The (not so) hidden costs of increasing USDA crop insurance subsidies As USDA is cutting programs that support sustainability and market access for smaller farmers, the Department has made a series of changes to crop insurance subsidies mostly benefiting large commodity...

Fascinating new analysis from @jeffdiamond12.bsky.social for @iatp.bsky.social showing the staggering increase in crop insurance subsidies for what used to be relatively small parts of the program. Another bad thing accomplished by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. www.iatp.org/costs-increa...

USDA Seeks Farmer Input in Fertilizer Price Collusion Probe - Farm Policy News The Trump administration is seeking information from farmers to help with an ongoing Justice Department probe into high costs for fertilizer, machinery and other farm inputs. The Department of Justice...

Pretty obvious that tariffs and the war in Iran are increasing the prices of farm inputs. But Admin doesn't want anyone to think about that 🤷‍♀️. farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2026/04/usda...

Links between paraquat, Parkinson’s considered as lawmakers weigh ban Evidence that paraquat causes the neurological disease will play a major role in the fate of the legislation.

As the Minnesota state legislature sprints to wrap up this year’s session, supporters of a ban on paraquat are pressing their case, pointing to evidence of a link between the herbicide and Parkinson’s disease.

Iowa Senate Approves Bill Making it Harder to Sue Factory Farms For Polluting If passed by the governor, the bill would protect farms from lawsuits surrounding their greenhouse gas emissions.

Bad news in Iowa: "The Iowa Senate approved a bill to shield factory farms in the state from lawsuits regarding their greenhouse gas emissions." It would make it harder to hold CAFOs "legally liable for damages caused by their emissions." sentientmedia.org/iowa-approve...

USDA Baseline Points to Declining U.S. Row Crop Acreage - farmdoc daily Ryan Goodrich, Nick Paulson and Gary Schnitkey -

Helpful analysis of USDA projections - a decline in row crop acres over next 10 yrs due to persistent low prices, supply over-taking demand, improved yields, flat exports. Could be conservative depending on biofuel future vs rise of electric vehicles - farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2026/04/usda...

This. Is. Awesome. (But also tragic & foolish.)

Thank you EWG team for digging into the cropping-in-floodplain data.

In Illinois, 1.5+ million acres of cropland are in the floodplain,
944,420 of those acres planted in corn.

And you're subsidizing the crop insurance.

Land that should be wetlands.

Lots of potential fixes for corn in flood plains releasing N2O and nitrate. More conservation practices like cover crops, reducing tillage, crop diversification or buffer strips, or transitioning land in flood plains away from corn or any crops, can help. 3/3

More than 2 millions of those cropland acres in flood plains were used to grow corn. Since corn is such a heavy user of nitrogen fertilizer, these acres in flood plains are likely hotspots for nitrous oxide #GHG emissions, as well as hotspots of nitrate pollution that gets into drinking water. 2/3

Flooded Fields, Polluted Environment Millions of Midwest corn acres in flood plains fuel climate emissions and contaminate water

New story map from @albine14.bsky.social for @ewgofficial.bsky.social on cropland in flood plains in the Midwest. We found over 4.2 million acres of cropland in flood plains in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. 1/3 storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e8f8...

Where Might the Iran War Hit Your Grocery Bill? Start With Raspberries.

Sending this article to everyone that has asked me lately why/how the price of oil can greatly impact the price of food. www.nytimes.com/2026/03/27/d...

Maps: How Much Have Gas Prices Risen Across The U.S.? Here is a county-level look at where drivers are facing the highest costs.

how high are gas prices where you live? i scraped state- and county-level data so you can see average prices for regular unleaded gasoline across the country. and we'll be updating this page daily.

Donate to Water Monitoring: They Cut Funding - Now We Must Act!, organized by Craig Enneking Imagine living in a state so dependent on its rivers and farmland… Craig Enneking needs your support for Water Monitoring: They Cut Funding - Now We Must Act!

Iowa legislature cut funding for the state's water quality monitoring sensors in 2023. The sensors have been able to keep going with bridge funding since then, but the money will run out on June 30th of this year. So a Go Fund Me was created to fund the sensors. www.gofundme.com/f/keep-iowas...

I see ClimateSky is doing another round of “does focusing on reducing methane emissions distract from reducing CO2 emissions” and I would just like to say emissions of both gases are still going up and emissions of both gases urgently need to come down

Nearly 150 USDA County Offices Have No Conservation Staff, New Data Shows Farmers who met with lawmakers in the capital last week say these county-level staff are essential to effective conservation programs.

"The data shows that in 2025, a little more than half of about 2,400 total counties experienced overall net losses in NRCS staff. In addition, 139 counties no longer had any staff in three roles key to on-farm conservation work by the end of last year." civileats.com/2026/03/23/n...

EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™ Check out EWG's list to help decide when you should splurge for organic produce – part of our annual Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce™

Just released today: @ewgofficial.bsky.social's 2026 Shopper's Guide - the Dirty Dozen produce items that are most contaminated with pesticides, and the Clean 15 produce with the least pesticide residues. Check out how to avoid pesticides on today's National Ag Day. www.ewg.org/foodnews/ful...

Spot-on opinion piece about the House farm bill. "The farm bill is as much a public health measure as it is an agricultural spending initiative. And the draft that’s currently moving through Congress is remarkably bad public health policy." thehill.com/opinion/heal...

Farm groups that never admit climate change is real still constantly ask for government bailouts for farmers due to "extreme weather." 54 farm groups just sent a letter to Congress asking for more taxpayer money for "historic wildfires" etc., no mention of climate change. www.fb.org/files/Ag-Let...

There was already a trend to privatize data access in agriculture, w/ a bunch of middlemen essentially repackaging or supplementing USDA data. This will make things much worse and middlemen (selling an inferior product) richer.
Data like this is essentially information and thus a public good.

Farming in the Dark: Unreliable USDA data jeopardizes a sustainable farming transition As farmers struggle to adjust to a changing climate that has led to an increased frequency of droughts, floods, and other extreme weather events, incomplete or inaccurate public data has become a grow...

Interesting new piece from @iatp.bsky.social showing how confidence in USDA data is eroding under the Trump Administration, with serious consequences. www.iatp.org/farming-risk...

USDA Delays Poultry Tournament System Rule to End of 2027 The Trump administration has delayed the final implementation of the Poultry Grower Payment Systems and Capital Improvement Systems, which the Biden administration finalized just before leaving office...

More proof that the Trump Admin cares about corporations much more than farmers. www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/...

I never understand the pushback. A lot of us get our electricity from utilities that already use renewables. Like here in the Twin Cities, Xcel Energy is going to actually hit 60% renewables by 2030. Using that electricity is already better than burning gasoline in a car or gas in a furnace 🤷‍♀️

E&E News: Trump’s MAHA farm plan muddies Republican messaging As the Agriculture Department promotes "regenerative" farming, promoters of climate-smart agriculture say it echoes the Biden administration's goals.

Happy to be included in this new article from Marc Heller at @eenews.bsky.social about USDA's new Regenerative Pilot Program. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Totally unrelated:

Did you know almost 100% of corn planted is pre-treated with neonicotinoid insecticides?

Did you know neonicotinoid seed treatments aren't regulated by the federal pesticide law?

Did you know most studies (even from ag schools!) show little yield benefit from neonic treatments?

Gas prices jump 16 cents overnight in Minnesota and are still heading up Unrest in the Middle East and spring travel are leading to price surge of 10 to 25 cents a gallon in the next week or two. Some analysts say a gallon could hit $4.

Week one and Trump’s war is hitting pocket books.

www.startribune.com/us-iran-conf...

Syngenta stopping global paraquat production doesn’t end need for states to enact bans WASHINGTON – The Environmental Working Group welcomes Syngenta’s announcement today

There are over 750 companies that sell paraquat globally. Syngenta ending their production of paraquat likely won't mean much for how much is used in the U.S. Paraquat exposure increases the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by 64%. www.ewg.org/news-insight...

Farmers Increasingly Rejecting Data Center Bids For Land - Farm Policy News The tech industry’s relentless push for data centers is colliding with farmers who see the projects as a threat to their way of life. Despite being offered sums that often dwarf the land’s recent valu...

This is absolutely wild. Some farmers are getting offers over $120,000 an acre to sell their land to data center developers. Just for comparison, Iowa State says average price for an acre of farmland in Iowa is around $11,500. farmpolicynews.illinois.edu/2026/03/farm...

The latest on ICE in Minnesota Live updates on ICE enforcement in Minnesota, with the latest developments and links to deeper reporting as events unfold.

New reporting shows that we are still going to have 407 ICE agents in Minnesota in March. Much above the 150 agents that Homan claimed in his announcement a few weeks ago. Immigrants here are still terrified to leave their homes every day. www.mprnews.org/live-updates

Government penalizes businesses over 6 deaths at Colorado dairy Federal workplace safety regulators have penalized three businesses over their failure to protect six Colorado dairy workers who were killed by exposure to highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas after a ma...

"The hazards of confined spaces on farms and dairies are a well-known and persistent cause of death in agriculture across the U.S. — often from exposure to odorless and colorless noxious gases, or due to asphyxiation in closed spaces where oxygen has been depleted" apnews.com/article/colo...

The MN Dept of Ag is requesting comments by March 12 on if our Groundwater Protection Rule is adequately protecting water from nitrate. @ewgofficial.bsky.social knows the rule is not adequate, so we will be submitting comments. I invite others to comment as well! www.mda.state.mn.us/groundwater-...

Just one of the MANY recent papers that connect low dose exposure to Glyphosate and to a higher risk of developing cancer.

Glyphosate-based herbicide as a potential risk factor for breast cancer - ScienceDirect share.google/H6v0d587sELT...