In the Toxic Terrain series, former New York Times reporter Keith Schneider examines the rampant overuse of farm fertilizers in US agriculture, and the dire consequences for human and environmental health.
The project is supported by the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the Fund For Investigative Journalism. Several articles have been co-published by other outlets, including the Guardian, Circle of Blue, and Investigate Midwest.
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Read the articles below.
“A national scandal” – new US climate funding could make water pollution worse
The $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act was applauded by a chorus of US organizations and activists enthusiastic about the generous funding earmarked for projects designed to mitigate harmful climate change and improve environmental health.
As US pushes “climate-smart” agriculture, hopes and fears collide
For decades, leading US farm leaders have likened efforts to rein in harmful climate change as attacks on agriculture itself, aligning with oil and gas industry groups to block policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas…
In Iowa, a tale of politics, power, and contaminated water
IOWA CITY, IOWA – Here in the heart of US farm country, the wretched quality of Iowa waterways is a well-known lament. Farm fields laden with synthetic fertilizers and manure produce bounties of over 2…
Reporting project examines the scandal of US farm pollution
There’s no way to describe farm-related nutrient pollution other than what it is – a national scandal. A tiny minority of Americans, half of one percent, is grossly fouling the waters for tens of millions…
Native American tribe takes a stand to protect its natural resources
MAHNOMEN, Minn. – It’s been centuries since the White Earth tribe migrated west across North America, following an ancestral prophecy to go where “food grows on water.” One of seven Ojibwe bands in Minnesota, White…
Advising farmers on fertilizer, universities add to water pollution woes
WINONA, Minn. – Corn drapes every curve and rise here in Winona County, Minnesota – seemingly endless fields of grain that contribute to the food, fuel and finances of a robust US agricultural economy.
Could farm fertilizers be driving Corn Belt cancers?
BERNE, Minn. – It was a hot afternoon in mid-July and 60-year-old Brian Bennerotte was making a pilgrimage of sorts, navigating a shotgun-straight, gravel road south of Minneapolis on a journey through a landscape stitched…
“What we’re up against” – North Dakota towns fight Farm Bureau to try to keep water clean
DEVILS LAKE, ND – 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…
US regulators order Minnesota to clean up nitrate contaminated water
In recognition of pervasive farm-related water contamination, federal regulators have ordered three Minnesota state agencies to address “imminent and substantial endangerment to the health” of thousands of residents who are being exposed to high levels…
US push to turn farm manure into renewable energy draws concerns
AMES, IOWA – In a gathering that drew the attendance of both farmers and Wall Street financiers, US regulators joined with oil giant Chevron at a November conference here to promote what backers promise will…
“We can’t sit back” – Amid climbing cancer rates, Iowa health officials eye farm chemicals
Faced with a startlingly high cancer rate in the key US farm state of Iowa, public health leaders are taking the politically precarious step of acknowledging that preventing disease necessitates cutting exposure to potentially cancer-causing…
Cancer in the corn belt sparks actions to fight farm chemical contamination
When directors of the public water utility in Des Moines, Iowa, went to court in 2015 to try to stop toxic farm nutrients from contaminating the city’s drinking water, they knew the federal lawsuit they…
New report sparks questions and controversy over possible causes for Iowa “cancer crisis”
Amid increasing scrutiny of a potential link between Iowa farm chemicals and cancer, a new report is generating controversy as it blames rising cancer rates not on the toxins used widely throughout the state, but…
“It’s getting worse” – US failing to stem tide of harmful farm pollutants
VENICE, LA. Kindra Arnesen is a 46-year-old commercial fishing boat operator who has spent most of her life among the pelicans and bayous of southern Louisiana, near the juncture where the 2,350-mile-long Mississippi River ends…
An Iowa farm county seeks answers amid cancer rates 50% higher than national average
EMMETSBURG, IOWA – Raised in rural Iowa, 71-year-old Maureen Reeves Horsley once considered her tiny hometown in the northwest part of the state to be a blessed space. She recalls a time when the streams…
Michigan notches a victory in effort to rein in polluting farm waste
In a rare rebuke to the industrial farm sector, the Michigan Supreme Court this week ruled that state environmental regulators have full authority to require livestock and poultry operations to improve their handling of billions…
Movement to limit CAFO pollution seen strengthened by Michigan court ruling
A recent state court decision could transform how animal agriculture is regulated in Michigan, and potentially influence how other state and federal regulators oversee the industry’s mammoth waste stream, according to environmental lawyers and activists.
EPA battles environmentalists in court over regulation of CAFOs and water pollution
A coalition of environmental organizations faced off against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in federal appellate court on Thursday in the latest skirmish in a long-running battle over the agency’s regulatory approach to water contamination…
In Amish country, an unlikely partnership with beef giant JBS roils community
EDON, OH – For 60 years, this one stoplight Ohio town has been known as a place where time appears to stand still. With more than 400 Amish residents settled in and around the rural…
Despite critics, organic farming thrives in heart of US corn country
WEST BEND, Iowa – People searching for ways to limit the toll industrialized American agriculture takes on communities, land, and water may want to make a visit to Clear Creek Acres in northern Iowa.
Regulators battle Oregon and Washington farmers over limits to farm pollution
SUNNYSIDE, Washington – Waters from the snowpack of the Cascade Mountains support orchards, vineyards and dairies here in the Yakima Valley of eastern Washington State, boosting a flourishing farm economy and helping to stock store…
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