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AI use cases are going to get even bigger in 2025

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Wednesday, December 25, 2024

Over the past two years, generative AI has dominated tech conversations and media headlines. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney, and Sora captured imaginations with their ability to create text, images, and videos, sparking both excitement and ethical debates. However, artificial intelligence goes far beyond generative AI—which is just a subset of AI—and its associated models. AI’s real promise lies in its ability to address complex challenges across diverse industries, from military technology to cybersecurity, medicine, and even genome sequencing. As we move into 2025 and beyond, the question isn’t whether AI use cases will expand—it’s how big and transformative they’ll get. MILITARY TACTICS AND INTELLIGENCE Few sectors stand to gain more from AI advancements than defense. “We are witnessing a surge in applications like autonomous drone swarms, electronic spectrum awareness, and real-time battlefield space management, where AI, edge computing, and sensor technologies are integrated to enable faster responses and enhanced precision,” says Meir Friedland, CEO at RF spectrum intelligence company Sensorz. Friedland notes that recent conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and across the Middle East, have highlighted critical vulnerabilities in military operations, from tactical to strategic levels—a factor he says will drive the adoption of AI use cases in the military. While Axios said in April that AI hit trust hurdles with the U.S. military, Friedland notes that with the rise of global tensions and defense budgets at an all-time high, “we can expect significant investment in AI to maintain a combat edge.” For Friedland, the defense sector’s growing embrace of innovation from startups like Palantir and Anduril reflects how AI is going to increasingly change things across the global defense sector. CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE The healthcare sector is witnessing a sharp rise in AI-driven innovation, especially in precision medicine and genome sequencing, transforming how diseases are understood and treated. For many years, scientists and medical professionals have been trying to understand human DNA in an attempt to crack the code that powers life as we know it. Now, with new AI models like GROVER, they have a real chance at getting closer to that goal, Science Daily reports. “AI is transforming genome sequencing, enabling faster and more accurate analyses of genetic data,” Khalfan Belhoul, CEO at the Dubai Future Foundation, tells Fast Company. “Already, the largest genome banks in the U.K. and the UAE each have over half a million samples, but soon, one genome bank will surpass this with a million samples.” But what does this mean? “It means we are entering an era where healthcare can truly become personalized, where we can anticipate and prevent certain diseases before they even develop,” Belhoul says. Genome banks, powered by AI, are facilitating the storage and retrieval of vast amounts of genetic data, which can be analyzed to identify patterns and predispositions to certain diseases. Beyond diagnostics, AI is playing a pivotal role in drug development, accelerating the discovery of therapies for complex diseases. By analyzing genetic mutations and environmental factors, AI enables researchers to design treatments tailored to individual patients. “These tools are not only improving outcomes but also reducing costs and timelines associated with traditional medical research,” says Belhoul. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION INTELLIGENCE Today, businesses swim in a vast ocean of applications—spanning email, messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams—that eventually make communication fragmented and often get important details lost in silos. But AI agents like LeapXpert’s patented Maxen are solving this challenge by combining external messaging channels with enterprise platforms to deliver what Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO at LeapXpert, describes as “communication intelligence.” While Maxen is similar to Microsoft Copilot—which works only within the Microsoft product suite for now—it’s differentiated in its ability to integrate with multiple communications platforms, including WhatsApp, iMessage, and Microsoft Teams. Gutzeit explains that Maxen is an extension of the LeapXpert Communications Platform (which unifies and governs communication channels) and uses AI to provide relationship managers with real-time insights into client interactions. While that’s commendable, he notes that we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of how AI will transform business communication. “2025 will see the rise of AI assistants tailored for enterprise needs, focusing on unifying communication data and driving actionable insights. Compliance and security AI will evolve further, flagging suspicious activity in real time and reinforcing trust in digital interactions,” Gutzeit says. AI’s role in business communication isn’t just about boosting efficiency. It’s also helping enterprises navigate the growing complexity of data governance and regulatory compliance. For Gutzeit, the future of AI in communication will combine privacy-first AI, compliance, and actionable insights, enabling businesses to thrive in a digitally interconnected world. AI-POWERED CYBERSECURITY OPERATIONS AI operates on both the offensive and defensive sides of the cybersecurity equation. One classic example is how cybercriminals used AI-generated deepfake technology to impersonate a company executive in Hong Kong, tricking him into transferring several millions of U.S. dollars. But in response to such threats, companies are deploying AI-driven anomaly detection tools like Darktrace and Vectra AI that monitor network traffic to detect and respond to irregular patterns. Alex Yevtushenko, CEO at Salvador Technologies, highlights the dual nature of AI in this space: “On the one hand, AI enables expansive behavioral analysis and anomaly detection, improving efficiency and speeding up threat detection. On the other, cybercriminals are leveraging AI to launch more sophisticated attacks.” A growing and worrisome trend is the use of AI for polymorphic malware—a type of malware that shapeshifts its codes, making it difficult to detect. Attackers are also deploying AI for large-scale phishing campaigns, voice cloning, and social engineering attacks. “National and other critical infrastructures, often reliant on legacy systems, are particularly vulnerable,” Yevtushenko warns. AI’s ability to automate malicious code generation and exploit vulnerabilities amplifies these risks. Yevtushenko emphasizes the importance of resilience strategies to combat these threats, noting that organizations, especially critical infrastructure operators and industrial enterprises, must invest in robust recovery systems that enable rapid restoration of operations. Salvador Technologies, for example, offers a platform that ensures operational continuity and facilitates rapid recovery, bypassing traditional protocols to minimize downtime. Speaking about major AI trends to expect in the coming year, Yevtushenko says that 2024 has illustrated that “AI, although not a technology that just emerged, is a hugely useful tool that can become a ‘game changer’ in many fields.” He says that in 2025 “we will see more and more AI-based systems and tools in everyday cybersecurity-based operations, empowering business decision-makers to make the right kind of decisions with the ultimate goal to increase overall security.” WHAT LIES AHEAD? The potential for AI extends far beyond the use cases dominating today’s headlines. As Friedland notes, “AI’s future lies in multi-domain coordination, edge computing, and autonomous systems.” These advancements are already reshaping industries like manufacturing, agriculture, and finance. In manufacturing, for example, AI-powered robotics is enhancing productivity and reducing waste by optimizing workflows. Take Machina Labs, which uses the latest advances in robotics and AI to build the next generation of factories for the manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, in the agricultural field, precision AI tools are helping farmers monitor crop health, predict yields, and conserve resources. A great example is CropX, which uses AI-powered algorithms to aggregate data from the soil and sky, then transform it into useful insights that help farmers monitor the health of their fields and crops. In finance, AI is improving fraud detection, enabling smarter investment strategies, and automating routine tasks, with companies like CertifID, Hawk AI, Riskified, and others using AI to detect and mitigate fraud at scale. As we move further into the decade, the consensus by many experts is that AI will increasingly take over routine tasks, freeing human experts to focus on complex challenges that require nuanced decision-making. Emerging technologies like quantum computing and hardware acceleration are also expected to supercharge AI’s capabilities, enabling more powerful models and faster decision-making processes. “AI will become more useful for decision-making in the C-suite,” says Belhoul, who also predicts that “we may see the first AI board member of a Fortune 500 company next year.”

