The mission of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is to enhance the quantity, quality and impact of journalism on agriculture, water and related issues throughout the basin.
Why cover agriculture and water?
The Mississippi River Basin spans nearly half of the continental United States. Millions of residents rely on the river system for drinking water, commerce and recreation.
More than 90% of America’s agricultural exports are grown in the Mississippi River Basin, including more than three-quarters of the world’s exports in feed grains, and most of the country’s livestock. More than 70% of nitrate pollution in the Mississippi River comes from agriculture, which harms human health and aquatic life and contributes to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. As the impacts of climate change become more severe, residents can expect more extreme weather, including flooding.
By making resources available on this beat, we support more complete coverage of these critical topics. As our reporters build deeper knowledge, they tap into a network of newsrooms, experts, and support that will help them tell more equitable, impactful and interconnected stories.
Our editorial process
How we select stories: Ag & Water Desk stories reflect agricultural and environmental issues in the greater Mississippi River basin and help our audiences understand the region as a cohesive community. We cover topics such as agricultural runoff, climate change-driven droughts and flooding, the marginalization of LGBTQ farmers and much more. We may cover breaking news or produce in-depth features and investigations. Send story ideas to info@agwaterdesk.org. We are not, at this time, accepting freelance pitches.
Who reports our stories: Our stories are generally reported by our Report for America corps members in our partner newsrooms. Other journalists – including our expert journalist advisors as well as University of Missouri students – occasionally contribute stories as well. Additionally, our distribution network shares local stories that are written and edited by our news outlet partners with little to no Desk involvement. All of our stories are available for news outlets to publish and repurpose for free with a required credit. News outlets may add their own local reporting to our stories.
How we edit stories: Ag & Water Desk stories are edited by our Editorial Director. Reporters may pitch story ideas or receive assignments individually and in collaboration with each other. The Editorial Director works closely with Desk reporters’ local editors to develop reporting plans, edit the stories, and coordinate fact-checking and publication. Once our stories have been distributed to news outlets for publication, those outlets’ editors may alter our stories further to suit local audiences’ needs.
How we fact-check our stories: Each Ag & Water Desk story goes through a rigorous fact-checking process. Inspired by the process used by our partners at Wisconsin Watch, our reporters and editors independently verify every fact in every story after it has been written. We identify each fact and compile primary documents to confirm its accuracy. In the instance of any error, corrections are published via our distribution network. We welcome feedback at info@agwaterdesk.org
Editorial independence policy
The Ag & Water Desk and its collaborators operate with editorial independence, both from funders and from the University of Missouri or any other parent entity. Our editorial team retains full authority over all content we produce and distribute to our network.
We maintain a firewall between news coverage decisions and sources of all revenue. Acceptance of financial support does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of donors or their products, services or opinions. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. We will cede no right of review or influence of editorial content.
We subscribe to standards of editorial independence and financial transparency adopted by the Institute for Nonprofit News. Our organization makes public all donors who give a total of $5,000 or more per year. Learn more about our funders and financial transparency policy.
Ethics & conflict of interest policies
We abide by the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. The following conflict of interest policy is adapted from this code.
Ag & Water Desk journalists will act independently and always in the public interest. Our journalists will:
- Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
- Disclose unavoidable conflicts in consultation with the Editorial Director.
- Refuse gifts, favors, fees, free travel and special treatment from potential or active sources.
- Avoid political and other outside activities that may compromise integrity or impartiality, or may damage credibility.
- Be wary of sources offering information for favors or money.
- Identify content provided by outside sources, whether paid or not.
- Deny favored treatment to advertisers, donors or any other special interests, and resist any pressure to influence coverage.