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#bigag — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bigag, aggregated by home.social.

  1. 'The dark, loamy dirt has been called #Ukraine’s “black gold,” and it’s some of the most fertile on earth [...] But environmental groups and farmers’ advocates have warned that the large-scale #industrialMonoculture practiced by #agribusiness threatens to degrade this prized soil through intensive harvesting and overuse of #fertilizers and #pesticides.'

    thebaffler.com/latest/betting-
    #agriculture #monoculture #BigAg #industrialAgriculture #ecocide #privatisation

  2. 'The dark, loamy dirt has been called #Ukraine’s “black gold,” and it’s some of the most fertile on earth [...] But environmental groups and farmers’ advocates have warned that the large-scale #industrialMonoculture practiced by #agribusiness threatens to degrade this prized soil through intensive harvesting and overuse of #fertilizers and #pesticides.'

    thebaffler.com/latest/betting-
    #agriculture #monoculture #BigAg #industrialAgriculture #ecocide #privatisation

  3. 'The dark, loamy dirt has been called #Ukraine’s “black gold,” and it’s some of the most fertile on earth [...] But environmental groups and farmers’ advocates have warned that the large-scale #industrialMonoculture practiced by #agribusiness threatens to degrade this prized soil through intensive harvesting and overuse of #fertilizers and #pesticides.'

    thebaffler.com/latest/betting-
    #agriculture #monoculture #BigAg #industrialAgriculture #ecocide #privatisation

  4. 'The dark, loamy dirt has been called #Ukraine’s “black gold,” and it’s some of the most fertile on earth [...] But environmental groups and farmers’ advocates have warned that the large-scale #industrialMonoculture practiced by #agribusiness threatens to degrade this prized soil through intensive harvesting and overuse of #fertilizers and #pesticides.'

    thebaffler.com/latest/betting-
    #agriculture #monoculture #BigAg #industrialAgriculture #ecocide #privatisation

  5. So, this is a timely topic! From the latest issue of #InTheseTimes! The connection between Amazon Deforestation and CEO land grabs in the Western United States -- bought with blood money!

    Fortress Yellowstone

    The #UltraRich are fortifying themselves inside one of America’s last intact #ecosystems—with money plundered from ecological #SacrificeZones around the world

    by Joseph Bullington, April 6, 2026

    Excerpt: "Some of these ultra-rich ranch owners celebrate the natural beauty of their land and are ardent conservationists when it comes to the Yellowstone ecosystem. In digging into their business dealings, however, I found that most of these landowners accumulated their wealth through industries that help drive the destruction of nature elsewhere. Their ranks include private equity investors, oil and gas billionaires and real estate developers. "

    [...]

    "Now, instead of forests full of fruits and animals and mandioca clearings, industrial soy plantations press in on #Açaizal like a closing fist. There is no escape from the onslaught of #monoculture. Manoel shows me where rows of broken cornstalks run right up against the edge of the community’s soccer field, which the soy farmers also want to plow. The soybeans and corn, like those in the United States, are genetically engineered to withstand the #herbicides and #pesticides the farmers dump on them to beat back weeds and pests, but the chemicals drift, says Manoel, making it impossible to grow fruits and vegetables and #mandioca nearby. The streams run low and full of poison."

    Read more:
    inthesetimes.com/article/yello

    #Billionaires #UberRich #CEOs #AmazonDeforestation #BigAg #SoybeanProduction #IndustralSoybeans #PoisoningTheAmazon #GMOs #Monoculture #Deforestation #Cargill #HomeDepot #SoyPlantations #SaveTheForest #SaveTheRainforest #Earth4All #DSA #DemocraticSocialism #ReadItBeforeItsBanned #TaxTheRich #NoTaxHavens #EatTheRich #YeetTheRich #BigCorporations

  6. "#Agricultural runoff provides perfect nutrients for #methanogen growth.

    #Fertilizer and animal waste washing into ocean systems creates nutrient-rich zones where these methanogens thrive like never before. #Nitrogen and #phosphorus pollution from farmland creates ideal conditions for explosive #microbial growth in #coastal waters and #DeepOcean areas. These agricultural inputs essentially act as fertilizer for #methane-producing microbes, creating a connection between #IndustrialFarming and atmospheric #GreenhouseGas levels that scientists never fully appreciated.

