June 2026 issue

Volume 71, Issue 6

PFAS “forever chemicals” pose a growing risk to agriculture because they persist in soil, water, and living systems, potentially harming human health and reducing farm productivity. A number of Society members contributed to a recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine outlining how USDA conservation programs can help identify, monitor, and mitigate PFAS on farms using existing frameworks while highlighting major gaps in knowledge.

Read the article. 

Cover photo: This farmer received funding from one such USDA conservation program, known as EQIP, to install micro-irrigation tubing in his tomato fields. USDA photo by Lance Cheung.