April 13, 2023 www.investigatemidwest.org Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
IN THIS NEWSLETTER
- Dave Dickey's column tackles the kerfuffle over milk
- Graphic: Big farms more often use precision ag technology
- Two Investigate Midwest writers honored by ag writers group
Iowans to share ‘Home Grown’ tales in Iowa City on Investigate Midwest’s first anniversary of the IowaWatch newsroom
A year ago, IowaWatch - the Center for Iowa Public Affairs Journalism joined Investigate Midwest.
Coincidentally, the Spring Storytelling Event: “Home Grown” takes place on that anniversary, April 20, at Poindexter Coffee in the Graduate Hotel in Iowa City.
It’s the perfect event to mark this milestone. Colleagues from the Midwest will be together with the seven Iowa speakers, who will share stories on what “Home Grown” means to them.
The storytellers include: Emma Barber and Jeremy Wilhelm, Scott Koepke, Ann McGlynn, Forrest Meyer, Lyle Muller and Simeon Taylor.
Tickets are available here. Read more details about the speakers and event here.
Graphic: Precision agriculture technologies most common on big farms in Midwest
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest
More than half of farms in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa use precision agriculture technologies, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These Midwestern states reported the highest rates in the country.
“Precision agriculture” encompasses many technologies and techniques that allow farmers to manage crops at the sub-field level.
See the graphic.
Opinion: The ‘milk’ kerfuffle that just won't go away
By Dave Dickey, columnist
Dave Dickey writes in his latest column: "Obviously, only milk comes from cows ... full stop."
"And, remarkably, that's also the opinion of the Food and Drug Administration in a newly issued proposed draft guidance recommending that plant-based milk alternatives may continue to use the word 'milk' in their names because 'consumers generally understand that (plant-based milk alternatives) do not contain milk and choose to purchase PBMA because they are not milk' (doesn't FDA have better things to do with its time?)"
Read more.
Center news
Two Investigate Midwest writers honored for work by NAAJ
Investigate Midwest is excited to announce several of its works placed in the 2023 North American Agricultural Journalists writing contest.
Resident columnist Dave Dickey placed first in both the Opinion and Column categories for his work.
Dickey's piece on the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was honored in the Opinion category. His work on embedded software license agreements was honored in the Column category.
For the Special Projects category, reporter Madison McVan's collaboration with InvestigateTV — “Secret Subsidies” — came in second.
Read more, including the judges' comments on each entry.
More news
Are thousands of Americans being poisoned by PFAS in their tap water?
EPA Administrator Michael Regan last month made one of his agency’s strongest statements to date about the danger of “forever chemicals.”
New restrictions on those pollutants in drinking water would “prevent thousands of deaths and prevent tens of thousands of serious PFAS-related illnesses,” Regan said.
Scientists studying the health effects of the chemicals say that while they can’t prove any one case of illness is tied to them, the statement isn’t an exaggeration. A growing body of scientific research has confirmed early suspicions that PFAS are linked to some cancers, and added new connections between the chemicals and developmental problems.
Read more.
This story was published by the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
