Weekly newsletter: July 15, 2026

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Telling stories with data

A screen capture from the interactive wetlands map published in the Minnesota Star Tribune. (Jared Whalen/Ag & Water Desk)

Dear ,

In early 2025, much of the Ag & Water Desk was deep in a series of stories about wetlands. Every week on our project calls, a dozen-plus reporters would share new discoveries and updates. Everyone knew this was a story worth telling. As the graphics and data visualization reporter, I was nerding out over peat bogs and wetland loss data. But as with any topic that can get a bit in the weeds (or muck), the challenge was getting the average reader to care about swamps.

The team met that challenge by crafting compelling stories and introducing colorful characters. But I also believe data and visual journalism has a special role in capturing attention, whether that means challenging a reader's assumptions with a surprising stat or distilling a complicated story into a map or chart. In a media landscape full of templated content, a more novel storytelling experience is sometimes what holds someone's attention. For this project, I think mapping more than 100 million acres of wetland loss over two centuries told the story in a way that words alone couldn't.

I wanted to share a few other favorite projects in my two years with the Desk.

An image from the interactive scrolling data element on the Brazil soybeans project. (Jared Whalen/Ag & Water Desk)

Mapping China's multibillion-dollar investment in Latin America was one of the more visually ambitious projects I worked on with the Desk. Mónica Cordero's reporting took us across multiple continents to show how China's investments could sideline U.S. farmers for decades. I weaved together satellite imagery, charts and data to help orient the reader in this complex story and show where these ports and trade routes actually are.

I also enjoyed more traditional data journalism work, such as when I wrote code to help scrape and analyze hundreds of Missouri land application permits to see where industrial sludge would be spread. What started as a straightforward mapping question led to us identifying numerous errors in the permit data, which the agency then corrected.

Another great experience was the chance to lead multiple data and Excel/Sheets training sessions for the newsroom. That type of data work can sometimes be overly mystified, leading talented journalists to assume it's beyond their abilities. For that reason, I always enjoy being able to help someone get comfortable working in a spreadsheet. Much of data journalism comes down to data cleaning, grouping and filtering — all things you can learn to do in a free tool like Google Sheets after learning a few tricks.

I will be leaving this position soon for a teaching opportunity. My two years with the Desk have been incredibly rewarding. The work pushed me in directions I didn't always expect, and every project allowed me to learn something new. 

While my time with the Ag & Water Desk is coming to a close, I’m glad that the newsroom has continuously invested in this type of journalism. I selfishly am always happy to see a dedicated data nerd on the team, but I truly think it can make a meaningful difference. Data and visual journalism doesn't just make stories more engaging — it often makes them more honest.

The Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk is an independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri in partnership with Report for America, with major funding from the Walton Family Foundation. Click here for a map of the basin and our partner newsrooms.

Reach us at info@agwaterdesk.org or by replying to this email.