    "Coastal regions near major agricultural areas show the highest concentrations of these supercharged methanogens, with some areas recording methane production levels ten times higher than baseline measurements. The problem compounds itself because areas with intensive farming also tend to have the strongest ocean currents, meaning these fertilized methanogen populations get distributed globally. Every season’s #AgriculturalRunoff creates new opportunities for these microbes to establish thriving colonies in previously stable ocean environments."

    msn.com/en-us/weather/topstori

    #DeepSeaLife #AgriculturalRunoff #BigAg #OceansAreLife #OceanCurrents #OceanMethane

  7. "Marine scientists drilling into abyssal ocean floor sediments discovered thriving colonies of this new #methanogen species at depths previously thought to be biologically inactive. These extreme environments, characterized by crushing pressure and complete darkness, harbor #microbial communities that have evolved unique metabolic pathways. According to research published in #NatureGeoscience, these #DeepSea methanogens can survive in conditions that would kill most known life forms.

    "The discovery challenges everything scientists thought they knew about where life can exist in Earth’s oceans. These microbes don’t just survive in the deep ocean trenches, they’re actually flourishing and producing methane at industrial scales. Their metabolic processes operate entirely differently from surface-dwelling organisms, using chemical energy sources that most life forms can’t even process."

    Learn more:
    msn.com/en-us/weather/topstori

    #DeepSeaLife #AgriculturalRunoff #BigAg #OceansAreLife #OceanCurrents #OceanMethane

  8. A Month After #Trump Doubles Down on #Atrazine, #WHO Dubs It ‘Probably #Carcinogenic to Humans’

    “It is outrageously irresponsible that we still allow use of this dangerous #poison in the United States,” said the Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health science director.

    Jessica Corbett
    Nov 21, 2025

    "Just a month after the Trump administration doubled down on the alleged safety of atrazine, a United Nations agency said on Friday that the pesticide—which is banned by dozens of countries but commonly used on #corn, #sugarcane, and #sorghum in the United States—probably causes #cancer.

    " 'It is outrageously irresponsible that we still allow use of this dangerous poison in the United States,' said Nathan Donley, the Center for Biological Diversity’s environmental health science director, in a Friday statement. 'This finding is just the latest indictment of the industry-controlled US #pesticide oversight process that is failing to protect people and #wildlife from chemicals linked to numerous health harms.' "

    commondreams.org/news/atrazine

    #CommonDreams #EPAFail #Bayer
    #ToxicPesticides #Monocrops
    #Monocrap #BigAg #BigChem #Poison #USPol #WorldPol #Pesticides #CenterForBiologlicalDiversity

  9. "Advocates began sounding the alarm over PFAS in pesticides in 2023. The #Biden EPA attempted to discredit the author of one study that identified PFAS in pesticides, and the agency appeared to have lied about whether some of the chemicals are in pesticides. Under Donald #Trump, the EPA has increased the number of PFAS proposed for use in pesticides."

    theguardian.com/environment/20

    #USPol #EPAFail #ForeverChemicals #DowChemicalKnew
    #3MKnew #BigAg #RoundupReady #Glyphosate #Bees #Extinction #Hubris #WaterIsLife #PFASContamination #EnvironmentalDamage #EPACuts #Pollution #PFOS #PFASPollution #PFASContamnation #ManMadeDisasters #3M #3MLied #GenXChemicals
    #PFNA #PFHxS

  10. HT @ai6yr

    #California farms applied millions of pounds of #PFAS to key crops, study finds

    #ForeverChemicals’ sprayed on #almonds, #grapes, #tomatoes and other crops as activists warn of ‘obvious problem’

    by Tom Perkins
    Tue 18 Nov 2025 07.00 EST

    Excerpt: "California farms applied an average of 2.5m lbs of PFAS “forever chemicals” per year on cropland from 2018 to 2023, or a total of about 15m lbs, a new review of state records shows.

    The chemicals are added to pesticides that are sprayed on crops such as almonds, pistachios, #wine grapes, #alfalfa and tomatoes, the review of California Department of Pesticide Regulation data found. The Environmental Working Group nonprofit put together the report.

    The risk for uptake of PFAS is likely higher in water-rich fruits and vegetables, because water attracts the chemicals, and research has shown PFAS may concentrate at dangerous levels in some produce. The chemicals also pollute water supplies and present a higher risk to the often low income and Latino #farmworkers."

    theguardian.com/environment/20

    #ForeverChemicals #DowChemicalKnew
    #3MKnew #BigAg #RoundupReady #Glyphosate #Bees #Extinction #Hubris #WaterIsLife #PFASContamination #EnvironmentalDamage #EPACuts #Pollution #PFOS #PFASPollution #PFASContamnation #ManMadeDisasters #3M #3MLied #GenXChemicals
    #PFNA #PFHxS

  11. So, yes, there are chemicals involved in natural processes, but you know what's not natural? #PFAS, #PFOS, and other #ForeverChemicals! If folks are becoming wary of #BigChemical (#Dow, #3M, etc) and #Pesticides, that's not a bad thing (imho)... (And no, I am not against vaccines or modern medicine -- just Big Chemical using people and the planet as their dumping ground!)