Over the past two years, generative AI has dominated tech conversations and media headlines. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney, and Sora captured imaginations with their ability to create text, images, and videos, sparking both excitement and ethical debates. However, artificial intelligence goes far beyond generative AI—which is just a subset of AI—and its associated models. AI’s real promise lies in its ability to address complex challenges across diverse industries, from military technology to cybersecurity, medicine, and even genome sequencing. As we move into 2025 and beyond, the question isn’t whether AI use cases will expand—it’s how big and transformative they’ll get. MILITARY TACTICS AND INTELLIGENCE Few sectors stand to gain more from AI advancements than defense. “We are witnessing a surge in applications like autonomous drone swarms, electronic spectrum awareness, and real-time battlefield space management, where AI, edge computing, and sensor technologies are integrated to enable faster responses and enhanced precision,” says Meir Friedland, CEO at RF spectrum intelligence company Sensorz. Friedland notes that recent conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and across the Middle East, have highlighted critical vulnerabilities in military operations, from tactical to strategic levels—a factor he says will drive the adoption of AI use cases in the military. While Axios said in April that AI hit trust hurdles with the U.S. military, Friedland notes that with the rise of global tensions and defense budgets at an all-time high, “we can expect significant investment in AI to maintain a combat edge.” For Friedland, the defense sector’s growing embrace of innovation from startups like Palantir and Anduril reflects how AI is going to increasingly change things across the global defense sector. CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE The healthcare sector is witnessing a sharp rise in AI-driven innovation, especially in precision medicine and genome sequencing, transforming how diseases are understood and treated. For many years, scientists and medical professionals have been trying to understand human DNA in an attempt to crack the code that powers life as we know it. Now, with new AI models like GROVER, they have a real chance at getting closer to that goal, Science Daily reports. “AI is transforming genome sequencing, enabling faster and more accurate analyses of genetic data,” Khalfan Belhoul, CEO at the Dubai Future Foundation, tells Fast Company. “Already, the largest genome banks in the U.K. and the UAE each have over half a million samples, but soon, one genome bank will surpass this with a million samples.” But what does this mean? “It means we are entering an era where healthcare can truly become personalized, where we can anticipate and prevent certain diseases before they even develop,” Belhoul says. Genome banks, powered by AI, are facilitating the storage and retrieval of vast amounts of genetic data, which can be analyzed to identify patterns and predispositions to certain diseases. Beyond diagnostics, AI is playing a pivotal role in drug development, accelerating the discovery of therapies for complex diseases. By analyzing genetic mutations and environmental factors, AI enables researchers to design treatments tailored to individual patients. “These tools are not only improving outcomes but also reducing costs and timelines associated with traditional medical research,” says Belhoul. BUSINESS COMMUNICATION INTELLIGENCE Today, businesses swim in a vast ocean of applications—spanning email, messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams—that eventually make communication fragmented and often get important details lost in silos. But AI agents like LeapXpert’s patented Maxen are solving this challenge by combining external messaging channels with enterprise platforms to deliver what Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO at LeapXpert, describes as “communication intelligence.” While Maxen is similar to Microsoft Copilot—which works only within the Microsoft product suite for now—it’s differentiated in its ability to integrate with multiple communications platforms, including WhatsApp, iMessage, and Microsoft Teams. Gutzeit explains that Maxen is an extension of the LeapXpert Communications Platform (which unifies and governs communication channels) and uses AI to provide relationship managers with real-time insights into client interactions. While that’s commendable, he notes that we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of how AI will transform business communication. “2025 will see the rise of AI assistants tailored for enterprise needs, focusing on unifying communication data and driving actionable insights. Compliance and security AI will evolve further, flagging suspicious activity in real time and reinforcing trust in digital interactions,” Gutzeit says. AI’s role in business communication isn’t just about boosting efficiency. It’s also helping enterprises navigate the growing complexity of data governance and regulatory compliance. For Gutzeit, the future of AI in communication will combine privacy-first AI, compliance, and actionable insights, enabling businesses to thrive in a digitally interconnected world. AI-POWERED CYBERSECURITY OPERATIONS AI operates on both the offensive and defensive sides of the cybersecurity equation. One classic example is how cybercriminals used AI-generated deepfake technology to impersonate a company executive in Hong Kong, tricking him into transferring several millions of U.S. dollars. But in response to such threats, companies are deploying AI-driven anomaly detection tools like Darktrace and Vectra AI that monitor network traffic to detect and respond to irregular patterns. Alex Yevtushenko, CEO at Salvador Technologies, highlights the dual nature of AI in this space: “On the one hand, AI enables expansive behavioral analysis and anomaly detection, improving efficiency and speeding up threat detection. On the other, cybercriminals are leveraging AI to launch more sophisticated attacks.” A growing and worrisome trend is the use of AI for polymorphic malware—a type of malware that shapeshifts its codes, making it difficult to detect. Attackers are also deploying AI for large-scale phishing campaigns, voice cloning, and social engineering attacks. “National and other critical infrastructures, often reliant on legacy systems, are particularly vulnerable,” Yevtushenko warns. AI’s ability to automate malicious code generation and exploit vulnerabilities amplifies these risks. Yevtushenko emphasizes the importance of resilience strategies to combat these threats, noting that organizations, especially critical infrastructure operators and industrial enterprises, must invest in robust recovery systems that enable rapid restoration of operations. Salvador Technologies, for example, offers a platform that ensures operational continuity and facilitates rapid recovery, bypassing traditional protocols to minimize downtime. Speaking about major AI trends to expect in the coming year, Yevtushenko says that 2024 has illustrated that “AI, although not a technology that just emerged, is a hugely useful tool that can become a ‘game changer’ in many fields.” He says that in 2025 “we will see more and more AI-based systems and tools in everyday cybersecurity-based operations, empowering business decision-makers to make the right kind of decisions with the ultimate goal to increase overall security.” WHAT LIES AHEAD? The potential for AI extends far beyond the use cases dominating today’s headlines. As Friedland notes, “AI’s future lies in multi-domain coordination, edge computing, and autonomous systems.” These advancements are already reshaping industries like manufacturing, agriculture, and finance. In manufacturing, for example, AI-powered robotics is enhancing productivity and reducing waste by optimizing workflows. Take Machina Labs, which uses the latest advances in robotics and AI to build the next generation of factories for the manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, in the agricultural field, precision AI tools are helping farmers monitor crop health, predict yields, and conserve resources. A great example is CropX, which uses AI-powered algorithms to aggregate data from the soil and sky, then transform it into useful insights that help farmers monitor the health of their fields and crops. In finance, AI is improving fraud detection, enabling smarter investment strategies, and automating routine tasks, with companies like CertifID, Hawk AI, Riskified, and others using AI to detect and mitigate fraud at scale. As we move further into the decade, the consensus by many experts is that AI will increasingly take over routine tasks, freeing human experts to focus on complex challenges that require nuanced decision-making. Emerging technologies like quantum computing and hardware acceleration are also expected to supercharge AI’s capabilities, enabling more powerful models and faster decision-making processes. “AI will become more useful for decision-making in the C-suite,” says Belhoul, who also predicts that “we may see the first AI board member of a Fortune 500 company next year.”

