Agriculture

"As this year’s temperatures continue to break records, farmworkers who toil in the heat remain one of the groups most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. But another element of their jobs is making extreme heat even more dangerous: pesticide drift."

"An Australian start-up is hoping fungi can pull carbon dioxide from the air and stash it underground. It’s one of several ventures trying to deploy the superpowers of soil to slow global warming."

"Along any busy roadway, the remnants of car exhaust hang in the air, among them nitrogen oxides and ozone. These pollutants, which are also released by many industrial facilities and power plants, float through the air for hours to years. Scientists have long known that these chemicals are harmful to human health. But now, a growing body of evidence suggests that these same pollutants also make life harder for insect pollinators and the plants that rely on them."

"Blaming “wealthy plantation owners” and outside “special interest groups,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry decried the abrupt decision late Tuesday to cancel a massive grain elevator proposed for a small predominantly Black community along the Mississippi River fighting to preserve its history and landmarks."

"Tropical Storm Debby brought intense rainfall and flooding threats to North Carolina on Thursday, highlighting the vulnerability of hog lagoons and wastewater treatment plants."

"A new scientific report lends weight to consumer concerns about pesticide residues on food, presenting fresh evidence that washing fruit before eating does not remove various toxic chemicals commonly used in agriculture."

"On a sweltering July afternoon, two large yellow bulldozers dug into the brown soil at the bottom of a lush avocado orchard near the small town of Madero, located in central Mexico’s Michoacan state."

"Patsy Hirsch and her husband moved to an Elgin subdivision nearly three decades ago, drawn by a backyard thicket of oak, hickory and cherry trees so dense the canopy blotted out the sun."

"The US Environmental Protection Agency has issued an emergency suspension of the common weedkiller DCPA, also known as Dacthal, it said Tuesday, the first time the agency has used its emergency suspension authority in 40 years."

"When Hurricane Idalia struck Florida last summer, a tree fell straight through a trailer occupied by a migrant-farmworker family in Hamilton County. They couldn’t afford to move, even temporarily, so the family of six just picked up the things they could salvage and continued to live around the rotting tree."