Credit: Unsplash The University of Missouri School of Journalism announced today a $1.4 million, three-year grant from the Walton Family Foundation, a leading funder of environmental journalism in the United States, to create the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk -- a collaborative network of journalists focused on increasing coverage of agriculture, water and environmental issues surrounding one of the world's major river systems. The needs are vast -- the Mississippi River Basin covers more than 40% of the continental U.S., stretching east-west from Montana to Pennsylvania and north-south from Minnesota to Louisiana. Millions of people use the river system as their source of drinking water, and more than 90% of agricultural exports in the U.S. are grown there. Pollution, flooding, land use and climate change are some of the major issues across the region.