Farm-state GOP senators call for higher crop insurance subsidies
Republicans on the Senate Agriculture Committee proposed a $4 billion injection into the crop insurance program so that the government would pay a larger share of the premiums on policies offering the highest levels of coverage. "We need more farm in the farm bill to get it passed," said Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota, the lead sponsor, on Tuesday.
Fungicides are leading culprit in new Dirty Dozen report
Four of the five most frequently detected chemicals on fruit and vegetables in the Environmental Working Group's annual Dirty Dozen list are fungicides linked to endocrine disruption and reproductive system damage in humans.
USDA approves climate funds for unproven practices, say EWG
The USDA has inflated its spending total for climate mitigation by including practices that are not proven to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or sequester carbon in the soil, said the Environmental Working Group on Wednesday. The USDA said EWG's conclusions were "fundamentally flawed, speculative, and rest on incorrect assumptions."
Crop insurance reform could save billions of dollars — GAO
Congress could achieve significant savings in the crop insurance program by reducing guaranteed payments to insurers and requiring wealthy operators to pay more for taxpayer-subsidized coverage, said the Government Accountability Office on Monday. The reforms could save billions of dollars on a program estimated to cost $101 billion over the next decade.
Higher reference prices would benefit mostly Southern growers, says EWG
U.S. farm groups are giving priority to winning higher reference prices, a key factor in calculating crop subsidies, in the farm bill due this year in Congress. But the benefits would flow to a relative handful of large cotton, rice, and peanut growers, said an environmental group on Tuesday.
PFAS present in more than 1,000 pesticides, analysis shows
PFAS, known as "forever chemicals" because of how long they last in the environment, are present in at least 1,400 pesticides, according to a new analysis from the Environmental Working Group. The chemicals are found in products ranging from herbicides applied to corn, sugar beets and cranberries to insecticides used on livestock and pets, to algaecides that protect boat paint.
One in seven on House ag panel collected farm payments
Eight current members of the House Agriculture Committee received farm subsidies at some point since 1998, said the Environmental Working Group on Tuesday. Seven of the eight describe themselves on their congressional websites as farmers or the offspring of a farm family.
In Minnesota, study finds drinking water tainted with nitrates
Hundreds of thousands of Minnesota residents are drinking water contaminated with elevated levels of nitrate, according to a new analysis from the Environmental Working Group. The state is rolling out new rules to regulate nitrogen fertilizer application and protect groundwater, but advocates say they may not go far enough to keep residents safe.
One in four members on Trump ag panel got trade war money
Heading into the 2016 presidential election, then-candidate Donald Trump formed a 64-member Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee. On Wednesday, the Environmental Working Group reported that 15 members of that committee have received a combined $2.2 million in Trump tariff payments.
‘City slickers’ get Trump tariff payments
More than 9,000 people living in the largest U.S. cities received thousands of dollars in Trump tariff payments intended to mitigate the impact of the trade war on U.S. agriculture, said the Environmental Working Group on Thursday.
Algae blooms linked to agricultural runoff choke waterways nationwide, says report
A new analysis from the Environmental Working Group reveals that state and federal testing of lakes and other bodies of water has found toxins from algae blooms in waterways in 48 states. The toxins, which sometimes make their way into drinking water supplies, can cause negative health outcomes ranging from skin rashes to serious illness or death.
Many water wells in Iowa tainted by farm runoff, report finds
More than 40 percent of private wells tested positive for coliform bacteria at least once over a 16-year period, according to a new study of Iowa state records by the Environmental Working Group and the Iowa Environmental Council.
EWG counts 32 lawmakers who received farm subsidies
Although only a couple of members of Congress are known as active farmers, 32 current lawmakers have received farm subsidies, according to the Environmental Working Group database.
Trump victory throws cold water on expanded farm stewardship
The election of Donald Trump means that environmentalists can forget about new, broader rules on land and water stewardship by farmers, said a prominent Republican farm leader. "Those new regulations are not going to happen," said Chuck Conner, who added that the 2018 farm bill would continue the system of incentives for voluntary action against erosion and polluted runoff.
EWG says U.S. farmers feed the (developed) world
A refrain among U.S. farmers and processors is that bountiful America helps feed a hungry world with a population forecast to increase by one-third, to 9.7 billion people, by mid-century. The actuality is that U.S. farm exports "go to countries that can afford to pay for them," and less than 1 percent go to the world's hungriest nations, says the Environmental Working Group.
EWG: U.S. needs stronger, more focused conservation program
Voluntary soil and water conservation programs "aren't leading to clean water, clean air and a healthy environment," says the Environmental Working Group in unveiling a database that tracks federal conservation spending to the county level. EWG says Congress should require farmers to perform more stewardship work in exchange for farm supports, and focus scattershot conservation programs on the practices with the greatest payoff in the areas with the greatest need.
EPA: Widely used weedkiller atrazine is risk to birds, mammals, fish
The second-most widely used weedkiller in the country, atrazine, poses potential chronic risk to birds, mammals and fish due to runoff and spray drift, said a draft ecological-risk assessment by the EPA. The assessment is part of a review that started in 2013 on whether to extend use of the broad-spectrum herbicide in the U.S. for 15 years.
‘Ignore the subsidy lobby,’ says EWG in review of farm economy
"There's a lot of doom and gloom in the air about the state of the farm economy," says a report by the Environmental Working Group, and much of it is a campaign for larger crop subsidies. "The farm subsidy lobby has been working overtime to sue what it calls a 'farm crisis' to deflect well-deserved criticism of the fatally flawed federal subsidy program that they're desperate to protect."