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.
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…
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