Investigate Midwest The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/)

Rural America

Rural Illinois has lost population over the past decade. It’s gained in diversity.

By Amanda Perez Pintado, Investigate Midwest/Report for America | December 15, 2021

Reflecting a national trend, rural counties in Illinois have seen an exodus of, primarily, white residents. Increases in Hispanic residents have fueled an uptick in diversity.

Our Latest

Labor

“Keeping our drivers happy”: Trucker shortage leading to empty store shelves compels companies to increase wages
By Amanda Perez Pintado, Investigate Midwest/Report for America | January 11, 2022
“We've had to go back to our customers and request additional compensation to be able to make sure our drivers were getting paid enough,” an owner of a trucking company said.
Agribusiness

COVID-19 disrupted supply chains. Now Illinois farmers face higher prices.
By Amanda Perez Pintado, Investigate Midwest/Report for America | December 16, 2021
Bottlenecks at ports and labor shortages are leading to higher prices for needed farming materials, such as fertilizer, pesticides and equipment.
Climate Change

IOWA’S TOXIC BREW: Coping with the climate-chemical reaction that can play havoc with drinking water
By Mark Schapiro, for Public Health Watch and the Investigative Reporting Workshop | December 14, 2021
In Iowa, drought — which is devastating to farmers — is intertwined with the flow of nitrogen — which is devastating to ecosystems and human health.
Opinion

Opinion: EPA takes another bite on dicamba…will anything change?
By Dave Dickey, Investigate Midwest | December 8, 2021
Dave Dickey gives his take on the EPA and dicamba and what could happen next.
Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Just 17 plants slaughtered 65% of U.S. hogs last year
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | December 8, 2021
In 2020, the majority of pork plants slaughtered relatively few pigs.
Agribusiness

Independent cattle ranchers continue fight against national checkoff program
By Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest | December 7, 2021
Ranchers must pay $1 per head of cattle sold to an organization some say works against their interests. The organization, known as a checkoff, says it represents producers of all sizes.
Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Rainfall and fertilizer runoff are linked. This county shows how.
By Ignacio Calderon, USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellow, Investigate Midwest | December 1, 2021
Runoff can lead to poisoned drinking water and toxic algae blooms.
Climate Change

Fertilizer washes off Midwest farm fields and taints communities’ drinking water, poisons Gulf of Mexico
By Ignacio Calderon, USA TODAY Network Agricultural Data Fellow, Investigate Midwest | November 30, 2021
As rainfall events become more intense and frequent, fertilizers applied to Midwestern farmland wash away, contaminating waterways near and far.
Graphic of the Week

GRAPHIC: Family farms received on average $2,167 in stimulus payments in 2020
By Amanda Perez Pintado, Investigate Midwest/Report for America | November 17, 2021
Overall, farm households received about $4.3 billion in pandemic aid from the federal government, according to the USDA.
Agribusiness

As tax dollars dry up, university ag schools turn to agribusiness dollars and industry projects
By Seth Bodine and Katie Peikes, Harvest Public Media | November 16, 2021
From Iowa to Oklahoma to Kansas, universities are working more closely with agribusiness in search of ways to pay for projects where tax dollars have become more scarce. Critics worry that agriculture schools might focus more on industry than the public interest.
Agribusiness

A giant investment firm paid a university to study one of its biggest assets — farmland
By Dana Cronin, Harvest Public Media, and Johnathan Hettinger, Investigate Midwest | November 16, 2021
In 2013, mammoth U.S. investment company TIAA-CREF gave $5 million to the University of Illinois — to study an area of investment where the company has made a, sometimes controversial, name for itself.
Opinion

Perspective: Department of Justice should deny Cargill-Sanderson Farms merger
By Dave Dickey, Perspective, Investigate Midwest | November 15, 2021
Dave Dickey gives his perspective on an upcoming Big Ag mega-merger Cargill and Continental Grain which owns chicken-producing Wayne Farms. The two companies are teaming up to buy Sanderson Farms, the third-largest chicken producer in the US for a cool $4.5 billion.
Agribusiness

Corporate money keeps university ag schools ‘relevant,’ and makes them targets of donor criticism
By Johnathan Hettinger and Sky Chadde, Investigate Midwest; Dana Cronin, Katie Peikes and Seth Bodine, Harvest Public Media | November 15, 2021
Large donors can put universities in potentially awkward positions when faculty conclusions conflict with the interests of those benefactors. Data collected by Harvest Public Media and Investigate Midwest shows corporations have given at least $170 million to ag colleges in the past decade.
GRAPHIC: How Midwest farms use computers
By Pam Dempsey, Investigate Midwest | November 12, 2021
Based on a U.S. Department of Agriculture annual survey collected in June, most farms throughout selected Midwest states use their phones to access the internet.
Opinion

Dave Dickey’s Perspective: Big Meat’s Proposition 12 nightmare soon will be a reality
By Dave Dickey, Investigate Midwest | November 11, 2021
Long time Ag reporter, Dave Dickey, takes a look at California's Proposition 12