Agriculture is Iowa's biggest industry -- and a new report suggests it may be facing a serious threat from an-age old problem: soil erosion. The Environmental Working Group report released Wednesday finds that finds that some parts of Iowa are losing soil at 10 times the rate that federal statistics suggest. Soil erosion not only causes water pollution, but the depletion of fertile topsoil can make a big dent crop yields.
Kathleen Masterson was Harvest Public Media’s reporter based at Iowa Public Radio in Ames, Iowa. At Bowdoin College in Maine, Kathleen studied English and Environmental Studies and was torn as to which one she’d have to “choose” when finding a job. She taught high school English for a few years, and then swung back to science when she traveled to rural Argentina to work on a bird research project. She returned home to study science journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After graduate school she went on to work as digital producer for NPR’s science desk before joining Harvest.