Investigate Midwest The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

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IowaWatch

‘No excuse why they’re taking so long’: Iowa farmers are fed up with lengthy pesticide misuse investigations

By Kendall Little, Investigate Midwest | 7 hours ago

With investigations sometimes taking over a year, farmers are demanding shorter wait times from the state's agriculture department.

Our Latest

dave dickey

It’s another price-fixing lawsuit…shocking
By Dave Dickey, Columnist | 10 hours ago
Count Dave shocked, SHOCKED to see another price-fixing lawsuit in the meat industry.
Español

Se prensó el pie en el trabajo. Cuando pidió una compensación por los salarios perdidos, le dijeron que no.
By Sky Chadde and Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | August 9, 2022
En Michigan, a los trabajadores que son indocumentados y se lesionan en el trabajo se les niegan las prestaciones por pérdida de salarios, basándose "únicamente" en su estatus migratorio, según una demanda.
Region

‘Dead Zone’ smaller than expected, but bigger than desired
By Josh Rosenberg, The Lens | August 4, 2022
The so-called dead zone where the Mississippi River dumps into the Gulf of Mexico, an area of low oxygen that cannot sustain life, clocked in at 3,275 square miles this year — below the recent average and smaller than what was previously predicted, but almost twice the target goal set by the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force.
Agribusiness

Congress could beef up meatpacking oversight this fall. But obstacles to enforcement remain.
By Aruni Soni, Investigate Midwest | August 4, 2022
Bills introduced in the U.S. House and Senate would add lawyers in the USDA to prosecute complaints under the Packers and Stockyards Act. Experts and advocates have said the law has been weakened over the previous decades.
Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Nearly 60 percent of energy production in Iowa comes from wind turbines
By Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest/Report for America | August 3, 2022
Since 2006, Iowa has increased its wind energy production 15 times over.
Region

How year-round crops could reduce farm pollution in the Mississippi River
By Chloe Johnson, Minneapolis Star Tribune | August 2, 2022
Minnesota has struggled to reduce the farm pollution that runs into the Mississippi River watershed. So crop breeders at the University of Minnesota are working on new perennial and winter annual crops to suck up that pollution before it escapes. Food scientists and marketers are trying to develop uses for these crops that could also provide new revenue for farmers.
Mississippi River

How Minnesota’s little, polluted Crow River clouds the Mississippi
By Jennifer Bjorhus, Minneapolis Star Tribune | July 29, 2022
The Mississippi River is clean as it emerges in northern Minnesota and heads south. Then it meets the Crow River, the first major agricultural river emptying into it.
abortion

Big Ag companies largely silent in wake of Roe v. Wade reversal
By Investigate Midwest staff | July 28, 2022
Over the past month, Investigate Midwest contacted 11 leading Big Ag companies about their health care policies regarding abortion. Only one answered our questions.
Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Most American corn isn’t destined for the dinner table
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | July 27, 2022
The majority of corn produced in the U.S. is used in animal feed and biofuel.
Ag & Water Desk

A federal funding program with bipartisan support helped clean up the Great Lakes. Could it work for the Mississippi River too?
By Madeline Heim and Caitlin Looby, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | July 27, 2022
Mississippi River watershed communities like Bay City, Wisconsin are feeling the effects of environmental degradation. Advocates hope a proposed federal funding program, based on a successful initiative in the Great Lakes, could change this.
Opinion

Column: It’s time to put an end to tractor dealer embedded software license agreements
By Dave Dickey, Columnist | July 27, 2022
You would think when a farmer buys one of those shiny, new green Deere rigs, he or she owns it and can make repairs. Nope.
Labor

Her foot was crushed on the job. When she asked to be compensated for lost wages, ‘they said no.’
By Sky Chadde and Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | July 21, 2022
In Michigan, workers who are undocumented and get injured on the job are being denied wage-loss benefits based “solely” on their immigration status, according to a lawsuit.
Elanco

Chair of Congressional subcommittee investigating Seresto collars asks EPA to take product off market — again
By Aruni Soni and Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest | July 21, 2022
About a month after holding a hearing on what was called possibly the “most dangerous” flea and tick product on the market, the subcommittee sent the EPA a letter reiterating its recommendations.
Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Wheat, rice and milk prices have increased since last year
By Mary Norkol, Investigate Midwest | July 21, 2022
As American consumers feel the effects of inflation, so do farmers.
Opinion

Column: Major Questions Doctrine new major trouble for executive branch of government
By Dave Dickey, Columnist | July 19, 2022
Last month, Chief Justice John Roberts and his conservative cohorts ruled against an obsolete EPA plan to create a new but largely undefined doctrine that federal judges across the country will use to stymie all manner of federal agency rulemaking.