Over the past two years, generative AI has dominated tech conversations and media headlines. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney, and Sora captured imaginations with their ability to create text, images, and videos, sparking both excitement and ethical debates.

However, artificial intelligence goes far beyond generative AI—which is just a subset of AI—and its associated models. AI’s real promise lies in its ability to address complex challenges across diverse industries, from military technology to cybersecurity, medicine, and even genome sequencing.

As we move into 2025 and beyond, the question isn’t whether AI use cases will expand—it’s how big and transformative they’ll get.

MILITARY TACTICS AND INTELLIGENCE

Few sectors stand to gain more from AI advancements than defense. “We are witnessing a surge in applications like autonomous drone swarms, electronic spectrum awareness, and real-time battlefield space management, where AI, edge computing, and sensor technologies are integrated to enable faster responses and enhanced precision,” says Meir Friedland, CEO at RF spectrum intelligence company Sensorz.

Friedland notes that recent conflicts, particularly in Ukraine and across the Middle East, have highlighted critical vulnerabilities in military operations, from tactical to strategic levels—a factor he says will drive the adoption of AI use cases in the military. While Axios said in April that AI hit trust hurdles with the U.S. military, Friedland notes that with the rise of global tensions and defense budgets at an all-time high, “we can expect significant investment in AI to maintain a combat edge.”

For Friedland, the defense sector’s growing embrace of innovation from startups like Palantir and Anduril reflects how AI is going to increasingly change things across the global defense sector.

CRACKING THE CODE OF LIFE

The healthcare sector is witnessing a sharp rise in AI-driven innovation, especially in precision medicine and genome sequencing, transforming how diseases are understood and treated. For many years, scientists and medical professionals have been trying to understand human DNA in an attempt to crack the code that powers life as we know it. Now, with new AI models like GROVER, they have a real chance at getting closer to that goal, Science Daily reports.

“AI is transforming genome sequencing, enabling faster and more accurate analyses of genetic data,” Khalfan Belhoul, CEO at the Dubai Future Foundation, tells Fast Company. “Already, the largest genome banks in the U.K. and the UAE each have over half a million samples, but soon, one genome bank will surpass this with a million samples.”

But what does this mean? “It means we are entering an era where healthcare can truly become personalized, where we can anticipate and prevent certain diseases before they even develop,” Belhoul says.

Genome banks, powered by AI, are facilitating the storage and retrieval of vast amounts of genetic data, which can be analyzed to identify patterns and predispositions to certain diseases. Beyond diagnostics, AI is playing a pivotal role in drug development, accelerating the discovery of therapies for complex diseases.

By analyzing genetic mutations and environmental factors, AI enables researchers to design treatments tailored to individual patients. “These tools are not only improving outcomes but also reducing costs and timelines associated with traditional medical research,” says Belhoul.

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION INTELLIGENCE

Today, businesses swim in a vast ocean of applications—spanning email, messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage, and collaboration platforms like Microsoft Teams—that eventually make communication fragmented and often get important details lost in silos. But AI agents like LeapXpert’s patented Maxen are solving this challenge by combining external messaging channels with enterprise platforms to deliver what Dima Gutzeit, founder and CEO at LeapXpert, describes as “communication intelligence.”

While Maxen is similar to Microsoft Copilot—which works only within the Microsoft product suite for now—it’s differentiated in its ability to integrate with multiple communications platforms, including WhatsApp, iMessage, and Microsoft Teams. Gutzeit explains that Maxen is an extension of the LeapXpert Communications Platform (which unifies and governs communication channels) and uses AI to provide relationship managers with real-time insights into client interactions. While that’s commendable, he notes that we haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of how AI will transform business communication.

“2025 will see the rise of AI assistants tailored for enterprise needs, focusing on unifying communication data and driving actionable insights. Compliance and security AI will evolve further, flagging suspicious activity in real time and reinforcing trust in digital interactions,” Gutzeit says.

AI’s role in business communication isn’t just about boosting efficiency. It’s also helping enterprises navigate the growing complexity of data governance and regulatory compliance. For Gutzeit, the future of AI in communication will combine privacy-first AI, compliance, and actionable insights, enabling businesses to thrive in a digitally interconnected world.

AI-POWERED CYBERSECURITY OPERATIONS

AI operates on both the offensive and defensive sides of the cybersecurity equation. One classic example is how cybercriminals used AI-generated deepfake technology to impersonate a company executive in Hong Kong, tricking him into transferring several millions of U.S. dollars. But in response to such threats, companies are deploying AI-driven anomaly detection tools like Darktrace and Vectra AI that monitor network traffic to detect and respond to irregular patterns.

Alex Yevtushenko, CEO at Salvador Technologies, highlights the dual nature of AI in this space: “On the one hand, AI enables expansive behavioral analysis and anomaly detection, improving efficiency and speeding up threat detection. On the other, cybercriminals are leveraging AI to launch more sophisticated attacks.”

A growing and worrisome trend is the use of AI for polymorphic malware—a type of malware that shapeshifts its codes, making it difficult to detect. Attackers are also deploying AI for large-scale phishing campaigns, voice cloning, and social engineering attacks. “National and other critical infrastructures, often reliant on legacy systems, are particularly vulnerable,” Yevtushenko warns. AI’s ability to automate malicious code generation and exploit vulnerabilities amplifies these risks.

Yevtushenko emphasizes the importance of resilience strategies to combat these threats, noting that organizations, especially critical infrastructure operators and industrial enterprises, must invest in robust recovery systems that enable rapid restoration of operations. Salvador Technologies, for example, offers a platform that ensures operational continuity and facilitates rapid recovery, bypassing traditional protocols to minimize downtime.

Speaking about major AI trends to expect in the coming year, Yevtushenko says that 2024 has illustrated that “AI, although not a technology that just emerged, is a hugely useful tool that can become a ‘game changer’ in many fields.” He says that in 2025 “we will see more and more AI-based systems and tools in everyday cybersecurity-based operations, empowering business decision-makers to make the right kind of decisions with the ultimate goal to increase overall security.”

WHAT LIES AHEAD?

The potential for AI extends far beyond the use cases dominating today’s headlines. As Friedland notes, “AI’s future lies in multi-domain coordination, edge computing, and autonomous systems.” These advancements are already reshaping industries like manufacturing, agriculture, and finance.

In manufacturing, for example, AI-powered robotics is enhancing productivity and reducing waste by optimizing workflows. Take Machina Labs, which uses the latest advances in robotics and AI to build the next generation of factories for the manufacturing industry.

Meanwhile, in the agricultural field, precision AI tools are helping farmers monitor crop health, predict yields, and conserve resources. A great example is CropX, which uses AI-powered algorithms to aggregate data from the soil and sky, then transform it into useful insights that help farmers monitor the health of their fields and crops.

In finance, AI is improving fraud detection, enabling smarter investment strategies, and automating routine tasks, with companies like CertifID, Hawk AI, Riskified, and others using AI to detect and mitigate fraud at scale.

As we move further into the decade, the consensus by many experts is that AI will increasingly take over routine tasks, freeing human experts to focus on complex challenges that require nuanced decision-making. Emerging technologies like quantum computing and hardware acceleration are also expected to supercharge AI’s capabilities, enabling more powerful models and faster decision-making processes.

“AI will become more useful for decision-making in the C-suite,” says Belhoul, who also predicts that “we may see the first AI board member of a Fortune 500 company next year.”

Read the full story here.
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Destruction of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam left behind a toxic legacy

The 2023 breach of the Kakhovka dam drained a huge reservoir and exposed a vast area of toxic sediment, creating a debate about how best to rebuild after the Russia-Ukraine war

The Kakhovka dam on 6 June 2023, shortly after its partial destructionUkrhydroenergo / UPI / Alamy The 2023 breach of Ukraine’s Kakhovka dam caused deadly flooding downstream, threatened to disrupt the cooling system of a nuclear power plant and deprived the region of water for irrigation. But an analysis almost two years later finds the most lasting consequence may be the huge volume of contaminated sediment left behind in the drained reservoir. “The area of the former reservoir served as a big sponge that was accumulating various pollutants,” says Oleksandra Shumilova at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Germany. Exposure to these contaminants across an area almost as large as Luxembourg could pose a long-term threat to local populations and ecosystems, and could complicate debates about whether to rebuild the dam when the Russia-Ukraine war ends, she says. On 6 June, 2023, a section of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine collapsed after an explosion, releasing a torrent of water from one of the world’s largest reservoirs into the lower Dnieper river and Black Sea beyond. Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of destroying the dam, which was controlled by Russian forces at the time. Ukrainian officials immediately anticipated that the flooding and pollutants in the water would destroy ecosystems. A spokesperson for the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory calls the destruction of the dam “the single most environmentally damaging act of the full-scale invasion”. But the ongoing war has made a more complete assessment in the area challenging. To get a fuller picture, Shumilova and her colleagues reconstructed the flow of water and sediment after the breach using hydrological models, satellite images and data collected before Russia’s invasion. “Our aim was to give a clear scientific answer: What has happened based on scientific evidence?” she says. They found the resulting flood would have carried nearly a cubic kilometre of sediment in the reservoir downstream, much of which was contaminated with toxic heavy metals and other pollutants from upstream industry and agriculture. The flood would also have picked up around seven cubic kilometres of sediment downstream of the dam, as well as oil and other chemical products from flooded facilities along the river. When it reached the Black Sea, this floodwater formed a plume visible in satellite images across 7300 square kilometres of water. Changes in water cover after the Kakhovka dam burstEOSDA While this immediate flooding was harmful, the researchers found the contamination left behind poses a big problem of its own. They estimate more than 99 per cent of the contaminated sediment in the reservoir remained. These sediments may contain more than 83,000 tonnes of toxic heavy metals such as lead, cadmium and nickel – and they are now exposed to the air across nearly 2000 square kilometres of the former reservoir. This poses a health hazard to local people still collecting water from ponds that have formed there, says Shumilova. It may also harm plants and animals that have rapidly moved on to what was the bed of the reservoir. It could also complicate arguments from some Ukrainian environmental groups that the dam shouldn’t be rebuilt after the war in order to allow this once-flooded ecosystem to restore itself, she says. Bohdan Vykhor at the World Wide Fund for Nature’s Ukraine division agrees that the contamination poses an issue for restoring the ecosystem. But he says other, more sustainable alternatives to supply the region with water and electricity should be considered, rather than simply rebuilding the dam. “Building of the Kakhovka dam for the first time was a disaster for nature, destruction of the dam was a disaster for nature, and if we rebuild, it might be another disaster for nature,” he says.

Deregulatory Blitz at EPA Includes Climate and Water Rules That Impact Agriculture

On March 12, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced more than 30 deregulatory actions the agency is taking, including steps to roll back rules that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and farm pollution, and to eliminate environmental justice efforts. In their last evaluation of the climate crisis, the world’s top scientists found climate change is […] The post Deregulatory Blitz at EPA Includes Climate and Water Rules That Impact Agriculture appeared first on Civil Eats.

On March 12, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced more than 30 deregulatory actions the agency is taking, including steps to roll back rules that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and farm pollution, and to eliminate environmental justice efforts. In their last evaluation of the climate crisis, the world’s top scientists found climate change is already making it harder for farmers to produce food—and that challenges including extreme heat, droughts, and destructive weather events will get worse without rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Zeldin’s actions will move the EPA off that path significantly with a reconsideration of what is called the “endangerment finding,” a scientific decision the agency made determining greenhouse gases endanger public health, which underpins the agency’s other climate rules and regulations. “We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families,” Zeldin said in a statement. Another stop in Zeldin’s plan is to once again review a rule that determines which bodies of water are subject to restrictions on runoff from farms. Called Waters of the U.S., or “WOTUS,” the rule has been in flux for decades, with every administration changing it and the Supreme Court already weighing in. It has been a key issue for the American Farm Bureau Federation, and House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson thanked Zeldin “for listening to America’s farmers and delivering much needed relief to our rural communities.” And Zeldin officially ended all of EPA’s office environmental justice work, shutting down offices around the country. Some environmental justice programming at EPA focused on communities disproportionately affected by air and water pollution from the food system. “By shutting down environmental justice, Trump’s EPA is turning its back on protecting clean air and safe drinking water for every American, regardless of where they live or who they voted for,” said Michelle Roos, Executive Director at the Environmental Protection Network, in a statement. (Link to this post.) The post Deregulatory Blitz at EPA Includes Climate and Water Rules That Impact Agriculture appeared first on Civil Eats.

What’s Driving High Egg Prices: Bird Flu, or Corporate Greed?

Bird flu is sweeping through egg-laying chickens in the United States at an unprecedented rate. So far in 2025, 30 million layers, as they’re known, have been culled, close to the 38 million killed throughout all of last year: Nearly 10 percent of the country’s annual number of egg-layers have been wiped out. But one of the big questions, as egg prices become a potent political football, is this: Are these shocking infection rates and cull tallies to blame for skyrocketing prices? Or is something else going on?Last month, Democratic lawmakers including Elizabeth Warren, James McGovern, and Cory Booker cast doubt on the idea that highly pathogenic avian influenza, known as HAPI, alone was to blame for soaring egg prices, writing in a letter to the Trump administration that “egg producers and grocery stores may leverage the current avian flu outbreak as an opportunity to further constrain supply or hike up egg prices to increase profits.” In the past few days, multiple outlets have reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is now opening an investigation into egg producers’ practices.Trump administration officials have, meanwhile, offered puzzling and sometimes contradictory insights. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, recently said that health agencies will not recommend poultry vaccines. (This recommendation would typically come through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over which Kennedy has no jurisdiction.) “We’ve in fact said, at the USDA, that they should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds and preserve the birds that are immune to it,” Kennedy said on Fox News recently. Brooke Rollins, USDA secretary, suggested that consumers concerned about egg prices could try their hand at backyard poultry farming. Few people seem to doubt that bird flu is playing some role in current prices. Food economists say we’re currently seeing a classic example of what happens when an inelastic product, or something that people typically buy no matter the price, becomes scarce and retailers begin bidding against each other to keep their shelves full. “I’m going to bid more than Aldi or Trader Joe’s is going to bid, because I have to buy those eggs,” is the way Jada Thompson, an associate professor in agricultural economics at the University of Arkansas, described the mindset.It’s also clear that some egg producers have been devastated by the culls. “I wouldn’t be surprised that some companies go out of business,” Rocio Crespo, a professor in poultry health and management at NC State University, told me. Smaller producers who have lost their entire flocks aren’t able to benefit from high prices right now.But the producers still able to sell eggs are experiencing a boom. Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the country—and the only one publishing financial information, because it’s publicly traded—reported in January that net sales nearly doubled in a year, jumping up to $954.7 million in the quarter ending November 30, from $523.2 million at the same time the previous year.  And that was months ago, before prices went this high.Warren and her fellow lawmakers are skeptical for a reason: In December 2023, an Illinois jury found five major egg companies—Cal-Maine, United Egg Producers, United States Egg Marketers, and Rose Acre Farms—liable for millions in damages after engaging in price gouging, where the producers intentionally created the conditions of scarcity by killing hens early or exporting more eggs to other countries in order to drive up prices.A Food and Water Watch report released last Wednesday found that retail egg prices even in places without bird flu outbreaks more than doubled between January 2022 and January 2023. The Southeast region only reported its first case this past January, and raised more eggs in recent years than before the outbreak began, yet still saw the same rise in prices as the rest of the country.Even at the national level, the idea that bird flu has constrained supply, the report suggested, doesn’t quite fit: “From April to December 2023, national retail inventories of eggs exceeded the five-year average by as much as 12.8 percent. Nevertheless, average egg prices exceeded the five-year average in each month as well.” In 2023, for example, despite having no bird flu outbreaks, Cal-Maine’s egg prices soared by more than 700 percent, and the company awarded dividends to shareholders totaling $250 million—a 40-fold increase from 2022. (Cal-Maine did not respond to media inquiries by press time.)Still, other experts say, that’s hardly proof that something sketchy is going on. In order to know whether companies are engaging in anything underhanded, “you’re going to need a whole bunch of proprietary data, which I’m going to guess you don’t have—if you do, please send my way,” Thompson told me. Otherwise, “nobody will be able to tell you that answer,” she said. “I can’t tell you that there’s no additional margins being taken somewhere, but I can tell you that HPAI is having—probably a very large portion of this is going to be related to supply.” And “unless the government is setting the price, prices are going to be set by market forces,” she added.Scarcity is far and away the clearest reason for current price hikes, David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University, told me. “When you have less supply of eggs and demand is relatively inelastic, then you can expect a pretty significant increase in the price.” He cautioned against making a “one-to-one” comparison, expecting egg prices to rise only by about 10 percent because that’s how far egg inventory has dropped. “That’s the crux of the question: why are prices 125% up if supplies are only down seven [percent], right?” Thompson said.But when inventory drops by any amount, bidding can go much higher. And because of decontamination needs and the fact that it takes egg-layers between four and five months to reach maturity, bird flu can take egg facilities offline for about six months. Chickens raised for meat, on the other hand, are usually slaughtered around eight weeks of age. That’s why there have been fewer shortages driving up chicken prices, Ortega said.But, he said, “the egg industry has some dominant players, and I think that plays a role here. If you’re an egg producer that hasn’t had an outbreak in one of your facilities, you’re not incurring costs—so you are benefiting from those higher egg prices.”Perhaps the bigger problem is that some companies may not be investing profits from the current crisis in the precautions that would slow bird flu’s spread and reduce egg-price instability in the future. Cal-Maine just paid out big dividends to shareholders this month. Yet those profits do not seem to be going back into efforts to flu-proof their operations, like building smaller facilities and hiring more dedicated workers who don’t go from chicken house to chicken house potentially spreading the virus—measures that would make outbreaks hurt a lot less. Instead, they seem to be expanding bigger facilities. Egg-laying facilities can house a million chickens or more, which can create the perfect conditions for bird flu to spread—and mutate. “When everything is good, everything goes great and perfect, but when there is a problem, it’s a disaster,” Crespo said.H5N1 actually started on poultry farms in both 1959 and 1996, and intensive food animal production drives outbreaks forward. Wild birds and other intermediary animals are the spark, but farms can be the tinder.“Obviously, the data for biosecurity is very broken,” Crespo said. Right now, we’re pretty good at diagnosing the virus and culling all chickens in order to stop the spread—but we haven’t yet figured out how to prevent outbreaks in the first place. Farmers know how to reduce some risks—keeping birds contained inside, rather than roaming outside, helps; so does washing equipment like trucks that go between farms. “But there are still some things we don’t understand fully of this virus… We don’t have the whole picture.”Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, agreed. “I don’t think we have a very clear sense of what is driving the spread of this virus,” she said. Are rodents, including mice and rats, helping to spread bird flu when they get into the feed or facilities? Is the virus being spread by poultry workers? Right now, there are too many unanswered questions. And that matters when it comes to biocontainment, or measures to stop the virus’s spread, Nuzzo said: “If we’re going to be spending money, wouldn’t it be nice to know where we can best apply those resources to mitigate future costs?” In other words, she said, “how many billions are we going to keep throwing after this virus without trying to figure out a way to take this virus off the table as a public health and agricultural threat?”One option for safeguarding farms against future outbreaks would be to break them up—creating smaller operations that make outbreaks less devastating. Farms could also employ more workers and invest in more equipment. “Rather than have one supervisor, I need five supervisors; rather than have one tractor, I may need to buy five tractors… so the people and the machines and everything don’t just cross-contaminate each other.” That’s an expensive proposition that could eat into the margins of smaller producers—but for companies making the big bucks right now, it would be a worthwhile investment to keep eggs on our tables. Another option is vaccines. There are approved vaccines for use in poultry, and countries like China have used them for years. “I understand why they don’t want to use vaccines. I get it. It’s expensive. It’s going to be a hard issue for trade,” Nuzzo said, because eggs from vaccinated chickens usually can’t be exported. But at this point, the benefits might outweigh the downsides, she said.Vaccines—for poultry and for people—are “one of the critical areas that could help you be in a position to be prepared and to intervene in time before it goes from an epidemic outbreak to a pandemic,” said Christopher Heaney, associate professor of environmental health, epidemiology, and international health at the Johns Hopkins University. “Even at the highest levels of biosecurity, you’re still going to have a challenge managing vermin and rodents,” Heaney said. “The idea of biosecurity alone preventing this from evolving, and creating a barrier between external wild animal populations and the internal environment, is just a challenging one to be able to put all of our confidence and faith in.”This means that even if producers do it right, egg prices could stay high, because adding vaccines and producing eggs in smaller operations with more workers and equipment all costs money. “The solution is not going to give us a cheaper option for the eggs,” Crespo said. But she encouraged consumers to think of it a different way: “Why does the egg have to be so inexpensive when it is such a great source of protein?”These are pressing problems that will only grow in urgency as the outbreak does. “This virus is not going to go away. This will become a recurring hazard and a recurring challenge for consumers unless we figure out a way to sustainably deal with this virus,” Nuzzo said. “Otherwise, we’re going to continue to throw billions of dollars at this problem with no sustainable solution in sight.”

