More on the pesticide-cancer link, especially in Iowa. open.substack.com/pub/cornbelt... From @ninaelkadi.com

Many Iowans are personally affected by the state's rising and anomalous cancer rates. The cancer rate is linked to nitrate pollution (from manure/fertilizer), pesticides, PFAS and radon, a new report finds: @ninaelkadi.com @sentientmedia.org

RIP Tracy Kidder. Really great obituary about success, failure, and everything it takes to try and write.

ICYMI: Naomi and I wrote about what it means for the federal government to declare a herbicide "necessary" for national security.

A short note on glyphosate, from @naomioreskes.bsky.social and me

BREAKING: 3,800 workers at Colorado’s JBS USA, the world’s largest meatpacker, are on strike. This is the largest meatpacking strike in 40 years.

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture candidate Wade Dooley dropped out this AM. From the release: “This is my first foray into statewide campaigning, and it’s been an eye-opener … The amount of time, staff and money that it takes is truly daunting. And at this point in our lives, all of that is too much.”

Taking a break from my scheduled food/ag content to share a guide to reporting on Iran, from an association I'm proud to be a part of, @amejaglobal.bsky.social. Helpful for journalists and non-journalists alike when thinking through terminology and its intersection with history.

It has been interesting to think about contingency in the context of pollution events. If the weather didn’t hold, this story could’ve been very different. Some commentary on my latest story about Agri Star, which was published in @sentientmedia.org

I don't think anyone is doing better journalism on Midwest agriculture than @ninaelkadi.com. Her latest, on biodigesters: sold as “climate-smart,” but subsidize factory farm expansion, pollute rural water, and address only ~11% of ag emissions. cornbeltconfidential.substack.com/p/digesters-...

“What’s to stop this other conglomerate of people and investors from Appleton that don’t live here?” Brenner says. “They don’t have a house here. They couldn’t care less what happens to our roads and to our wells and to our rivers, and it’s all about the money. They’ve got millions invested.”

Nitrate pollution is straining small water facilities in Iowa. What can these communities do when their water is undrinkable? Tune in to River to River on @iowapublicradio.org tomorrow at 12:20 PM CT to hear Sentient Editor-at-Large @ninaelkadi.com discuss her latest investigation: