USDA Offers Farmers $$ To Cut Nitrogen and Phosphorus Runoff

December 9, 2009–Lands targeted for NRCS pilot projects over the next four years program include 41 watersheds in 12 states within the overallMississippi Riverwatershed.

Report Documents Foreign Ownership of U.S. Farm Lands

October 28, 2009–Foreign ownership of privately-held US agricultural lands, on the rise for the second year in a row, can affect the local economy, politics, culture, foreign investment in the US, food security, and agricultural subsidies.

Judge Orders USDA To Release Data on Wolf Program

August 26, 2009–The locations of conflicts in New Mexico and Arizona between livestock and Mexican gray wolves, which were reintroduced in 1998, will now be made public in hopes of identifying problem areas and taking preventive steps.

Toolbox: Website Offers Profusion of Government Science Links

July 29, 2009–In one handy spot, you'll find hundreds of rarely visited Web pages published by a vast variety of federal offices and programs doing science on environmental and other topics.

Dole Sues "Bananas!" Film-Maker For Defamation

July 15, 2009–Showing of the film, depicting purported harm and claims of sterility by Nicaraguan plantation workers, went ahead at the Los Angeles Film Festival, even though an April 2009 Superior Court ruled that those claims were fraudulent.

Toolbox: Homeland Security Daily Infrastructure Report

July 15, 2009–Reporters interested in following the hazards of dams, refineries, chemical plants, pipelines, and other infrastructure may find story leads in DHS reports.

Judge Rules That Feedlot Phone-Book Can Be Secret

April 8, 2009–As of March 31, 2009, the Agriculture Department may keep secret the locations and phone numbers of feedlots — however much the public may complain about their smell and the pollution emanating from them.

Obscure Farm Bill Provision Blacks Out Agricultural Data

February 25, 2009–The USDA is interpreting a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill so broadly that it may amount to a FOIA exemption for most information about individual agricultural operations.

Toolbox: USDA Releases New Census of Agriculture

February 18, 2009–Data range from the very big picture, such as the total acreage devoted to agriculture in the country, and each state and county, to myriad details.

EPA Hides Data on Pesticide Link to Bee Die-Off

September 10, 2008–The Environmental Protection Agency looks determined to keep the public from knowing whether a pesticide on which it has waived safety rules may be a factor in the worldwide bee die-off known as "colony collapse disorder."