    More And More People Suffer From '#Chemophobia' — And MAHA Is Partly To Blame [But not PFAS manufacturersl?!!]

    The fear tactic strikes a nerve with both conservatives and liberals alike. Here’s what you need to know.

    By Jillian Wilson, Sep 1, 2025

    huffpost.com/entry/more-and-mo

    #DowChemicalKnew #3MKnew #BigAg #RoundupReady #Glyphosate #Bees #Extinction #Hubris

  12. What the heck is “#CornSweat” and is it making the Midwest more dangerous?

    It’s pretty much just as gross as it sounds.

    "In one 2020 study, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics analyzed a past summer heat wave in the Midwest and found that cropland — most of which comprised corn in this part of the country — can increase moisture in the air above it by up to 40 percent."

    by Benji Jones
    Aug 29, 2024

    "Ah, yes, late August in the Midwest: a time for popsicles by the lake, a trip to the county fair, and, of course, extreme humidity made more miserable by … corn sweat.

    "Corn sweat. It’s a thing! And people are talking about it.

    The term refers to the moisture released by fields of corn during hot and sunny weather. Like all other plants, corn transpires — meaning, it sucks up water from the ground and expels it into the air as a way to stay cool and distribute nutrients. Moisture also enters the air when water in the soil evaporates. Together with transpiration, this process is called #evapotranspiration.

    "So, where you find loads of plants packed tightly into one place, whether the Amazon rainforest or #Iowa, humidity can skyrocket during hot and especially sunny periods, making the air feel oppressive.

    "That’s what happened this week: A late-summer #heatwave brought record and near-record temperatures to parts of the Midwest where there also happen to be vast fields of corn. With plenty of sunlight and temperatures in the high 90s, it was enough to make corn sweat, producing extremely uncomfortable weather.

    "It’s not that corn sweats more than other plants — an acre releases less moisture on average than, say, a large oak tree — but the Midwest has a lot of corn in late August. In Iowa, for example, more than two-thirds of the area is farmland, and corn is the top crop (followed by #soybeans, which, by the way, also sweat)."

    [...]

    "Again, it’s not just crops across the #Midwest that release moisture, increase humidity, and make summers feel disgusting (I know firsthand; I grew up in Iowa). The millions of acres of #prairie that industrial farmland replaced — mostly to feed livestock and make ethanol — would have also produced loads of moisture, Basso said.

    "But there are some key differences between native #ecosystems and #IndustrialFarmland, he added. '#NativePrairies are diverse ecosystems with a variety of plant species, each with different root depths and water needs, helping to create a balanced moisture cycle,' he told me. 'In contrast, corn and #soy #monocultures are uniform and can draw water from the soil more quickly.'"

    Read more:
    vox.com/down-to-earth/369117/c

    #CimateChange #IndustrialAgriculture #BigAg #Wetbulb #Fieldworkers #HeatWaves

  13. What the heck is “#CornSweat” and is it making the Midwest more dangerous?

    It’s pretty much just as gross as it sounds.

    "In one 2020 study, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics analyzed a past summer heat wave in the Midwest and found that cropland — most of which comprised corn in this part of the country — can increase moisture in the air above it by up to 40 percent."

    by Benji Jones
    Aug 29, 2024

    "Ah, yes, late August in the Midwest: a time for popsicles by the lake, a trip to the county fair, and, of course, extreme humidity made more miserable by … corn sweat.

    "Corn sweat. It’s a thing! And people are talking about it.

    The term refers to the moisture released by fields of corn during hot and sunny weather. Like all other plants, corn transpires — meaning, it sucks up water from the ground and expels it into the air as a way to stay cool and distribute nutrients. Moisture also enters the air when water in the soil evaporates. Together with transpiration, this process is called #evapotranspiration.

    "So, where you find loads of plants packed tightly into one place, whether the Amazon rainforest or #Iowa, humidity can skyrocket during hot and especially sunny periods, making the air feel oppressive.

    "That’s what happened this week: A late-summer #heatwave brought record and near-record temperatures to parts of the Midwest where there also happen to be vast fields of corn. With plenty of sunlight and temperatures in the high 90s, it was enough to make corn sweat, producing extremely uncomfortable weather.

    "It’s not that corn sweats more than other plants — an acre releases less moisture on average than, say, a large oak tree — but the Midwest has a lot of corn in late August. In Iowa, for example, more than two-thirds of the area is farmland, and corn is the top crop (followed by #soybeans, which, by the way, also sweat)."

