MELINA WALLING

Agriculture and climate change reporter

Walling covers the intersections of climate change and agriculture in the Midwest and beyond for The Associated Press. She is based in Chicago.
A copper water supply line, left, is shown connected to a water main after being installed for a lead pipe, right, July 20, 2018, in Flint, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
Trump rescinds funding freeze but uncertainty lives on for wide array of environmental programs
A chaotic back-and-forth over President Donald Trump’s freeze on federal grants and loans has farmers, activists, organizations and businesses wondering whether they will receive the funding they rely on.
 
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
What to know about Trump’s first executive actions on climate and environment
President Donald Trump’s first week in office included a flurry of executive orders with implications for Earth’s climate and environment.
 
Zoe Kent prepares to create a social media video, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025, at her farm in Bucyrus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
On “Farmtok,” agriculture gets its moment in the spotlight. What would it mean if that disappeared?
As the future of social media platforms such as TikTok remains unknown, a younger generation of farmers is relying on social media to connect with audiences outside agriculture.
 
Josh Lederer wears a mask to protect him from fumes as he retrieves his children's clothes from his fire-ravaged property in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
The ash left behind by the Los Angeles wildfires might be toxic, experts warn
As some people return to what’s left of their homes after the Los Angeles-area wildfires, experts are warning about possible dangers of the ash that’s left behind.
 
Fire crews battle the Eaton Fire as it impacts a structure Jan. 9, 2025, in Altadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer, File)
Climate change contributed to a week of wild weather that upended life in the US
The week began with a biting cold snap that hammered much of the U.S., the product of a jet stream that slips out of its usual path more often these days.
 
Ice accumulates on trees, grass and corn stalks in North Liberty, Iowa, Dec. 14, 2024. (Nick Rohlman/The Gazette via AP, File)
What this week’s winter wallop means for farmers across the U.S.
This week’s winter wallop across the U.S. means different things to farmers in different places. In Kansas, the biggest blizzard in more than a century had livestock producers scrambling to safeguard their herds.
 
A vender displays chestnuts on Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Alyssa Goodman)
American chestnuts are part of Yuletide lore. But in the US, they’ve nearly been wiped out
Right now chestnut enthusiasts are cozying up next to their open fires (or toaster ovens) to roast a holiday snack that has long roots in North America.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Here’s what to know about the new funding deal that countries agreed to at UN climate talks
In the wee hours Sunday at the United Nations climate talks, countries from around the world reached an agreement on how rich countries can cough up the funds to support poor countries in the face of climate change.
 
Mukhtar Babayev, COP29 President, right, embraces Simon Stiell, United Nations climate chief, after gaveling a deal for money to curb climate change at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
A $300B a year deal for climate cash at UN summit sparks outrage for some and hope for others
Negotiators will soon decide whether to accept a proposed $300 billion funding package for poor nations to curb and adapt to climate change — a plan hammered out early Sunday by the head of fractured United Nations climate talks.
 
Activists demonstrate in silence protesting a draft of a proposed deal for curbing climate change at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
A proposed deal on climate cash at UN summit highlights split between rich and poor nations
A new draft of a deal on money to curb and adapt to climate change released Friday afternoon at the United Nations climate summit pledged $250 billion annually by 2035 from wealthy countries to poorer ones.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
A draft deal on climate money for developing world is silent on how much as UN summit nears end
A new draft text released early Thursday which will form the basis of any deal reached at United Nations climate talks on money for developing countries to transition to clean energy and adapt to climate change left out a crucial sticking point: how much wealthy nations will pay.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Deadline looms for negotiators seeking a deal for cash to curb global warming
Time is running short for negotiators at the United Nations climate talks in Azerbaijan to solve a difficult puzzle.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate finance at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
Money to respond to climate change is key. Here’s how nations are raising it
Big money to respond to climate change is key to the United Nations talks underway in Azerbaijan. Vulnerable nations say they need as much as $1.3 trillion to cope with damage they’ve already suffered from extreme weather events, and to adapt to a warming planet.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration for transforming food systems at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
At UN climate talks, farmers argue for a share of money dedicated to fighting climate change
Developing nations have a long list of changes their farmers need to make to adapt to a warming climate.
 
A demonstrators holds a sign that reads "don't burn our future" at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Negotiators are urged to get down to business as climate talks in Baku enter second week
United Nations climate talks resumed Monday with negotiators urged to make progress on a deal that could see developing countries get more money to spend on clean energy and adapting to climate-charged weather extremes.
 
Francisco Vera Manzanares, 15, center, a climate activist from Colombia, listens during a forum with young activists, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Young people, whose futures are at stake in UN climate talks, push through anger to fight for hope
As leaders and negotiators grapple with big questions of money and power, youth COP attendees and activists from around the world grapple with their own questions about how much their voices matter.
 
