U.S. Supreme Court Archives - Investigate MidwestInvestigate Midwest

Opinion: Supreme Court ruling could make FOIA more opaque

By Dave Dickey / Big Ag Watch | April 10, 2019

Later this month – April 22 to be exact – the newly minted conservative U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in the case Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media.

Database: Tracking Covid-19’s impact on meatpacking workers and industry

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) meat inspectors and graders perform their mission.

We’re Hiring!

Apply now for the USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellowship

We are seeking applicants for the USA TODAY Network Agriculture Data Fellowship at the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting in Champaign, Ill. Deadline to apply is Nov.

Opinion

Opinion: OSHA and Big Meat should be investigated over COVID-19 response

Last month our worst fears were confirmed after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a pair of COVID-19 safety violation related fines against Big-Meat giants China WH-group owned Smithfield Foods and Brazilian-owned JBS. Mismanagement at Smithfield’s meat packing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota resulted in almost 13-hundred COVID-19 positive tests. Four plant workers died. JBS is equally culpable. At the JBS USA plant in Greeley, Colorado 290 workers tested positive for COVID-19. Six have died.

Our Latest

USDA Exempts Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule

WASHINGTON, Oct.
Opinion: OSHA and Big Meat should be investigated over COVID-19 response

Last month our worst fears were confirmed after the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a pair of COVID-19 safety violation related fines against Big Meat giants China WH-group owned Smithfield Foods and Brazilian-owned JBS. Mismanagement at Smithfield’s meatpacking plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota resulted in almost 1,300 COVID-19 positive tests.
EPA allows use of dicamba through 2025, with new restrictions

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved dicamba herbicides for use over-the-top of genetically modified cotton and soybean crops for five years, Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced Tuesday.

Rural America

Minnesota has figured out a way to help stressed farmers. Can it be replicated?

This story is part of a yearlong project exploring the ways farmers and farming communities tackle mental health and is supported with a grant from the Solutions Journalism Network. When Pam Uhlenkamp separated from her husband earlier this year, she knew the person to call. As a farm business management instructor, Uhlenkamp mentors farmers one-on-one.

From the USDA

USDA Exempts Tongass National Forest from the 2001 Roadless Rule

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2020 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced a final Alaska Roadless Rule that exempts the Tongass National Forest from the 2001 provision that prohibited road construction, road reconstruction and timber harvests.

SEEDS OF DESPAIR: Isolated, and with limited access to mental-health care, hundreds are dying by suicide.

Sign up for our newsletter

About Us

The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting is a nonprofit, online newsroom offering investigative and enterprise coverage of agribusiness,big ag and related issues through data analysis, visualizations, in-depth reports and interactive web tools. Learn More »

Follow Investigate Midwest

Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe via RSS

Tweets by @IMidwest