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In the Toxic Terrain series, former New York Times reporter Keith Schneider examines the rampant overuse of farm fertilizers in US agriculture, and the dire consequences for human and environmental health. The project is supported by the Alicia Patterson Foundation and the Fund For Investigative Journalism. Several articles have been co-published by other outlets, including the Guardian, Circle of Blue, and Investigate Midwest.
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Regulators battle Oregon and Washington farmers over limits to farm pollution
By Keith Schneider SUNNYSIDE, Washington – Waters from the snowpack of the Cascade Mountains support orchards, vineyards and dairies here in the Yakima Valley of eastern Washington State, boosting a flourishing farm economy and helping to stock store grocery shelves nationwide. But as the waters flow, so do a host of dangerous farm pollutants, contaminating…
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Despite critics, organic farming thrives in heart of US corn country
By Keith Schneider WEST BEND, Iowa – People searching for ways to limit the toll industrialized American agriculture takes on communities, land, and water may want to make a visit to Clear Creek Acres in northern Iowa. With just shy of 800 residents, West Bend, Iowa is barely a blip on a prairie landscape, but…
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In Amish country, an unlikely partnership with beef giant JBS roils community
By Keith Schneider EDON, OH – For 60 years, this one stoplight Ohio town has been known as a place where time appears to stand still. With more than 400 Amish residents settled in and around the rural community that straddles the Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan state lines, it has been common to see large…
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EPA battles environmentalists in court over regulation of CAFOs and water pollution
By Keith Schneider A coalition of environmental organizations faced off against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in federal appellate court on Thursday in the latest skirmish in a long-running battle over the agency’s regulatory approach to water contamination connected to industrial agricultural operations. The groups, led by the nonprofit Food & Water Watch, told a…
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Movement to limit CAFO pollution seen strengthened by Michigan court ruling
By Keith Schneider A recent state court decision could transform how animal agriculture is regulated in Michigan, and potentially influence how other state and federal regulators oversee the industry’s mammoth waste stream, according to environmental lawyers and activists. The optimism from environmental advocates comes after the Michigan Supreme Court ruled on July 31 that the…
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An Iowa farm county seeks answers amid cancer rates 50% higher than national average
By Keith Schneider EMMETSBURG, IOWA –Raised in rural Iowa, 71-year-old Maureen Reeves Horsley once considered her tiny hometown in the northwest part of the state to be a blessed space. She recalls a time when the streams here ran clean and the lake water was clear. The family farm where Horsley grew up was one…
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“It’s getting worse” – US failing to stem tide of harmful farm pollutants
By Keith Schneider VENICE, LA. Kindra Arnesen is a 46-year-old commercial fishing boat operator who has spent most of her life among the pelicans and bayous of southern Louisiana, near the juncture where the 2,350-mile-long Mississippi River ends at the Gulf of Mexico. Clark Porter is a 62-year-old farmer who lives in north-central Iowa where…
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New report sparks questions and controversy over possible causes for Iowa “cancer crisis”
By Keith Schneider Amid increasing scrutiny of a potential link between Iowa farm chemicals and cancer, a new report is generating controversy as it blames rising cancer rates not on the toxins used widely throughout the state, but on something else entirely: binge alcohol consumption. The Iowa Cancer Registry, a health research group housed at…
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Cancer in the corn belt sparks actions to fight farm chemical contamination
By Keith Schneider When directors of the public water utility in Des Moines, Iowa, went to court in 2015 to try to stop toxic farm nutrients from contaminating the city’s drinking water, they knew the federal lawsuit they filed would be seen as not just a desperate step to protect public health, but also a…
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“We can’t sit back” – Amid climbing cancer rates, Iowa health officials eye farm chemicals
Faced with a startlingly high cancer rate in the key US farm state of Iowa, public health leaders are taking the politically precarious step of acknowledging that preventing disease necessitates cutting exposure to potentially cancer-causing chemicals, including those used in agriculture. In a departure from other state cancer prevention programs, which rarely address environmental risk…