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We're all set up at #SEJ2026 in Chicago. Come visit us in the main foyer near registration to say hello and get some Ag & Water Desk gear!
Spring is arriving earlier across the Basin. Reflections and reporting on phenology, the study of seasonal cues from budding flowers to migrating birds – all in this week's newsletter. Read more: agwaterdesk.bluelena.io/social/eda80a3d5b344bc40...
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Today, on #LocalNewsDay, our executive director Sara Shipley Hiles is in Chicago speaking at the Midwest Press Forward Summit about regional collaboration and how it can boost the impact of local news. Sara is shown here with Tracy Baim, executive director of Press Forward Chicago.
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From school boards to city councils, so much of what affects our
daily lives starts locally. This year on the inaugural #LocalNewsDay, you can
amplify reporting from your town. The Desk is proud to be a founding member of this movement to support local media.
Learn more at LocalNewsDay.org
The Trump administration wants to continue the use of the herbicide dicamba. That’s despite fears it’s killing sensitive plants.
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Data centers are going to be one of the Desk's major focuses for the foreseeable future.
Read more from Editorial Director Chas Sisk in this week's newsletter.
Last month, Climate Central, a non-profit specializing in communicating climate science, published an analysis which found that spring is trending to an earlier arrival from 1981 to 2025 in most of the United States.
This week in the newsletter, Desk reporter Bennet Goldstein of Wisconsin Watch shares how he has spent the last few years reporting on the impacts of beavers in Wisconsin, parallels with the new Pixar movie "Hoppers," and the shared science experts between the two.
The sale of US soybeans to China may rebound this year, but a fundamental shift in US policy is needed to break farmers out of their current cycle of hardship, agricultural economy experts said during an Ag & Water Desk, Arkansas Times & Investigate Midwest panel in February.
This week in the newsletter, local stories from Desk reporters on power generation projects and their myriad impacts from South Dakota to Ukraine.
Read more and subscribe:
Desk reporter Gabrielle Nelson of Buffalo's Fire spoke to Minnesota Public Radio about her story on toxic pollution on the Leech Lake Reservation. Listen here:
www.mprnews.org/episode/2026/03/10/hazar...
Many wildlife managers see the rodent as a nuisance that harms trout. But scientists argue they’re essential to controlling floods and wildfires.
This week in the newsletter, Desk Expert Journalist Kathleen Davis shares a recent episode she produced for Science Friday and asks: is there still a use for Farmers' Almanacs in 2026?
This week in the newsletter, Desk Expert Journalist Kathleen Davis shares a recent episode she produced for Science Friday and asks: is there still a use for Farmers' Almanacs in 2026?
Elon Musk’s xAI has fired up dozens of polluting, gas-powered generators to fuel the Grok chatbot — and wants to add more. New Desk reporting from Illan Ireland and the Mississippi Free Press.
Cotton Plant, Ark., can’t maintain water infrastructure for its residents. With an aging population and a lack of state resources, long-term solutions seem far from reach. New reporting from the Ag & Water Desk:
Millions of rural Americans get their water from districts that serve 10,000 people or less. Thousands of those systems are failing to meet federal standards. New reporting from the Ag & Water Desk:
This week in the newsletter, we're talking to essayist and author Ralph Eubanks about his new book, "When It's Darkness on the Delta: How America's Richest Soil Became Its Poorest Land." Read more:
Residents of Canton, Miss., say traffic and dust have already made life a ‘mess’. And they worry what will happen when hundreds of backup diesel generators go online. New story from Desk reporter Illan Ireland and the Mississippi Free Press.
States need a major disaster declaration to access federal aid, but the wait time ranges from a few days to a few months. New reporting from Desk reporter Cassandra Stephenson and Tennessee Lookout.
Little progress has been made despite 40 years of cleanup on Leech Lake Reservation. Locals fear for the health of surrounding lakes and the Mississippi River downstream.
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LIVE PANEL: Joana Colussi, Purdue prof and expert on South American agriculture, says Brazil is setting records for soybean production thanks to trade w/ China, but it comes as a cost. "They are making money but at the same time, it's over-dependence." https://t.co/ZSSuT2j2Ce
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LIVE PANEL: Jared Phillips, U. of Ark. ag historian, says six decades of ag policy focused on exports has limited the country's ability to respond to crisis. "There's not a lot of wiggle room anymore." https://t.co/ZSSuT2j2Ce
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LIVE PANEL: April Hemmes, Iowa farmer who's visited China 8 times to talk trade, says the main use of soybeans there is as feed. "At the end of the day, South America can't service all their needs," she says of U.S. exports. us02web.zoom.us/j/83118281931
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HAPPENING NOW: We're underway with our panel discussion on how ag tariffs are reshaping global trade. Join us! [Registration required] us02web.zoom.us/j/83118281931
Last chance to sign up for our panel on tariffs, trade wars and agriculture, which is today at noon!
Sign up at the link:
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Don't miss your chance! Apply now for six new environmental reporting positions with the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. Deadline is today! @Report4America
https://t.co/PTvy7zes4k
Reporters: Apply now for six new environmental reporting positions with the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. Deadline is Monday, Feb. 16!
