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Catch up on the latest news and analysis from EWG’s team of experts.

Areas of Focus

Areas of Focus

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Update: Federal facilities struggle to routinely offer plant-based or vegetarian options

Many federal facilities still don’t follow voluntary federal guidelines on providing adequate plant-based or vegetarian meal options a year after EWG last highlighted the problem.

Despite new climate-smart funds, agricultural conservation programs remain oversubscribed

The Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, set aside $19.5 billion for agricultural conservation programs that pay farmers to implement conservation practices that reduce agriculture’s greenhouse gas...

Calls to increase crop reference prices would help fewer than 6,000 farmers

Some farm groups and legislators have proposed increasing price guarantees for major crops. But the higher price guarantees would mostly benefit fewer than 6,000 farms in a few states, EWG found.

USDA livestock subsidies top $59 billion

The Department of Agriculture has spent at least $59 billion in subsidies for livestock and seafood producers since 1995, according to a new EWG analysis.

The New Lede

The nonprofit news outlet The New Lede, launched as an EWG project in May 2022, is a recognized and trusted source for in-depth reporting on important environment and human health stories across the U...

CDC: August is peak month for toxic algae illness

In the last few weeks of August, your dog may face a higher risk of algae poisoning than ever.

Federal Crop Insurance Program reforms can help farmers adapt to climate crisis and cut taxpayer costs

Farmers both contribute to the climate crisis – they’re responsible for producing at least 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions – and can also be devastated by its harmful effects, with extreme...

Corn Belt farmers could dramatically reduce nitrous oxide emissions with a handful of conservation practices

Widespread adoption of six simple farm stewardship practices by corn farmers in the Midwest could dramatically reduce nitrous oxide emissions, EWG has found. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that is...

Increasing price guarantees primarily benefits Southern states, analysis shows

Increasing price guarantees for major crops would primarily benefit farmers growing peanuts, cotton and rice in Southern states, not corn and soybean farmers.

The Conservation Reserve Program is failing. Congress should fix it.

Everyone agrees: Permanently restoring hard-to-farm crop lands with trees and grasses that can act as carbon sinks is a good way to build soil carbon.

Brain-eating bacteria aren’t as threatening as toxic algae blooms

As summer heats up, news of fatalities from brain-eating amoeba seems to be everywhere – and people planning to spend time in and near local rivers and lakes might be concerned about contracting the...

Funding for climate-smart agriculture critical to tackling the climate emergency

If Congress cuts billions in climate-smart funding for agriculture in the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, to increase farm subsidies, U.S. farmers could soon become the nation’s leading source of...

Yet another pollinator, the monarch butterfly, is being threatened by toxic pesticides

The Eastern migratory monarch, the pretty orange and black butterfly that migrates through your garden come springtime and helps pollinate your flowers, is a welcome sight. But it’s facing serious...

Hundreds of city slickers and beach bums received farm subsidies for 37 straight years

EWG has found 138 people who have received taxpayer-funded farm subsidies or disaster payments for 37 consecutive years – even though they live in some of the nation’s 50 largest cities or wealthy...

Slashing food, climate funds to boost subsidies would hurt farmers, hungry people

Cuts to funding for food assistance and “climate smart” agricultural conservation practices to increase USDA farm subsidies would hurt farmers in most states, including California, Michigan, New York...

EWG: 30 years of environmental progress

Every day, consumers are presented with choices about how we protect ourselves and those we love. For the past 30 years, EWG has fought to make it easier for us to seize those opportunities.

Speaker McCarthy should target farm subsidies for the wealthy, not food stamps

This week, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made ending food assistance for many hungry people one of his demands for raising the debt ceiling.

‘Fairway farmers’ collected $1.9 million in farm subsidies between 2018 and 2021

The grass is always greener for “fairway farmers” – despite living next to golf courses instead of crop land, they’ve raked in $1.9 million in federal farm subsidies between 2018 and 2021.

25 current members of the House collected $14 million in federal farm subsidies

Dozens of House lawmakers and their immediate family members, including eight members of the House Agriculture Committee or their family members, received over $14 million in federal farm subsidies...

Runaway farm subsidies, not SNAP spending, are the real problem

Some people think the biggest problem facing legislators updating this year’s farm bill is that we’re spending too much on feeding too many hungry people.

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