Christina Leonard, Director of Reynolds Business Reporting Bureau at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication shared 30 Agriculture stories at this year's Ag Media Summit. Take a look at these 30 examples of unique agriculture coverage to help end your writer's block!

1. 30 Agriculture-based
Business Stories in 45
Minutes
Christina Leonard, Donald W. Reynolds National Center
for Business Journalism at Arizona State University

2. Water subsidies
ProPublica
“Cotton is one of the
thirstiest crops in existence,
and each acre cultivated here
demands six times as much
water as lettuce.”
Hundreds of farmers across
Arizona keep planting it. The
federal government offers so
many financial incentives
many can’t afford not to.

3. Campaign finance
Open Secrets
Lawmakers who sponsored
the GMO bill received six-
figure dollar amounts from
providers of agricultural
services and products during
the 2014 election cycle.
That put them in the Top 20
recipients of funds from the
industry.

4. T-shirts
NPR
Interactive series takes you
through the making of a T-
shirt. The project was crowd
funded.

5. Watchdog: Accountability
Irish Farmers Journal
Over five years, the
Department of Agriculture’s
investigation division carried
out 607 investigations. Of
those, 58 ended in
prosecutions being brought
forward.

6. Tax exemptions
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Government officials recite
anecdotes of reputed abuse
of the GATE card program
intended to help farmers,
retailers and communities
across Georgia.
Reports of fraud were
“rampant” but it’s unclear
how much abuse has actually
occurred.

7. Science: hydroponics
PBS Newshour
Aquaponics, a system of
farming that uses no soil, also
uses far less water than
traditional agriculture. But
while the technique is gaining
attention, it remains a very
niche way to grow produce
due to economic limitations.

8. Mexico exports
Los Angeles Times
Four-part series: A Times
reporter and photographer
find that thousands of
laborers at Mexico's mega-
farms endure harsh
conditions and exploitation
while supplying produce for
American consumers.

9. Trend: Seed modification
The Columbus Dispatch
GMOs mostly enhance a
plant’s defenses, giving
resistance or immunity to
pests and herbicides.
Opponents say GMOs haven’t
been proven safe, that the
long-term effects of eating
GMOs are unknown and that
growing GMOs promotes the
use of pesticides.

10. Explanatory: Contaminants
The Oregonian
This animated video explains
how cannabis concentrates
are prone to contamination.

11. Technology: Drones
Star Tribune
The remote-controlled drone
is now at the forefront of
sophisticated technology in
agriculture.
Remote sensors on drones
could scan crops for health
problems, monitor hydration
and growth rates and locate
disease problems.

12. Thirsty crops
The Sacramento Bee
— Irrigated land is valued
more highly than non-
irrigated land
— Federal ethanol mandate
encourages planting of
water-intensive corn crops
— Crop insurance only offers
fully irrigated or dry
policies, nothing in
between

13. Trend: Local food
NPR
The USDA estimates that local
food sales have grown from
from about $5 billion in 2008
to $11.7 billion in 2014.
The states with the most
federal investment in local
food initiatives, according to
the USDA, include Kentucky,
Wisconsin, Mississippi, Texas
and Alabama.

14. Map: Aquifer health
The Arizona Republic
Hydrologists logged data at
wells in basins beneath the
ground statewide in 1993 and
then in 2013.
The areas on the map are
compared by average water-
level change, which was
calculated by averaging the
changes observed at each
tested well within sub-basins.

15. Map: Water users
The Arizona Republic
The Republic compiled water
usage data from Phoenix to
determine the areas that use
the most. The map shows how
much water the average
household uses in a month as
well as demographic
information about residents in
that area.

16. Trend: Worker rights
New York Times
With many farmworkers
frustrated by low pay and
substandard housing — and
as more consumers are
insisting on food that is
produced ethically —
innovative movements are
sprouting across the country
to improve wages and working
conditions for America’s more
than two million farmworkers.

17. Climate change
USA Today
A warming and more variable
climate is one factor affecting
where crops such as corn and
soybeans are grown. These
maps show the amount of
each grown in U.S. counties
and how it has shifted
northward over time.

18. Regenerating soil
Peter Byck, ASU
Adaptive Multi-Paddock
grazing is regenerating soils
around the world, producing
healthy grass-finished beef.
But the science on this type of
grazing is sparse, to say the
least.

19. Listicle: Innovations
The Guardian
“Smallholder farmers in
particular have seen a rise in
productivity over the last
decade. So what are the
innovations making the
difference? We asked our
community and crowdsourced
the answers.”

20. Job trends
CNBC
A new report finds there's high
demand, at least for the
foreseeable future, for college
graduates with a degree in
agricultural programs. An
average of nearly 60,000 high-
skilled ag and related job
openings are expected annually
in the United States over the
next five years, with only about
35,000 grads in food, ag,
renewable resources or the
environment graduating each
year to fill them.

21. Coal
News21
The program took a look at
America’s love affair with coal.

22. Investigation: Subsidies
The Washington Post
Nationwide, the federal
government has paid at least
$1.3 billion in subsidies for
rice and other crops since
2000 to individuals who do no
farming at all, according to an
analysis of government
records by The Washington
Post.

23. Changing demographics
NPR
The average age of a farmer
in the U.S. is 58.3 — and that
number has been steadily
ticking upward for more than
30 years.
Overall, fewer young people
are choosing a life on the
land. But in some places
around the country, like
Maine, that trend is reversing.

24. Ghost factories
USA TODAY
A 14-month investigation
shows old factories left poison
behind. The Environmental
Protection Agency and state
regulators knew of the
danger. They tested soil and
documented hazardous levels
of contamination. They never
did a cleanup or warned
people.

25. Food & Water
New York Times
The average American
consumes more than 300
gallons of California water
each week by eating food that
was produced there.

26. Food & Water (again)
Los Angeles Times
Agriculture uses 80 percent of
California's water supply, and
producing what you eat can
require a surprising amount
of water. The number next to
the plate below represents the
direct and indirect amount of
water required to produce
your food plate, based on U.S.
data from the Water Footprint
Network.

27. Top controversies
Magicvalley.com/Times-News
The newspaper put together a
slideshow of the year’s most
controversial issues – from
boycotts of genetically
modified organisms to the
loss of crop land to
development.

28. A year on the farm
North Country Public Radio
Slideshow: see a North
Country organic farm's year,
from seed to sales

29. Drought time lapse
Huffington Post
To illustrate the California
drought, the site created six
before-and-after GIFs to show
how badly the situation has
dehydrated the state in the
last three years.

30. History of harvesting
Massey Ferguson
This company put together a
history of harvesting.
Timeline JS from Knight Lab
is a free tool.

31. Contract farming
Last Week Tonight
John Oliver explains how
chicken farming can be unfair,
punishing, and inhumane.
He delves into contract
farming: “(The farmer owns)
everything that costs money,
but we own everything that
makes money.”

32. Questions?
— Tools available
— Questions on where to go for information?
— Are there stories you’d like to suggest? Please share
them with me: christina.leonard@asu.edu.
— Twitter: @caleonard