Contact:
Michael Crowe, Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
Report for America Recruitment Team
recruitment@reportforamerica.org
**Deadline to apply: Feb. 16, 2026**
The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an environmental news network covering America’s largest watershed, is seeking talented journalists to join six newsrooms through Report for America’s 2026 class. This opportunity offers early-career, emerging and experienced journalists the chance to cover critical environmental stories while building professional skills and joining a national network shaping the future of local news.
These positions are part of Report for America’s national reporting program, which this year includes 17 positions covering the environment, agriculture or energy.
The application deadline is Feb. 16, 2026, with references due Feb. 23, 2026. Journalists can apply here.
The Ag & Water Desk positions will be based at six local newsrooms across the Mississippi River Basin:
–Arkansas Times (Little Rock, Arkansas)
–KAXE (Grand Rapids, Minnesota)
–MinnPost (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
–Nine PBS/St. Louis Regional Public Media (St. Louis, Missouri)
–Verite News (New Orleans, Louisiana)
–WXPR (Rhinelander, Wisconsin)
These full-time, minimum two-year positions (with opportunities to extend) begin in July 2026 and offer corps members the opportunity to report on agriculture, water quality, climate, energy, and other environmental issues affecting communities throughout the nation’s largest watershed — from the headwaters of the Mississippi River in Minnesota to the Gulf Coast in Louisiana.
“Environmental reporters are often the only ones in their newsrooms. The Ag & Water Desk provides a network of peers, expert editing and opportunities to do ambitious projects reaching millions of people,” said Sara Shipley Hiles, a professor at the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the executive director of the Ag & Water Desk. “It’s a wrap-around support program that lets our journalists really shine.”
Report for America is hiring additional environmental and ag reporters outside the Desk collaboration, including positions at The Montana Free Press, The Colorado Sun and Wyoming Public Media.
Report for America corps members receive significant professional development support, including training throughout their service term, mentorship from experienced journalists, and access to a national network of local news professionals. The program is designed to help journalists develop their skills while serving communities often overlooked by traditional media coverage.
The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is an editorially independent collaborative journalism network that enables reporters to share resources, coordinate coverage of regional stories, and bring local perspectives to basin-wide environmental issues. The Desk was recently recognized as LION Publishers’ 2025 Collaboration of the Year and serves 70 million people across 31 states.
Founded in 2021, this will be the third cohort of reporters to join the Desk. Desk reporters spend 20% of their time on collaborative Desk projects and 80% working for their local outlet. They receive additional benefits beyond the RFA program, including travel to in-person trainings like the annual Society of Environmental Journalists conference.
More information about the Report for America program, including eligibility requirements and FAQs, is available at reportforamerica.org.
About the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk
The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, in partnership with Report For America and the Society of Environmental Journalists, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. The mission of the Ag & Water Desk is to enhance the quantity, quality and impact of journalism on agriculture, water and related issues throughout the nation’s largest watershed.
About Report for America
Report for America recruits, places and supports talented journalists in local newsrooms across the United States. We provide salary support, training, and newsroom sustainability coaching, enabling our partners to expand coverage on critical, often overlooked issues and strengthen trust with their audiences. Report for America’s journalist-first model offers a practical, hopeful solution to rebuilding local news — one community at a time. Report for America is an initiative of Report Local, a nonprofit journalism organization dedicated to strengthening local journalism across the U.S. and around the world.