Research

Although North Carolinians' attention has rightly been focused on the state's dense concentration of factory swine farms – concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, which produce 10 billion...

North Carolina's dense concentration of approximately 6,500 confined animal feeding operations, often called CAFOs, annually generate two million tons of dry chicken waste and 10 billion gallons of...

America has a serious problem with nitrate contamination of drinking water – and it is most severe in the small communities that can least afford to fix it.

Popular oat cereals, oatmeal, granola and snack bars come with a hefty dose of the weed-killing poison in Roundup, according to independent laboratory tests commissioned by EWG.

Most animals raised for meat, milk and eggs are on industrial farms that contaminate our air, soil and water. These farms rely heavily on antibiotics and other synthetic treatments to boost outputs...

In 2010, there were just three reports of toxic blooms in the U.S. In 2015, there were 15, including the largest to date in Lake Erie, although the bacteria did not get into Toledo's drinking water...

The 1985 federal farm bill created a conservation compact between farmers and taxpayers. In return for generous farm subsidies, farmers agreed to take steps to cut erosion and polluted runoff from...

In December 2015, the 1,500 residents of Erie, Ill., received a warning that the community's tap water should not be given to babies under 6 months old, or used to mix formula or juice for those...

The Raccoon River in central Iowa runs through one of the most intensely farmed regions of the nation. Agriculture is vital to the area's economy, but polluted runoff from farms poses an acute threat...

After a decline in crop prices in 2014 and 2015, the U.S. Department of Agriculture boosted farmers' income by more than $13 billion through two newly enacted subsidy programs. But during the same...

The federal farm bill is scheduled for reauthorization in 2018. The conservation title of a new farm bill is a remarkable opportunity to jump-start progress toward clean water, clean air and a better...

The environmental, public health and natural resources problems plaguing American agriculture are daunting and getting worse. Shifting environmentally sensitive land out of row crop production is one...

The legislation would cap the amount of damages that could be sought in so-called nuisance suits brought by owners of property near concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.

Is Federal Crop Insurance Policy Leading to Another Dust Bowl?

In less than two decades, sales in the organic sector have grown from $3.7 billion in 1997 to more than $43 billion in 2015.

Mapping Cover Crops on Corn and Soybeans in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, 2015-2016

Scott Pruitt, President Trump's nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, has a penchant for making misleading claims about his record on the environment.

When high water breaches animal barns, waste lagoons or fields with applied manure, the nearby surface water becomes toxic.

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USDA's conservation programs are the single largest investment of federal taxpayer's dollars to encourage farmers to adopt practices that improve natural resources and the...

The key to ending world hunger while protecting the environment is to help small farmers in the developing world increase their productivity and income.

North Carolina boasts the nation's second biggest hog farming industry, worth $3 billion in hog and pig sales in 2012 alone, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It ranks third among the...

There's a lot of doom and gloom in the air about the state of the farm economy. As commodity prices continue to fall from the historic highs of the last few years, advocates for the agriculture...

It's a complete misnomer even to call the federal crop insurance program “insurance.” It works nothing like the private insurance market because taxpayers pay about 60 percent of the premiums, all the...

Drinking water, lakes and rivers in Iowa and across the Corn Belt are in serious trouble because of polluted farm runoff. To tackle the problem, for decades we've taken the approach favored by...