Tea is served at the Azerbaijan Pavilion at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Tea is a way of life in Azerbaijan and center stage at COP29. But it’s not immune to climate change
As Azerbaijan introduces its vibrant tea culture to COP29 attendees, scientists are studying how to save it from climate change.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration for climate justice at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Protesters gather at UN climate talks in global day of action as progress on a deal slows
Hundreds of activists formed a human chain outside one of the main plenary halls at the United Nations climate summit on what is traditionally their biggest protest day during the two-week talks.
 
Kevin Buckland, right, and other activists participate in a demonstration against fossil fuels called weed out the snakes at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Friday, Nov. 15, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
Activists at COP29 spend weeks planning demos. But they can feel stifled by rules and restrictions
In the nosebleed seats of a nearly-empty Baku Olympic stadium coated with a layer of dust, activists used a giant banner to beam the words “Pay Up” to the world.
 
Activists participate in a demonstration calling for climate finance during the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Earth’s projected warming hasn’t improved for 3 years. UN climate talks are still pushing
For the third straight year, efforts to fight climate change haven’t lowered projections for how hot the world is likely to get — even as countries gather for another round of talks to curb warming, according to an analysis Thursday.
 
A villager harvests vegetables in a plot that is part of a climate-smart agriculture program funded by the United States Agency for International Development in Chipinge, Zimbabwe, on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Ufumeli)
Food aid interventions can curb climate change-induced hardship. But should they do more?
The United States foreign food aid program can be a big help when extreme weather fueled by climate change hammers communities.
 
People walk through the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
At UN climate talks, nations big and small get chance to bear witness to climate change
The United Nations’ annual climate conference continued Wednesday with brief speeches by nations big and small.
 
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley, United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Simon Stiell, United Nations climate chief, Antonio Guterres, United Nations secretary-general, Ilham Aliyev, Azerbaijan president and Turkey President Recep Tayyip front center, pose with others for a group photo at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
Earth’s biggest polluters aren’t sending leaders to UN climate talks in a year of weather extremes
World leaders are converging Tuesday at the United Nations annual climate conference in Azerbaijan. The climate talks often have the star power of a soccer World Cup, but many big names and powerful countries are noticeably absent.
 
John Podesta, U.S. climate envoy, speaks during a news conference at the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)
World won’t reverse into the dirty fuel past after Trump’s return, US climate advisor says
At the U.N. climate talks, U.S. Climate Adviser John Podesta said that Trump will likely pull America out of the landmark Paris Agreement and try to roll back many of the Biden Administration’s signature climate moves, including the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that included $375 billion in climate
 
People walk outside the venue for the COP29 U.N. Climate Summit, Monday, Nov. 11, 2024, in Baku, Azerbaijan. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Climate talks open with calls for a path away from the ‘road to ruin.’ But the real focus is money
In Baku, Azerbaijan the two-week United Nations climate negotiations, called COP29, got right to the major focus of striking a new deal on how many hundreds of billions — or even trillions — of dollars a year will flow from rich nations to poor to try to curb and adapt to climate change.
 
FILE - A volunteer pours water to cool a man off during a hot day in Karachi, Pakistan, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan, File)
European climate agency says this will likely be the hottest year on record — again
It’s now virtually certain 2024 will be the hottest year on record, and the first with over 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above the pre-industrial average, according to the European climate agency Copernicus.
 
Jake Klocke, of PowerPollen, prepares a pollen applicator, Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024, near Ames, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Autonomous tech is coming to farming. What will it mean for crops and workers who harvest them?
Autonomous tech is coming to farming. From self-driving tractors to fruit-picking robots, a growing number of technology companies are bringing automation to agriculture.
 
FILE - Dustin Holmes, second from right, holds hands with his girlfriend, Hailey Morgan, while returning to their flooded home with her children Aria Skye Hall, 7, right, and Kyle Ross, 4, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, Sept. 27, 2024, in Crystal River, Fla. (AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File)
Control the path and power of hurricanes like Milton? Forget it, scientists say
In the wake of hurricanes that have disrupted lives for millions in the U.S., some people may wonder if extreme weather events could be somehow controlled.
 
FILE - Trash is unloaded at the Otay Landfill in Chula Vista, Calif., Jan. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
Cutting food waste would lower emissions, but so far only one state has done it
A study out in Science this month finds that states’ attempts to cut the amount of food waste going into landfills are rarely succeeding.
 
FILE - Wind turbines operate May 7, 2024, in Paxton, Ill. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)
What to know about fracking, false claims and other climate issues mentioned during the debate
When asked about climate change in the presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris said, “young people of America care deeply about this issue,” and then pointed out that that the U.S. has increased domestic production of oil to historic highs.
 
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