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Our investigation found that the Trump administration’s Agriculture Dept has been burying studies that show the dangers of climate change.
This continues to be one of our most-read stories since we published it yesterday. Here’s how we got the story 👇 politico.com/story/2019/06/…
This continues to be one of our most-read stories since we published it yesterday. Here’s how we got the story 👇 politico.com/story/2019/06/…
A few months ago, our reporter @hbottemiller was catching up with a scientist who mentioned recently working with USDA researchers on a big study looking at how rising CO2 leads to a drop in nutrients in rice, the world's most important crop. politico.com/story/2019/06/…
But the scientist also told her that USDA officials seemed to have gone out of their way to avoid promoting the study's findings – a highly unusual move that concerned the researchers who had worked on the project. politico.com/story/2019/06/…
Shortly after that conversation, another source told @hbottemiller they thought USDA was shifting away from studying climate change in the Trump administration. politico.com/story/2019/06/…
Until that point, we hadn't heard many complaints about climate issues out of USDA, esp. compared to the high-profile political controversies at EPA and the Interior Dept. Trump officials hadn't made waves by ripping down climate data off USDA websites or anything like that.
So @hbottemiller started making calls to check in with more scientists and others in the climate space. She heard more concern about the more subtle ways USDA was undermining its own work on climate change. politico.com/story/2019/06/…
After interviewing 40+ people and looking through years of USDA press releases, @hbottemiller concluded that climate science at USDA was continuing, but the department was being extremely quiet about its own work. politico.com/story/2019/06/…
Our senior graphics editor @pattersonclark visualized hundreds of these press releases (going all the way back to 1996) to show the Trump administration’s clear pattern of ignoring climate issues. politico.com/story/2019/06/… 
We’re still investigating USDA’s work on climate change. Got a tip for us? DM @hbottemiller. politico.com/story/2019/06/…
