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USDA census: Smaller farms falling further behind
New data released today by the Department of Agriculture show that smaller farms are falling further behind their larger neighbors.
EWG: Extreme weather linked to climate crisis triggered $118.7B in crop insurance payments
Extreme weather linked to the climate emergency triggered $118.7 billion in crop insurance payouts to U.S. farmers between 2001 and 2022, a new Environmental Working Group investigation has found.
EWG: Farmers received record $19.13B in crop insurance indemnities in 2022
As the climate crisis accelerates, wreaking havoc on weather patterns across the U.S., crop insurance costs are shooting up, a new Environmental Working Group analysis finds.
EWG statement on the debt ceiling agreement: It will hurt hungry people
The following is the statement of Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, on the debt ceiling agreement released this week by President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin...
Proposed cuts “devastating” to farmers, hungry people
The following is the statement of Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, on the annual Department of Agriculture spending bill released today by Republican members of the...
EWG applauds President Biden for blasting House Republican plot to slash food assistance for hungry Americans
Today President Joe Biden addressed a proposal by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to end food assistance for many hungry people as a condition for raising the federal government’s debt ceiling...
Farm subsidies, not anti-hunger programs, should be focus of budget cuts
Yesterday, the Congressional Budget Office released “baseline” projections for mandatory Department of Agriculture farm and food programs in the 2023 Farm Bill, which members of Congress will use to...
EWG’s updated Farm Subsidy Database reveals $3.1B USDA transparency problem
A new Environmental Working Group analysis of its latest Farm Subsidy Database update shows the Department of Agriculture has become less transparent with disclosing federal farm subsidy payments...
EWG report: As climate crisis worsens, a wetter Midwest is linked to climbing crop insurance costs
As precipitation increased in recent years across the Midwest, so did crop insurance costs for wetter weather linked to the rapidly accelerating climate catastrophe, finds a new Environmental Working...
EWG investigation: Of $7.4B spent on two major USDA conservation programs, very little has flowed to ‘climate-smart’ farming
Two of the Department of Agriculture’s principal conservation programs paid out almost $7.4 billion to farmers between 2017 and 2020, but only a small part went to practices the USDA itself has...
EWG analysis: From 2018 to 2020, farmers reaped $91.6B in taxpayer-funded USDA subsidies
Between 2018 and 2020, Agriculture Department programs paid commodity farmers $91.6 billion for crop price decreases and other challenges, with similar program qualifications allowing some farmers to...
EWG analysis: In the Mississippi River region, the climate crisis helped run up a $39.5B taxpayer bill for crop insurance premiums
Crop insurance premium subsidies in the Mississippi River region cost taxpayers almost $39.5 billion between 2001 and 2020, a new EWG analysis of Department of Agriculture data finds.
EWG speech at AEI on climate and agriculture
EWG Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Scott Faber delivered the following remarks before the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday, April 12, 2022.
EWG: In the Mississippi River region, retiring frequently flooded fields could save billions in crop insurance payouts
Farmers received almost $1.5 billion in federal crop insurance payments from 2001 to 2020 for flood-related crop losses in the Mississippi River Critical Conservation Area, a region increasingly...
EWG analysis: As climate crisis accelerated, 10 Mississippi River basin counties raked in $3 billion in crop insurance payouts
Ten counties in the Mississippi River basin received over $3 billion in crop insurance payments between 2001 and 2020, much of it for losses caused by extreme weather tied to the climate crisis...
EWG analysis: Climate crisis has already cost taxpayers billions in crop insurance payouts to farmers
Farmers received more than $143.5 billion in federal crop insurance payouts from 1995 through 2020, much of it subsidized by taxpayer dollars and most of it linked to extreme weather exacerbated by...
EWG promotes two staff members to lead Midwest office, geospatial team
The Environmental Working Group has tapped two staff members for promotions to key leadership positions in the organization’s Midwest office, in Minneapolis
Budget bill includes $28 billion for historic climate-focused conservation efforts
The Environmental Working Group today applauds House and Senate leaders for including in the budget reconciliation bill $28 billion to tackle a growing backlog of farmers seeking U.S. Department of...
Cover crops, touted as a climate crisis solution, planted on only 1 in 20 acres of Corn Belt cropland
Cover crops, which help control water pollution from farm runoff, remain a little-used tool on Midwestern farmland, despite almost 100 years of science showing its value, according to a new...
EWG Report: Under Trump, Farm Subsidies Soared, Making the Rich Richer
Federal farm policy has long favored the wealthiest landowners with taxpayer-funded largesse. But under the Trump administration, even more money went to the largest and wealthiest farms, further...