STILLWATER, Okla. — The medical marijuana industry in many areas is booming, but some utility providers struggle to keep up with the growing need for water and electricity. Since Oklahomans legalized medical marijuana in 2018, nearly 10% of the population has obtained cards to buy cannabis. Meanwhile, 8,630 growers have opened shop in the state….
LINCOLN, Neb. — For years, consumers have been eating more and more dry peas, chickpeas, lentils and beans. Bags of lentils or canned chickpeas aren’t a surprising sight in a grocery store, but a closer eye may reveal some surprising bean and pea products on the shelves. There’s PeaTos, which are similar to Cheetos but…
When it rains on a farm here in central Illinois, the water that runs off into local streams and rivers carries with it excess nutrients leftover from fertilizer. Those nutrients eventually flow into the Mississippi River and, ultimately, into the Gulf of Mexico. And while you can’t see them with the naked eye, those nutrients…
Some Midwestern farmers are involved in a research project to help determine how good some practices are for the environment, and it may help them take advantage of new attempts to establish a carbon credit trade market. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/kcur2/audio/2021/09/CARBON-FEATURE-WEB.mp3 The project run by Missouri Corn Growers Association and Missouri Soybean Association is looking at quantifying the…
RAYMOND — A pig’s ideal temperature is 65 degrees Fahrenheit. So on a 90-degree day in the middle of July, Phil Borgic keeps a close eye on his herd. “A pig can’t sweat,” he says. “So the only way that it can transfer the heat is by panting.” https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s138/audio/2021/08/livestock-climate-change-hpm-web.mp3 The air is humid and heavy…
People who work outside increasingly risk their income, illness and even death as climate change ramps up extreme heat. That’s according to a first-of-its-kind study from the Union of Concerned Scientists, titled “Too Hot To Work.” The study focused on workers who spend some or all of their work time outside, including construction workers, emergency…
MOUNT PULASKI – Think about your favorite produce stand at the local farmers market, how fresh and delicious those fruits and vegetables taste. Now imagine if that produce was available at, say, your kids’ school or the local grocery store or hospital. A new farmer-led cooperative is hoping to make that a reality by building…
Millions of rural residents across the Midwest are at risk of nitrate contamination in their drinking water, but they might not know it. Many rural residents get their drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated by state or federal governments. And if residents aren’t regularly testing their well water, they could be at…
SPRINGDALE, Ark. – Tyson Foods Inc., one of the largest food manufacturers in the country, is recalling more than 8-million of pounds of chicken products after illnesses and one death linked to Listeria. On Sunday, the US Department of Agriculture issued a press release. It states the frozen, fully cooked chicken products were produced between…
Amid a push from the Biden administration for U.S. agriculture to help slow climate change, a new study shows farmers in the Corn Belt are dropping the ball on adopting a climate-friendly practice. A mountain of research shows the benefits of planting cover crops — from sequestering carbon from the environment to keeping waterways…
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Public Health are warning residents to be on the lookout for toxic blue-green algae for those planning summer activities in Illinois’ lakes and streams. The algae has already been detected in the Illinois River at the Starved Rock Lock & Dam. According to the press release, summer…
As states like Kansas and Oklahoma let their emergency declarations run out, they effectively take a pass on extra federal help with food stamps. Nearly one in five families struggled to afford food at the height of the pandemic. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) allotments were maxed out to reduce food insecurity. But with increasing vaccination rates…
The average age of farmworkers born outside the U.S. steadily increased from 2008 to 2019, while the average age of U.S.-born workers has stayed about the same over the same period. Foreign-born farmworkers are on average 5 years older than their U.S.-born counterparts. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Research Service attributes the…
URBANA — When people think cannabis, they often think marijuana. But the cannabis plant takes many different forms, from medicinal cannabidiol (CBD) to industrial hemp. A new class at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign aims to break down all the different uses of the crop and provide a foundation for students interested in entering the…
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois is the latest Midwestern state to earmark funding for a program to reduce nutrient runoff from farmland into waterways. It’s the first time the state has dedicated money to its Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy (NLRS). Twelve states within the Mississippi River basin have similar strategies in place, and some, like Iowa, have…