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Ask a Scientist: Stopping Big Ag from Hijacking US Farm and Food Policy

The Equation

Their suggested marker bills included provisions that would broaden access to US farm loans for historically underserved borrowers, help farmers address the climate crisis, better protect food and farm workers, halt industrial agriculture mergers by strengthening relevant antitrust laws, and expand SNAP benefits and government nutrition programs.

Food 91
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What Is “Big Ag,” and Why Should You Be Worried About Them?

The Equation

Those lesser-known companies tend to operate up the supply chain, and include Bayer and Syngenta, which sell the seeds farmers need and the pesticides they’ve come to rely on, and Nutrien and CF Industries Holdings, which manufacture synthetic fertilizers.

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Ask a Scientist: Fighting Big Ag Pollution with Maps and Math

The Equation

But those laws primarily focused on the industrial sector, leaving agriculture largely alone. According to the EPA, it applies about a half million tons of pesticides, 12 million tons of nitrogen, and 4 million tons of phosphorus fertilizer to crops in the continental United States every year. Big Ag is a major polluter.