initiated 250 antitrust enforcement actions since 2016
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has initiated 250 cases against companies and individuals for non-compliance with the Packers and Stockyards Act since 2016. The act promotes fair competition in the livestock, meat and poultry markets. Enacted in 1921, the act responded to concerns about anti-competitive practices by the “Big Five”...
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