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GRAPHIC: Cost to repair farm equipment rose 41% in past four years
Over the past few years, the U.S. saw record-breaking inflation in all areas of the economy. Farmers face additional financial strain when it comes to repairing equipment used to produce soybeans and corn, the nation’s two most widely grown crops. The costs of parts and labor for agriculture machines and equipment has nearly doubled in the past two decades, and spiked by 41% since 2020 alone, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Farm machinery is listed along with construction and mining equipment.
Pipelines play a key role in U.S. efforts to cut carbon emissions. But landowners are pushing back.
The pipeline runs right through Kenny Davis’ modest Scott County, Illinois, farm, where he had planned to build a home for him and his wife once he retired from working as an electrical lineman. Davis’ retirement came in 2020, but the new house never did. “I can’t do...
When must-pass meets mega-partisan
This article was originally published by FERN with media partner Mother Jones. The farm bill was once an example of bipartisan bonhomie in Washington. A marriage of farm subsidies and nutrition assistance programs, the recurring five-year legislation gave rural Republicans and urban Democrats in Congress strong incentives to support it even if neither was entirely satisfied. Pork helped, as it does. The bill has always relied on handouts to grease its wheels, like large milk subsidies that particularly benefited dairy farmers in states that happened to have powerful members on the Senate Agriculture Committee, or billions for an ethanol industry that likely wouldn’t exist without government help. The bill’s horse-trading quality, giant price tag, and broad mix of programs have always made it complicated to pass. Yet despite contentious fights and delays, final passage of some kind of omnibus compromise has rarely been in doubt.
GRAPHIC: U.S. consumers spent more on food in 2022 than ever before
The amount of money U.S. consumers spend on food has increased by about 70% since 1997, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The cost of food has even outstripped the rate of inflation, and Americans now spend way more on food than they did in the mid-1990s. The dollar...
Turkey growers left out of USDA payment reform say the decision is ‘devastating’
Eddie Todd has raised turkeys for a major processing company for two decades. He’s still confused about how the company calculates his pay. The company provides the birds, and Todd, the president of the Arkansas Farmers Union, raises them. Sometimes, sick turkey chicks have been delivered to him, he said, which affects his ability to make a living because of the tournament system.
Investigate Midwest expands coverage to Illinois statehouse
The latest news from Investigate Midwest: We kicked off 2024 by expanding our reporting to the Illinois Capitol and welcoming a new reporter to our award-winning team. Investigate Midwest has hired Jennifer Bamberg to bring new in-depth coverage of agriculture and food legislation and policy in Illinois and how it impacts farmers, workers, the environment and the industry in general.
GRAPHIC: A third of U.S. corn is used to produce ethanol
Corn is used in hand sanitizer, soft drinks and plastic. But now, more than half of the corn produced in the U.S. is turned into biofuel or alcohol, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. In the 1990s, a larger share of the nation’s corn crop went into sweeteners, such...
Federal audit: More information on foreign-owned agriculture land needed
Federal records on foreign-owned agricultural land include errors, lack details on subsidiaries and secondary owners, and are not provided to other government agencies in a timely manner, the U.S. Government Accountability Office reported in a recent audit. Foreign companies are required to disclose land purchases or leases to the United...
How Jesús Salas documents the legacy of Wisconsin farmworkers – and his own
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service. In 1966, Jesús Salas led the historic march of migrant farmworkers from Wautoma to Madison, in the process helping organize Wisconsin’s first farmworker union. He went on to become a leader in Latinx community organizations throughout Milwaukee and...
Week of heavy snowfall wallops Midwest, could bring drought relief
Several winter storms have barreled through the Midwest since the start of the year, bringing deep snow and bitter cold. In Iowa, where treacherous roads caused hundreds of accidents, snowpack grew up to 20 inches in some places — marking a winter with 180% more precipitation than normal, so far.
Accidents and emergency calls mount at Archer Daniels Midland plants in Decatur in past year
This story was originally published by CU-Citizen Access. Just months before he planned to retire, 66-year-old Robert Dautel was killed in an accident at the railyard just off of the Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) west plant in Decatur, Illinois. On April 11, 2023, Dautel was in a locomotive operated remotely...
GRAPHIC: Fertilizer prices reach a record high
The price of fertilizer has been on a steady increase since the late 1980s. This price increase has led American farmers to worry about a reliance on the global supply chain and launched federal incentives to make the chemicals domestically. Prices paid to chemical companies for fertilizers and other agricultural...
Spilling Bill’s beans: Tech billionaire spent $113 million on Nebraska farmland
This story was originally published by the Flatwater Free Press. A glance at federal records shows the series of Nebraska farms listed as foreign owned, though there’s no country attached and no hint that these farms with unassuming names might be related. Willowdale Farms, Merrick County Farms, Dove Haven...
Can $3 billion persuade Black farmers to trust the USDA?
This story was originally published by FERN and NPR. The Biden administration’s $3.1 billion Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities grant program hopes to convince farmers and ranchers to adopt practices that will reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon in the ground. It also seeks to make amends for a century of discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which administers the grants. In its program description, USDA said Black, Native, and other “historically underserved” farmers needed to be a key part of all projects in the climate-smart program.
Predictions of the top 5 agriculture issues in 2024
It’s that time of year when your intrepid columnist uses a divining rod, a scrying ball, a set of tarot cards and three slightly scuffed marbles to prognosticate the top ag stories for 2024. Seeking some helpful insight this year, I turned to an unassuming tome, Les Propheties written...
How clean is the upper Mississippi River? New report finds signs of improvement, emerging threats
A new report released Tuesday from the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association found that although water quality has generally improved in the upper river in past decades, new threats, such as road salt and lead, are emerging. The report tracked 19 indicators of water quality — including phosphorus, nitrogen, chloride,...
Review: Who Is the Rural Voter? Book Builds on Old Themes to Create New Understanding
In their new book, The Rural Voter: The Politics of Place and the Disuniting of America, Colby College political scientists Nicholas F. Jacobs and Daniel M. Shea set out to describe what differentiates the politics of metropolitan and nonmetropolitan places. Drawing on the largest survey ever conducted with the specific aim of understanding rural voters, they seek to explain the recent rightward shift of the American countryside.
GRAPHIC: Tyson Foods laid off more than 4,200 employees in 2023
Tyson Foods and its subsidiaries laid off more than 4,200 workers in 2023, more workers than were laid off in the previous decade combined. Meat processors nationwide, including Smithfield and HyLife, have closed several large plants over the past year, blaming decreasing consumer demand and higher production costs. At least...
‘I didn’t think they would agree to anything’: Inside the broken negotiations that led to Oklahoma’s 20-year case against several poultry companies
As the calendar turned to 2005, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson grew more frustrated each time he opened the newspaper or turned on the radio. For nearly four years, his office had been meeting with representatives of several large poultry companies, including Tyson Foods, in hopes of reaching an agreement to rein in the pollution from chicken litter in the Illinois River Watershed.
Bio-cash: How a cow-powered, controversial fuel ingests Wisconsin clean energy dollars
This story was made possible by a grant from the Center for Rural Strategies and Grist. It was originally published by Tone Madison and Barn Raiser Media. A pumpkin farm that sells organic produce and boasts acres of sunflowers installs solar panels across its fields in rural Dane County. The...
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