June 29, 2023 www.investigatemidwest.org Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
Like rain, optimism in short supply for 2023 crops
One of the largest droughts in recent memory has farmers worried. As of last week, 58% of the Midwest was enduring moderate — or worse — drought conditions. That’s the widest area in drought since 2012, Reuters reported.
One farmer told our colleagues at Wisconsin Watch, if the drought doesn’t break, their crop will be a “complete loss.” Another is trying to stay optimistic, but the variety of corn he grows should be 10 to 20 inches higher than it is now.
“Our crop is being hurt,” he said. “I just don’t know how much.”
— Sky Chadde, assistant editor and senior reporter
Midwest drought: Corn and soybeans suffer as forecasters expect no quick relief for farmers
Farmers are struggling all across the Corn Belt. Drought expanded rapidly throughout the Midwest in June — doubling within the first week after significantly less rainfall than normal. Forecasters say the region is not likely to get relief anytime soon.
Through September, arid conditions are expected to persist or even expand in eastern Iowa and Missouri, Illinois and Wisconsin.
Read more.
This story is by Bennet Goldstein of Wisconsin Watch.
GRAPHIC: More than 75% of egg-laying hens live in states with little-to-no welfare protections
By Ava Mandoli, Investigate Midwest
More than three-fourths of egg-laying hens live in states with no battery cage regulations.
These cages – where most of the nearly 380,000 egg-laying hens in the U.S. spend their lives – are smaller than a piece of printer paper, leaving the hens no room to spread their wings or turn around.
With no federal welfare laws for farmed animals in the U.S., battery cage regulation falls to state governments. As of December 2022, only 10 states – Michigan, Massachusetts, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon, Washington, Ohio, Rhode Island and Colorado – have battery cage-related laws.
Search the graphic.
Investigate Midwest awarded $225,000 in support of data-driven, investigative work
We are excited to announce Investigate Midwest recently was awarded new funding to support our award-winning work from Inasmuch Foundation and the Data-Driven Reporting Project, and matching grants from the Reva & David Logan Foundation.
We are among 13 media organizations throughout the U.S. and Canada to receive awards from DDRP to support our data-driven work investigating farmland ownership. To read more about this, please go here. The DDRP is funded by the Google News Initiative in partnership with the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Inasmuch Foundation has awarded grants to 15 nonprofit journalism outfits throughout the U.S. with funds to support general newsroom operations. You can read more here.
We also have $125,000 in matching grants from the Reva & David Logan Foundation in Chicago. This is in addition to $100,000 for newsroom general operations for each of the last two years. You can read more here.
Investigate Midwest, also known as the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, was created in 2009 in Kansas City before moving to Champaign, Illinois, in 2012. It has won national and regional awards for its in-depth reporting.
Other news
The following stories are a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an editorially independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in partnership with Report For America and funded by the Walton Family Foundation. Investigate Midwest is part of this network.
The cost of growth: Fertilizer companies cash in while farmers and communities struggle
Although fertilizer prices have fallen from their all-time high in March 2022, when they spiked up to 3.5 times higher than two years before, the commodity is likely to remain costly for some time, continuing to squeeze the food production system.
Meanwhile, the fertilizer industry has yielded record profits. Canada-based Nutrien Ltd., the world’s leading producer of potash fertilizer, saw profits increase 1,575% between 2020 and 2022 to $7.7 billion. Florida-based Mosaic Co., one of the largest U.S. producers of potash and phosphate fertilizer, netted $3.6 billion in 2022, a 438% increase from 2020. CF Industries, an Illinois-based fertilizer company, made $3.2 billion in 2022, a 955% increase from 2020.
Read more.
This story is by the Columbia Missourian. This is the fourth in a series, "The Price of Plenty."
First story: A lifetime of research links Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ to Midwest fertilizer runoff
Second story: Fertilizer plants add to toxic loads in Louisiana’s ‘Cancer Alley’
Third story: From factory to field, fertilizer is a huge source of planet-warming emissions