Bird flu is sweeping through egg-laying chickens in the United States at an unprecedented rate. So far in 2025, 30 million layers, as they’re known, have been culled, close to the 38 million killed throughout all of last year: Nearly 10 percent of the country’s annual number of egg-layers have been wiped out. But one of the big questions, as egg prices become a potent political football, is this: Are these shocking infection rates and cull tallies to blame for skyrocketing prices? Or is something else going on?Last month, Democratic lawmakers including Elizabeth Warren, James McGovern, and Cory Booker cast doubt on the idea that highly pathogenic avian influenza, known as HAPI, alone was to blame for soaring egg prices, writing in a letter to the Trump administration that “egg producers and grocery stores may leverage the current avian flu outbreak as an opportunity to further constrain supply or hike up egg prices to increase profits.” In the past few days, multiple outlets have reported that the U.S. Department of Justice is now opening an investigation into egg producers’ practices.Trump administration officials have, meanwhile, offered puzzling and sometimes contradictory insights. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the secretary of health and human services, recently said that health agencies will not recommend poultry vaccines. (This recommendation would typically come through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, over which Kennedy has no jurisdiction.) “We’ve in fact said, at the USDA, that they should consider maybe the possibility of letting it run through the flock so that we can identify the birds and preserve the birds that are immune to it,” Kennedy said on Fox News recently. Brooke Rollins, USDA secretary, suggested that consumers concerned about egg prices could try their hand at backyard poultry farming. Few people seem to doubt that bird flu is playing some role in current prices. Food economists say we’re currently seeing a classic example of what happens when an inelastic product, or something that people typically buy no matter the price, becomes scarce and retailers begin bidding against each other to keep their shelves full. “I’m going to bid more than Aldi or Trader Joe’s is going to bid, because I have to buy those eggs,” is the way Jada Thompson, an associate professor in agricultural economics at the University of Arkansas, described the mindset.It’s also clear that some egg producers have been devastated by the culls. “I wouldn’t be surprised that some companies go out of business,” Rocio Crespo, a professor in poultry health and management at NC State University, told me. Smaller producers who have lost their entire flocks aren’t able to benefit from high prices right now.But the producers still able to sell eggs are experiencing a boom. Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the country—and the only one publishing financial information, because it’s publicly traded—reported in January that net sales nearly doubled in a year, jumping up to $954.7 million in the quarter ending November 30, from $523.2 million at the same time the previous year.  And that was months ago, before prices went this high.Warren and her fellow lawmakers are skeptical for a reason: In December 2023, an Illinois jury found five major egg companies—Cal-Maine, United Egg Producers, United States Egg Marketers, and Rose Acre Farms—liable for millions in damages after engaging in price gouging, where the producers intentionally created the conditions of scarcity by killing hens early or exporting more eggs to other countries in order to drive up prices.A Food and Water Watch report released last Wednesday found that retail egg prices even in places without bird flu outbreaks more than doubled between January 2022 and January 2023. The Southeast region only reported its first case this past January, and raised more eggs in recent years than before the outbreak began, yet still saw the same rise in prices as the rest of the country.Even at the national level, the idea that bird flu has constrained supply, the report suggested, doesn’t quite fit: “From April to December 2023, national retail inventories of eggs exceeded the five-year average by as much as 12.8 percent. Nevertheless, average egg prices exceeded the five-year average in each month as well.” In 2023, for example, despite having no bird flu outbreaks, Cal-Maine’s egg prices soared by more than 700 percent, and the company awarded dividends to shareholders totaling $250 million—a 40-fold increase from 2022. (Cal-Maine did not respond to media inquiries by press time.)Still, other experts say, that’s hardly proof that something sketchy is going on. In order to know whether companies are engaging in anything underhanded, “you’re going to need a whole bunch of proprietary data, which I’m going to guess you don’t have—if you do, please send my way,” Thompson told me. Otherwise, “nobody will be able to tell you that answer,” she said. “I can’t tell you that there’s no additional margins being taken somewhere, but I can tell you that HPAI is having—probably a very large portion of this is going to be related to supply.” And “unless the government is setting the price, prices are going to be set by market forces,” she added.Scarcity is far and away the clearest reason for current price hikes, David Ortega, a food economist and professor at Michigan State University, told me. “When you have less supply of eggs and demand is relatively inelastic, then you can expect a pretty significant increase in the price.” He cautioned against making a “one-to-one” comparison, expecting egg prices to rise only by about 10 percent because that’s how far egg inventory has dropped. “That’s the crux of the question: why are prices 125% up if supplies are only down seven [percent], right?” Thompson said.But when inventory drops by any amount, bidding can go much higher. And because of decontamination needs and the fact that it takes egg-layers between four and five months to reach maturity, bird flu can take egg facilities offline for about six months. Chickens raised for meat, on the other hand, are usually slaughtered around eight weeks of age. That’s why there have been fewer shortages driving up chicken prices, Ortega said.But, he said, “the egg industry has some dominant players, and I think that plays a role here. If you’re an egg producer that hasn’t had an outbreak in one of your facilities, you’re not incurring costs—so you are benefiting from those higher egg prices.”Perhaps the bigger problem is that some companies may not be investing profits from the current crisis in the precautions that would slow bird flu’s spread and reduce egg-price instability in the future. Cal-Maine just paid out big dividends to shareholders this month. Yet those profits do not seem to be going back into efforts to flu-proof their operations, like building smaller facilities and hiring more dedicated workers who don’t go from chicken house to chicken house potentially spreading the virus—measures that would make outbreaks hurt a lot less. Instead, they seem to be expanding bigger facilities. Egg-laying facilities can house a million chickens or more, which can create the perfect conditions for bird flu to spread—and mutate. “When everything is good, everything goes great and perfect, but when there is a problem, it’s a disaster,” Crespo said.H5N1 actually started on poultry farms in both 1959 and 1996, and intensive food animal production drives outbreaks forward. Wild birds and other intermediary animals are the spark, but farms can be the tinder.“Obviously, the data for biosecurity is very broken,” Crespo said. Right now, we’re pretty good at diagnosing the virus and culling all chickens in order to stop the spread—but we haven’t yet figured out how to prevent outbreaks in the first place. Farmers know how to reduce some risks—keeping birds contained inside, rather than roaming outside, helps; so does washing equipment like trucks that go between farms. “But there are still some things we don’t understand fully of this virus… We don’t have the whole picture.”Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University School of Public Health, agreed. “I don’t think we have a very clear sense of what is driving the spread of this virus,” she said. Are rodents, including mice and rats, helping to spread bird flu when they get into the feed or facilities? Is the virus being spread by poultry workers? Right now, there are too many unanswered questions. And that matters when it comes to biocontainment, or measures to stop the virus’s spread, Nuzzo said: “If we’re going to be spending money, wouldn’t it be nice to know where we can best apply those resources to mitigate future costs?” In other words, she said, “how many billions are we going to keep throwing after this virus without trying to figure out a way to take this virus off the table as a public health and agricultural threat?”One option for safeguarding farms against future outbreaks would be to break them up—creating smaller operations that make outbreaks less devastating. Farms could also employ more workers and invest in more equipment. “Rather than have one supervisor, I need five supervisors; rather than have one tractor, I may need to buy five tractors… so the people and the machines and everything don’t just cross-contaminate each other.” That’s an expensive proposition that could eat into the margins of smaller producers—but for companies making the big bucks right now, it would be a worthwhile investment to keep eggs on our tables. Another option is vaccines. There are approved vaccines for use in poultry, and countries like China have used them for years. “I understand why they don’t want to use vaccines. I get it. It’s expensive. It’s going to be a hard issue for trade,” Nuzzo said, because eggs from vaccinated chickens usually can’t be exported. But at this point, the benefits might outweigh the downsides, she said.Vaccines—for poultry and for people—are “one of the critical areas that could help you be in a position to be prepared and to intervene in time before it goes from an epidemic outbreak to a pandemic,” said Christopher Heaney, associate professor of environmental health, epidemiology, and international health at the Johns Hopkins University. “Even at the highest levels of biosecurity, you’re still going to have a challenge managing vermin and rodents,” Heaney said. “The idea of biosecurity alone preventing this from evolving, and creating a barrier between external wild animal populations and the internal environment, is just a challenging one to be able to put all of our confidence and faith in.”This means that even if producers do it right, egg prices could stay high, because adding vaccines and producing eggs in smaller operations with more workers and equipment all costs money. “The solution is not going to give us a cheaper option for the eggs,” Crespo said. But she encouraged consumers to think of it a different way: “Why does the egg have to be so inexpensive when it is such a great source of protein?”These are pressing problems that will only grow in urgency as the outbreak does. “This virus is not going to go away. This will become a recurring hazard and a recurring challenge for consumers unless we figure out a way to sustainably deal with this virus,” Nuzzo said. “Otherwise, we’re going to continue to throw billions of dollars at this problem with no sustainable solution in sight.”