    [...]

    "Again, it’s not just crops across the #Midwest that release moisture, increase humidity, and make summers feel disgusting (I know firsthand; I grew up in Iowa). The millions of acres of #prairie that industrial farmland replaced — mostly to feed livestock and make ethanol — would have also produced loads of moisture, Basso said.

    "But there are some key differences between native #ecosystems and #IndustrialFarmland, he added. '#NativePrairies are diverse ecosystems with a variety of plant species, each with different root depths and water needs, helping to create a balanced moisture cycle,' he told me. 'In contrast, corn and #soy #monocultures are uniform and can draw water from the soil more quickly.'"

    Read more:
    vox.com/down-to-earth/369117/c

    #CimateChange #IndustrialAgriculture #BigAg #Wetbulb #Fieldworkers #HeatWaves

  14. What the heck is “#CornSweat” and is it making the Midwest more dangerous?

    It’s pretty much just as gross as it sounds.

    "In one 2020 study, researchers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics analyzed a past summer heat wave in the Midwest and found that cropland — most of which comprised corn in this part of the country — can increase moisture in the air above it by up to 40 percent."

    by Benji Jones
    Aug 29, 2024

    "Ah, yes, late August in the Midwest: a time for popsicles by the lake, a trip to the county fair, and, of course, extreme humidity made more miserable by … corn sweat.

    "Corn sweat. It’s a thing! And people are talking about it.

    The term refers to the moisture released by fields of corn during hot and sunny weather. Like all other plants, corn transpires — meaning, it sucks up water from the ground and expels it into the air as a way to stay cool and distribute nutrients. Moisture also enters the air when water in the soil evaporates. Together with transpiration, this process is called #evapotranspiration.

    "So, where you find loads of plants packed tightly into one place, whether the Amazon rainforest or #Iowa, humidity can skyrocket during hot and especially sunny periods, making the air feel oppressive.

    "That’s what happened this week: A late-summer #heatwave brought record and near-record temperatures to parts of the Midwest where there also happen to be vast fields of corn. With plenty of sunlight and temperatures in the high 90s, it was enough to make corn sweat, producing extremely uncomfortable weather.

    "It’s not that corn sweats more than other plants — an acre releases less moisture on average than, say, a large oak tree — but the Midwest has a lot of corn in late August. In Iowa, for example, more than two-thirds of the area is farmland, and corn is the top crop (followed by #soybeans, which, by the way, also sweat)."

    [...]

    "Again, it’s not just crops across the #Midwest that release moisture, increase humidity, and make summers feel disgusting (I know firsthand; I grew up in Iowa). The millions of acres of #prairie that industrial farmland replaced — mostly to feed livestock and make ethanol — would have also produced loads of moisture, Basso said.

    "But there are some key differences between native #ecosystems and #IndustrialFarmland, he added. '#NativePrairies are diverse ecosystems with a variety of plant species, each with different root depths and water needs, helping to create a balanced moisture cycle,' he told me. 'In contrast, corn and #soy #monocultures are uniform and can draw water from the soil more quickly.'"

    Read more:
    vox.com/down-to-earth/369117/c

    #CimateChange #IndustrialAgriculture #BigAg #Wetbulb #Fieldworkers #HeatWaves

  15. Australian food is grown with dangerous chemicals banned in other countries

    "Australia has a global reputation as a source of clean food. In fact, the country has some of the most lax regulation of pesticide use in the western world."
    >>
    theguardian.com/australia-news

    The dirty dozen: 12 pesticides that are banned elsewhere but still used in Australia
    List of toxins>>
    theguardian.com/australia-news

    Paraquat and Parkinson’s disease in agricultural producers
    "The regulator (is) lagging behind. A 2023 report commissioned by the federal government found “serious allegations of chemical industry capture of the APVMA” and that it took far too long to finalise reviews of dangerous chemicals, including paraquat."
    >>
    abc.net.au/news/2024-08-31/par
    #food #safety #consumers #Paraquat #pesticides #herbicide #chemicals #agrochemicals #harm #farmers #BigAg #OHS #Syngenta #litigation #neurotoxicity #Parkinsons #APVMA #toxins #regulation #governance #Australia #lagging #water #wildlife #PublicHealth

  16. Don Burke talks about the damage that can be done to the #environment by #fertilisers in his blog.

    burkesbackyard.com.au/blogs/do

    (note: fertilisers are made from burning #fossilFuels, when #SriLanka rejected artificial fertilisers recently it was reported that yeilds were reduced by 18%, which is not as bad as #BigAg would have us believe)

    #DonBurke #australia #gardening