Researchers, patients optimistic in fight against alpha-gal syndrome
A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
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Our Stories
Researchers, patients optimistic in fight against alpha-gal syndrome
A support group and a lab in the St. Louis area provide resources for people with the allergy to mammal products — and evidence that its effects can be reversed.
Far offshore, scientists find fresh evidence of human harm to reefs
The Gulf’s Flower Garden Banks has been viewed as healthy, but a new study shows signs of damage.
Mississippi River mayors help cities navigate rising data center interest
More than three-quarters of member cities in a Mississippi River coalition have been approached to host AI infrastructure.
Reporting from the headwaters to the delta
The Mississippi River Basin is the nation’s largest watershed. It drains nearly half of the continental United States before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. Millions of people rely on the river system for drinking water, commerce and recreation.
Our journalism recognizes that we all live downstream. We find the issues that connect us and help local newsrooms cover agriculture and the environment. We partner with Report for America and local newsrooms to put full-time reporters on the beat, and we share our stories for all newsrooms to republish for free.
By working together, we produce stronger journalism that reaches more communities across the region.
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Our Partners
Desk Projects
When Data Centers Come Knocking
A special reporting project from the Desk and the Missouri School of Journalism scrutinizes the national push for more data centers.
Down the Drain
From the vanishing coast of Louisiana to productive hunting lakes in Minnesota, this special series explores the wonder of and threats to the basin's wetlands.
Farm to Trouble
A Desk collaborative project looks at the farming practices — and overlooked solutions — that pump fertilizer runoff into the Gulf of Mexico, causing a persistent "dead zone" and more impacts upstream.
Agriculture
China resumes U.S. soybean purchases under trade deal with Trump, but future for farmers remains ‘daunting’
Exports to China, the United States’ largest soybean buyer, still lag previous years
The agency that helps farmers protect the environment lost a third of its staff last year. And more cuts could be coming.
The Natural Resources Conservation Service is a federal agency that helps farmers protect soil and water and fight climate change. Advocates say those goals are in jeopardy.
Burned before by ‘pesticide drift,’ vineyard owners enter growing season bracing for the worst
The Trump administration wants to continue the use of the herbicide dicamba. That’s despite fears it’s killing sensitive plants.
Novice farmers face big challenges making it in today’s ag sector
Consolidation in ag, higher input prices, land access issues and other obstacles are making it hard for young farmers to gain a foothold in U.S. agriculture
Climate
Alpha-gal syndrome is spreading rapidly. Arkansas may hold clues to why it’s spreading, how it functions — and what comes next.
Diagnoses of the severe, tick-borne allergy are rising throughout the basin. The frontlines of the disease offer lessons.
In rural communities, fears amplified by ‘AI slop’ and social media hamper solar boom
Solar panel misinformation, spread by bots and by neighbors, derailed a project in Cajun Country that promised millions in local tax revenue. The same methods are being employed nationwide.
Experts say time is the key element for Louisiana vanishing coast, culture
Coastal scientists says change is inevitable, but hope is not lost
Climate experts say spring is coming earlier. How will that affect agriculture and ecosystems?
040126_HAA_Earlier_Spring_CC0:00/81× COLUMBIA, Mo. — As a row crop farmer in St. Joseph, Mo., Joe Lau
Water
Scientists find smaller ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf than initially expected this summer
At approximately 1,332 square miles, the low oxygen area is the second-smallest in four decades of measurement
This summer’s ‘dead zone’ in the Gulf will be larger than average, but task force claims progress is being made
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects the oxygen-depleted zone to be about the size of the state of New Jersey
Are Missouri and North Dakota in a water war?
A project to divert water away from the Missouri River has sparked a new fight in a decades-long conflict over how to manage the river’s water in times of drought.
What a shrinking Delta town’s struggles tells us about failing water systems
Cotton Plant, Ark., can’t maintain water infrastructure for its residents. With an aging population and a lack of state resources, long-term solutions seem far from reach.
Data Centers
Inside the private deal between Amazon and one town’s water system
The tech giant promises Ridgeland, Mississippi, its massive data center won’t strain water supplies. But an exclusive look at their agreement shows there are few guarantees.
As data centers expand, advocates call for regulations on lights
The Midwest has more than 600 data centers, with hundreds in development. Light pollution rules would protect migrating birds and nighttime pollinators.
Who are the middlemen behind data center deals?
Private consultants connect local governments with companies looking to build data centers. They’re often paid by taxpayers, but residents are out of the loop on how these groups work.
Ordinary people fill information gaps when data centers come knocking
Companies like Amazon and Google are often coming to small towns amid the boom in generative artificial intelligence. That has forced residents to fill an information gap left by the decline of local media.
Community
After decades of overhunting and habitat loss, black bears are slowly recolonizing the lower Mississippi River Basin
The Mississippi Alluvial Valley was once the ‘breadbasket’ of black bears
Tourism, entertainment give towns along Mississippi River a reboot
The Great River Road, an artery running from Minnesota to Louisiana, is providing a lifeline to small towns
Census model: More than 800K Mississippi River basin households may not have access to air conditioning
Amid dangerous heat, resources for those without air conditioning vary at the local level
Silos are disappearing from the landscape. One woman wants to hunt them down before they do.
For 150 years, silos have been a fixture of the Corn Belt, but efforts to preserve them have been haphazard.
Pollution
Mississippi River groups tell feds to act on nitrate contamination
Nitrate pollution is especially acute in rural areas and has been linked to disease. More than 80 groups nationwide say immediate action is needed.
This herbicide is so toxic it’s been banned in over 70 countries. But plants in the South are releasing it into the air.
Paraquat has been linked to Parkinson’s disease and just a sip is fatal, but tens of thousands of pounds of it are being released in the Mississippi Basin.
What is a Superfund site? And how does cleanup work?
There are more than 1,300 active Superfund sites across the country, including nearly 200 on tribal land
A subdivision struggles with the massive data center moving in next door
Residents of Canton, Miss., say traffic and dust have already made life a ‘mess’. And they worry what will happen when hundreds of backup diesel generators go online.
Solutions
Whooping cranes are on the cusp of a comeback story. Could a Trump policy change the ending?
A program in Louisiana aims to be a model for endangered species preservation as protections for habitats are scaled back.
Here’s what communities can do when data centers arrive
We interviewed more than 50 experts to create a community toolkit. It lays out how ordinary people can respond — and how communities can prepare to handle projects beforehand.
Grain bin accidents remain deadly. One farmer hopes his family's story can help.
About half of grain bin entrapments are still fatal despite advances in safety training and rescue efforts.
How one program is working to bring Corn Belt farmers together for conservation agriculture
The 'farmer-led movement' aims to shape the agricultural landscape — by strengthening soils and building community
Desk News
Newsrooms invited to apply to join Ag & Water Desk through Report for America
The Desk is hiring for six new reporting positions through Report for America. Newsrooms can apply now to host one of the new reporters.
The Desk welcomes new assistant editorial director and data journalist
Two new additions to the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk bring expertise in science journalism.
How do you fix a backwards river? A conversation from the banks of the Chicago
The Ag & Water Desk recently asked a leader of Chicago’s water district and an environmental activist about the consequences of reversing the Chicago River in 1900. They shared their thoughts during the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual conference.
Six new journalists to join the Ag & Water Desk
The Ag & Water Desk is thrilled to announce that six new reporters and local newsrooms will be joining our