How to Help Butterflies That Are Disappearing

A new report finds that butterfly populations in the continental U.S. declined by one fifth between 2000 and 2020—but it’s not too late

How to Help Butterflies That Are DisappearingA new report finds that butterfly populations in the continental U.S. declined by one fifth between 2000 and 2020—but it’s not too lateBy Eliza Grames & The Conversation US West Coast lady butterflies range across the western U.S., but their numbers have dropped by 80 percent in two decades. Prisma by Dukas Presseagentur GmbH/Alamy Stock PhotoThe following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.If the joy of seeing butterflies seems increasingly rare these days, it isn’t your imagination.From 2000 to 2020, the number of butterflies fell by 22% across the continental United States. That’s 1 in 5 butterflies lost. The findings are from an analysis just published in the journal Science by the U.S. Geological Survey’s Powell Center Status of Butterflies of the United States Working Group, which I am involved in.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.We found declines in just about every region of the continental U.S. and across almost all butterfly species.Overall, nearly one-third of the 342 butterfly species we were able to study declined by more than half. Twenty-two species fell by more than 90%. Only nine actually increased in numbers.Some species’ numbers are dropping faster than others. The West Coast lady, a fairly widespread species across the western U.S., dropped by 80% in 20 years. Given everything we know about its biology, it should be doing fine – it has a wide range and feeds on a variety of plants. Yet, its numbers are absolutely tanking across its range.Why care about butterflies?Butterflies are beautiful. They inspire people, from art to literature and poetry. They deserve to exist simply for the sake of existing. They are also important for ecosystem function.Butterflies are pollinators, picking up pollen on their legs and bodies as they feed on nectar from one flower and carrying it to the next. In their caterpillar stage, they also play an important role as herbivores, keeping plant growth in check.Butterflies can also serve as an indicator species that can warn of threats and trends in other insects. Because humans are fond of butterflies, it’s easy to get volunteers to participate in surveys to count them.The annual North American Butterfly Association Fourth of July Count is an example and one we used in the analysis. The same kind of nationwide monitoring by amateur naturalists doesn’t exist for less charismatic insects such as walking sticks.What’s causing butterflies to decline?Butterfly populations can decline for a number of reasons. Habitat loss, insecticides, rising temperatures and drying landscapes can all harm these fragile insects.A study published in 2024 found that a change in insecticide use was a major factor in driving butterfly declines in the Midwest over 17 years. The authors, many of whom were also part of the current study, noted that the drop coincided with a shift to using seeds with prophylactic insecticides, rather than only spraying crops after an infestation.The Southwest saw the greatest drops in butterfly abundance of any region. As that region heats up and dries out, the changing climate may be driving some of the butterfly decline there. Butterflies have a high surface-to-volume ratio – they don’t hold much moisture – so they can easily become desiccated in dry conditions. Drought can also harm the plants that butterflies rely on.Only the Pacific Northwest didn’t lose butterfly population on average. This trend was largely driven by an irruptive species, meaning one with extremely high abundance in some years – the California tortoiseshell. When this species was excluded from the analyses, trends in the Pacific Northwest were similar to other regions.When we looked at each species by its historical range, we found something else interesting.Many species suffered their highest losses at the southern ends of their ranges, while the northern losses generally weren’t as severe. While we could not link drivers to trends directly, the reason for this pattern might involve climate change, or greater exposure to agriculture with insecticides in southern areas, or it may be a combination of many stressors.There is hope for populations to recoverSome butterfly species can have multiple generations per year, and depending on the environmental conditions, the number of generations can vary between years.This gives me a bit of hope when it comes to butterfly conservation. Because they have such short generation times, even small conservation steps can make a big difference and we can see populations bounce back.The Karner blue is an example. It’s a small, endangered butterfly that depends on oak savannas and pine barren ecosystems. These habitats are uncommon and require management, especially prescribed burning, to maintain. With restoration efforts, one Karner blue population in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve in New York rebounded from a few hundred individuals in the early 1990s to thousands of butterflies.Similar management and restoration efforts could help other rare and declining butterflies to recover.The endangered Karner blue butterfly has struggled with habitat loss.Natural History Collection/Alamy Stock PhotoWhat you can do to help butterflies recoverThe magnitude and rate of biodiversity loss in the world right now can make one feel helpless. But while national and international efforts are needed to address the crisis, you can also take small actions that can have quick benefits, starting in your own backyard.Butterflies love wildflowers, and planting native wildflowers can benefit many butterfly species. The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation has guides recommending which native species are best to plant in which parts of the country. Letting grass grow can help, even if it’s just a strip of grass and wildflowers a couple of feet wide at the back of the yard.Supporting policies that benefit conservation can also help. In some states, insects aren’t considered wildlife, so state wildlife agencies have their hands tied when it comes to working on butterfly conservation. But those laws could be changed.The federal Endangered Species Act can also help. The law mandates that the government maintain habitat for listed species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in December 2024 recommended listing the monarch butterfly as a threatened species. With the new study, we now have population trends for more than half of all U.S. butterfly species, including many that likely should be considered for listing.With so many species needing help, it can be difficult to know where to start. But the new data can help concentrate conservation efforts on those species at the highest risk.I believe this study should be a wake-up call about the need to better protect butterflies and other insects – “the little things that run the world.”This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Farmers Put Plans, Investments on Hold Under Trump USDA Spending Freeze

By P.J. Huffstutter, Leah Douglas and Tom PolansekCHICAGO/WASHINGTON - Nate Powell-Palm, an organic farmer outside Belgrade, Montana, was relying...

