Just one year away from a 2025 deadline to reduce nitrate and phosphorus entering the Gulf of Mexico by 20%, success seems unlikely.
Author Archives: Erin Jordan / The Gazette
I’m a Cedar Rapids Gazette investigative reporter, and I’ve wanted to be in the newspaper since elementary school, when I attempted to fry an egg on the sidewalk and called the hometown paper to cover the event. I think being a news reporter is the best job because I get to talk with fascinating people, ask them all sorts of questions and then share the information with readers. Being an investigative reporter just means digging deeper and asking even more questions.
Posted inEnvironment
Latest farm data ‘a wake-up call’ as Midwest farmers face ever steeper challenges
The latest Ag Census data show alarming trends in the upper Mississippi River basin, one of the most intensive agricultural areas in the U.S.: Less diverse farmers, more and more farms are going out of business, and farmland is being consolidated, making it even more difficult to get into the industry.
Posted inEnvironment
Farm conservation programs offer solutions to climate threats, but they’re vastly underfunded
The Biden administration has called the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s farm conservation programs a “linchpin” in the nation’s climate strategy, yet they remain vastly underfunded.
Posted inEnvironment
These states are leading the country in agriculture emissions
Texas and Iowa lead the country in greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture. Wisconsin ranks No. 10. Meanwhile, climate change continues to disrupt farming.
Posted inEnvironment
A wetter world is changing Midwest farming. Can growers adapt?
A changing climate is causing rain to fall in harder bursts that push back planting seasons and drown crops in the Mississippi River farm country.