In this fifth episode, host Elliot Tritto speaks with Mizzou reporter Lauren Hines-Acosta. Hines-Acosta's reporting focused on a legislative package, projected to cost an estimated $1.5 trillion over 10 years that could have big implications for conservation in agriculture – including the production and use of fertilizer. The farm bill, which goes up for renewal every five years, addresses fertilizer use indirectly by setting the direction for agriculture policy and funding. It also includes funding for nutrition programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

University of Florida journalists Elliot Tritto and Julia Cooper sit down with fellow reporters from UF and the University of Missouri for a behind-the-scenes look at their collaborative reporting project, The Price of Plenty, covering the effects of chemical fertilizers on people and the planet. This is The Price of Plenty: A How-We-Did-It Podcast Production. 

The Price of Plenty: https://projects.wuft.org/priceofplenty/

Funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative, The Price of Plenty teamed up student journalists from UF and MU to report on fertilizer from the ground up. They reported from Florida’s “Bone Valley” where 8-million-pound earth movers strip-mine phosphate; from agrichemical plants along the Mississippi River; from farm fields and legislative hallways; from communities stuck next door to the industry; and from the Gulf of Mexico’s “dead zone,” where it threatens one of the world’s most productive fisheries.

Student journalists found that the industry wields outsized political power; that farmers have little incentive to use less; and that nutrient pollution persists despite exhaustive science linking fertilizer to toxic algae outbreaks and other problems. They also found that while government and industry research funding pours into fertilizer application and future markets such as hydrogen power and rare earth elements, there is a dearth of research on the human health risks associated with fertilizer production – from Florida’s reclaimed phosphate lands to Louisiana’s chemical plants. They also found promising signs of action and change. An upswing in regenerative farming practices is helping to restore polluted waterways and fight climate change. Fenceline communities next door to the industry are becoming increasingly organized in pursuit of environmental justice. The student journalists also report on solutions that rethink food production and the industry’s waste.

This episode was produced and edited by Julia Cooper and Elliot Tritto. Music from Essential Radio by ALIBI Music "ALIBI-Secret Games_Full w Strings" and "ALIBI-Stolen Evidence_Full w Mallets."