By P.J. Huffstutter, Leah Douglas and Tom PolansekCHICAGO/WASHINGTON - Nate Powell-Palm, an organic farmer outside Belgrade, Montana, was relying on a $648,000 grant from USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service to help build a feed mill - an economic lifeline for about 150 area organic grain farmers.But construction is on hold following the Trump Administration's freeze on some agricultural grants and loans as it conducts a broad review of federal spending.Now, about 500 tons of baled alfalfa sits untouched in stacks in his fields, and a bill from a Colorado equipment manufacturer is past due. Last week, he traveled with a group of farmers to Washington, D.C. to meet with lawmakers and try to get their frozen USDA grant funding released.Farmers and food organizations across the country are cutting staff, halting investments and missing key funding amid a USDA freeze on a broad swath of grants, more than two dozen farmers and agricultural support groups in seven states told Reuters. All this comes as Trump has imposed new tariffs on goods from Canada, Mexico and China, sparking trade wars with the biggest buyers of U.S. farm products. Trump on March 6 said he would exempt farm products like potash fertilizer from the tariffs until April 2. But if they eventually go into effect, the tariffs would hurt the $191 billion American agricultural export sector, raise costs for farmers struggling with low crop prices and send consumer grocery prices higher, farm groups warn."As the president said, farmers need to start growing crops to sell here in the U.S.," Powell-Palm said, referencing a March 3 post by Trump on his Truth Social website in which Trump said farmers should prepare to sell more domestic product. "This is what we are trying to do. We just need our approved grant funding to be released."Trump has historically enjoyed widespread support across the U.S. Farm Belt, where he won most states in the November election. But recent actions - like a freeze on most humanitarian aid and a broad review of federal spending that paused disbursements - have disrupted some agricultural markets and caused stress and confusion in farm country. For example, some agricultural production lines have been halted. Two farmers, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive personal financial matters, told Reuters they were weeks away from being forced to file for bankruptcy because of the USDA freeze.White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the administration is making agencies more efficient, including to better serve farmers.A USDA spokesperson said the administration is reviewing the frozen programs.Though the U.S. farm sector previously faced sweeping trade wars under Trump, many have remained loyal even as his policies and tariffs damaged American farm sales and resulted in lost global market share that soybean growers still haven’t recovered. But many farmers last fall believed they were so politically important to Trump winning back the White House, that he would help cover their financial losses.After all, it happened before. Under the first Trump administration, farmers received about $217 billion in farm payments, including crop support, disaster, and aid programs - more than in any prior four-year period since 1933, according to a Reuters examination of USDA data. Adjusted for inflation, the only period with more spending on farmers was 1984 to 1988, when a farm economic crisis battered rural America.Agriculture secretary Brooke Rollins has said USDA is considering direct payments to farmers again if trade wars lead to farm losses.Currently, the USDA administers hundreds of programs that support the agriculture sector, either through grants and loans, or direct payments and other subsidies. From financial assistance programs alone, U.S. farmers and ranchers received $161 billion from USDA between fiscal years 2019 through 2023, according to a December report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.Several of the grant recipients interviewed by Reuters said their money came from former President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act, which provided more than $20 billion for farm and forestry conservation programs.Trump froze IRA disbursements in his first days in office, though the White House said on January 22 that the freeze only applied to clean energy projects.Rollins said on February 20 that the agency is beginning to unfreeze some IRA money for farmers, but the scope of the release is unclear. The USDA did not comment on how much money has been released from IRA or other funding sources. The White House did not respond to questions about under what authority the funds are frozen or when they may be released.The full scope of economic impact on farmers is not known.Two federal judges have blocked Trump from issuing broad freezes of federal spending.'YOUR WORD MEANS SOMETHING'Many farmers are worried they won't be spared from Trump's government downsizing. Seeking answers, farmers have called their Congressional representatives and local contacts at field USDA offices. Sometimes, the calls were answered. Sometimes, not.Dave Walton, a row crop farmer in Muscatine County, Iowa, said farmers had expected Trump's administration to improve the federal safety net, not slash it."In farming, your word means something. If you sign a contract, that means something," said Walton, who said he's waiting on $6,000 from a USDA-funded program for climate-friendly farming.Grain farmer Steve Tucker was awarded a $400,000 grant through Agricultural Marketing Service, which promotes domestic and foreign farm markets, to build a mill in southwest Nebraska.He had planned to grind this year's sorghum crop into flour and sell it to U.S. snack manufacturers, but now that's on hold.The broader grant freeze has also affected some farmers' customers. Ed and Becky Morgan scrimped for years to grow their livestock herd as demand for their sausage varieties boomed, thanks to local public schools hungry for lunchtime links.But the fate of USDA grants that help schools buy foodstuffs from local farmers - like the Morgans' flavored sausages - remains uncertain, said Spencer Moss, the executive director of the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition in Charleston, West Virginia.Some of the frozen USDA money is linked to soil and water conservation, organic and local food, regional and rural food systems, and minority and women farmers, according to Reuters interviews with farmers and farm organizations.Food and farm groups with grants unrelated to conservation also told Reuters they were not receiving promised funds.The West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition received about 80% of its funding from federal sources, including USDA nutrition programs that help low-income consumers buy more produce, Moss said.The group, which works with local farmers markets and provides technical assistance to farmers, said it was still waiting for guidance from the USDA on its invoices, Moss said. The group has been paid for some grant-related invoices, but has been told it won't - at least for now - be paid for expenses incurred after January 19, after Trump took office."We've made promises to our farmers, because the federal government signed contracts with us," Moss said.Farmers have also been affected by spending freezes at other agencies, like USAID, which support programs that buy bulk farm commodities.At the State Department, the Trump administration has said it would release less than $100 million of the roughly $40 billion in USAID programs administered annually before the freeze, according to a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters. The Supreme Court on March 5 ruled that the administration cannot withhold payments to aid groups for work already performed.The freeze has exacerbated pain felt by farmers under pressure from low grain prices. The number of U.S. farm bankruptcy filings jumped 55% in 2024, compared to a year earlier, according to the latest United States Court data.Jillian Blanchard, vice president of climate change and environmental justice at the nonprofit Lawyers for Good Government, said the group was working with about 100 grantees who are impacted by the USDA spending freeze."You need to have certainty if you’re going into business with the federal government," she said.(Reporting by Leah Douglas in Shanks, West Virginina, and Washington D.C., and P.J. Huffstutter and Tom Polansek in Chicago. Editing by Emily Schmall and Anna Driver)Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.

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