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EPA slow to suspend toxic herbicide tied to lifelong health issues
Imagine an agricultural chemical so vial, so poisonous, so unsafe to human health that even the pesticide-friendly and herbicide-happy Environmental Protection Agency eventually couldn’t look the other way. That chemical is dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, also known as DCPA, sold under the brand name Dachtal. The herbicide is widely used on broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, and onion […]
Where Kamala Harris stands on Big Ag is anybody’s guess
For the nation’s chicken farmers, the last nine months have been breathtaking. Poultry producers have been gamed, we might as well say plucked, for decades by chicken companies. Ever since the 1948 Chicken of Tomorrow contest, Big Poultry has found ways to increase its profitability at the hands of many individual farmers. In July of […]
SCOTUS should take up an ag-gag vs. the First Amendment case
The state of North Carolina and the North Carolina Farm Bureau are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down news-gathering activities that generally have been afforded First Amendment protection. In its writ of certiorari, North Carolina is asking SCOTUS to specifically uphold two paragraphs of its 2015 Property Protection Act: North Carolina maintains that the Fourth […]
The most impactful agricultural story of 2022
Whew… what a year. If you closely follow ag doings, you know there’s plenty to talk about. If not, well let me get you caught up. First, three stories that fall just a wee bit short of the most impactful agricultural story of 2022. The question of what waters the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate […]
Will FDA proposed healthy guidelines make a difference?
The Food and Drug Administration really wants you to believe that healthy is as healthy does. To that end, the FDA wants grocery shoppers to know with some degree of confidence that when they buy processed foods emblazoned with a “healthy” label, by golly, it’s healthy eating. Pinky swear. But as it turns out, trying to […]
Feds need to keep watchful eye on climate-smart grants
Climate change believers by and large say that for decades Big Agriculture has spewed huge amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. And they’re not wrong. EPA estimates that agriculture accounted for 11.2% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2020. So it’s quite obvious that in order to combat climate change the feds […]
Big Ag has misled the public when it comes to fighting climate change
This commentary was originally published by Investigate Midwest. For the last several years Big Agriculture has tried, with some degree of success, to bamboozle the public into believing it’s all in when it comes to combating climate change when in fact it ain’t. It’s nothing new. Big corporations have been playing the misinformation game for […]
Foreign investors are snapping up U.S. land. But exactly how much, who knows?
This commentary was originally published by Investigate Midwest. Anybody who has kept an eye on agricultural doings knows that consolidation is occurring at an alarming rate. In the past couple of decades, competition between agricultural giants has become a fading memory. Even this short list is staggering: China’s WH Group purchased Smithfield Foods – the largest producer […]