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A denim-clad rancher poses on horseback, crimson-red shirt against a hazy blue sky. A farmer in a T-shirt stands surrounded by his crop, leaves bending toward weathered hands. “Real Americans wear cotton,” reads bold text over a photo of a sprawling white field. This Americana-laden imagery came in an X post from Agriculture Secretary Brooke […] The post USDA wants to revive the cotton industry.…
Companies such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Mars have regularly sued governments around the world in an effort to prevent public health proposals from being implemented, according to new reporting by Lighthouse Reports and a slew of media partners. Diets full of ultraprocessed foods — such as fast food, cereals, soft drinks and protein bars — […] The post Report: Big Food companies regularly sue to…
Illinois collected $9.06 million from pesticide registration fees in fiscal year 2025 to support enforcement and education programs related to oversight of pesticide applicators. But state spending records indicate that much of that money, which is supposed to fund educational programs and enforcement, may not be directly funding what it was intended to. In fiscal […] The post Illinois pesticide…
American farmers spent an estimated $1.4 billion more on diesel during the 2026 planting season than they did a year earlier, according to a July analysis released by the congressional Joint Economic Committee Minority. The report estimates diesel costs for planting corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and rice increased 63.2% nationwide between the 2025 and 2026 […] The post Illinois farmers saw…
A shrinking U.S. cattle herd, driven in part by persistent drought and the New World screwworm, has forced the industry to rely more heavily on imported beef to keep up with strong demand. It’s a trend that’s been building for the past three years. The latest USDA projections show beef imports continuing to rise and […] The post US beef exports decrease, while imports increase under Trump appeared…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has backed off its re-assessment of cancer-causing nitrates despite decades of research suggesting the contaminant is more harmful than previously thought and that nitrate pollution is at crisis levels in U.S. drinking water. The agency would not confirm the assessment was cancelled, but the work has been stagnant for more […] The post EPA stalls…
Illinois lost more Farm Service Agency staff in 2025 than any other state, according to a June report. Those losses followed federal cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and various sub-agencies under the department’s umbrella. The data, published by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition — a group of grassroots organizations that advocate for sustainable […] The post Illinois led…
1. They use enormous amounts of water Data centers, which store and process the digital information needed for everyday online activities, often consume large amounts of water to keep servers cool — especially the new hyperscale facilities typically built for artificial intelligence. Google’s data center in Pryor, Oklahoma — one of the company’s largest facilities […] The post Five things to know…
Beginning farmers are often described as the future of American agriculture. But the 2022 Census of Agriculture shows they are not simply younger versions of today’s farmers. Their age, work patterns and farm characteristics paint a more complicated picture of what it means to start farming in the United States today. USDA defines a beginning […] The post Most of America’s beginning farmers don’t…
Iowa’s official database of animal feeding operations, which serves as the state’s primary regulatory inventory of livestock facilities, does not include thousands of facilities that researchers say contribute to the state’s growing manure burden and potential water pollution. After spending about a year reviewing aerial photographs, satellite imagery and state records, researchers with the…
On the western edge of Oklahoma City, just south of Route 66 and the city limits of Yukon, Pencia Truhan built the retirement she had always dreamed of. Her five-acre property is home to rescue horses, chickens and, most recently, a pig, surrounded by a spring-fed pond, scattered homes and open farmland. But part of […] The post A loophole leaves Oklahoma data center water consumption largely…
About a third of counties most dependent on farm labor for their economies had ICE arrests in 2025, more than in previous years, according to an analysis of federal data. The increase came as the Trump administration pursued mass deportations of immigrants throughout the country. The campaign largely focused on sending law enforcement agents to […] The post Snapshot: What ICE arrests looked like…
