Federal immigration agents descended on California farms in early June, targeting farmworkers from blueberry fields to vegetable packing facilities. This focus on rural communities followed a burst of indiscriminate workplace raids in urban Los Angeles, causing scores of noncitizens statewide to avoid leaving home, causing a 3.1% dip in the state’s workforce, according to a […]| Investigate Midwest
To Mike Schultz, Kansas ranchers are stuck in velvet handcuffs. Walmart, the nation’s largest grocery retailer and private employer, recently expanded into the U.S. beef industry with its own processing plant in Olathe, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City. The opening of the Walmart-owned plant in July marked a turning point for the company and […] The post Walmart looks to tighten its grip on the beef supply chain appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
In case you didn’t know it, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is under siege by USDA, Congress, and the Trump administration. USDA reports 41.7 million people received SNAP food stamps in 2024. That’s 12.3% of the U.S. — so any announcement from the feds regarding SNAP changes is a big deal. Last month, USDA Secretary […] The post USDA’s new SNAP rules sound healthy. Until you read the fine print. appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
It’s pumpkin season – from spiced lattes to Halloween decorations on the porch – and chances are it was grown in Illinois. Just over a third of all pumpkins in the United States – 485 million pounds – come from Illinois, according to annual USDA surveys. Much of that production centers on Morton, a village […] The post Where do your pumpkins come from? Illinois keeps the crown appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
What began in 1952 as a stopgap for seasonal labor has become a test case for U.S. immigration policy under President Trump. The H-2B visa program has become a backbone of seafood processing and meatpacking, particularly in coastal states. The number of H-2B visa holders working in meatpacking has increased 60% since 2016, according to […] The post H-2B visa holders keep the nation’s seafood industry afloat appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is canceling a survey that hunger groups use to understand — and respond to — food insecurity across the country. The USDA has collected data using the Food Security Supplement for about 30 years. Once a year, the questionnaire was included in the U.S. Census’ monthly Current Population Survey. The […] The post Ag department cuts 30-year survey of food insecurity appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
This story was originally published by Grist. When Javier Zamora started his organic berry farm more than a decade ago, he was working with just an acre and a half of land in Monterey County, near California’s central coast. Today, he and his crew grow strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, as well as vegetables and flowers, […] The post Small farmers are more squeezed than ever. A California grant program offers a lifeline. appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
This story is supported by funding from the Chicago Region Food Systems Fund. Each day before sunrise, David Huerta checks his rearview mirror for immigration enforcement agents as he drives through the dark to a warehouse in a southwest Chicago suburb. Once he’s clocked in, he peers periodically through the windows on the truck dock, […] The post Threat of ICE raids shadows every shift in Chicago’s food warehouses appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
This story was originally published by The New Lede. A federal district court this week dismissed a lawsuit alleging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) failed to prevent the contamination of farmland across the country with toxic PFAS in sewage sludge used as fertilizer. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday dismissed the […] The post Court dismisses lawsuit alleging EPA failed to protect farmers from PFAS in fertilizer appeared first on Investigate Mi...| Investigate Midwest
The federal agency that oversees disputes of workplace safety violations, including in meatpacking plants, has been without leadership for more than five months. The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an entity independent from both the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Department of Labor, has had no commissioners since the beginning of May. […] The post Federal worker-safety commission has zero members as backlog grows appeared first on Investigate Midwest.| Investigate Midwest
With the U.S. farm economy under strain from rising costs and weaker crop prices, the Justice Department is joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture to examine why the costs of farming essentials like fertilizer, seed and fuel remain high even as crop values weaken. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced in Kansas City recently that the […]| Investigate Midwest
Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Practical Farmers of Iowa is based in Ames, Iowa — not Des Moines. Investigate Midwest regrets the error. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – Few people outside Quaker Oats know exactly what the Cedar Rapids factory is making when a sweet, wholesome smell wafts from the plant north […]| Investigate Midwest
Now in its 50th season, the Des Moines Downtown Farmers Market draws hundreds of vendors each Saturday from May to October, as shoppers buy flowers, baked goods, spices and produce. It’s a festive atmosphere with street musicians on the corners and families and their pets threading through the crowds. But amidst the vibrancy of one […]| Investigate Midwest
Less than two months ago, the Environmental Protection Agency announced its intent to unconditionally register three new dicamba-based pesticides for over-the-top usage on soybean and cotton crops. To say EPA has a checkered history in trying to get dicamba registered is an understatement. The federal courts have twice revoked EPA approval of dicamba. In 2020, […]| Investigate Midwest
U.S. farmers are likely staring down another year in the red, faced with a familiar cycle: rising costs and weakening markets. After years of strong grain prices between 2021 and 2023, growing corn and soybeans is no longer profitable — a trend likely to continue and one that farm groups warn could spark a financial […]| Investigate Midwest
This story is supported by funding from the Chicago Region Food Systems Fund. Esta historia también está disponible en español aquí. In Beardstown, Illinois, the Cuban couple had spent the past year building a life they were proud of. Their arrival in the U.S. had followed a long and uncertain path: a northbound journey through […]| Investigate Midwest
Esta nota cuenta con el apoyo del Chicago Region Food Systems Fund. Read the story in English here. En Beardstown, Illinois, la pareja cubana había pasado el último año construyendo una vida de la que se sentían orgullosos. Llegaron a Estados Unidos después de un camino largo e incierto: un viaje rumbo al norte a […]| Investigate Midwest
After the Civil War, the U.S. government promised 40 acres, either from abandoned plantations or unused land, to formerly enslaved Black people. But then President Andrew Johnson intervened. He pardoned Confederates, returning their land. It became a common theme. In the following decades, some Black farmers gained land through deals with white landowners: After being […]| Investigate Midwest
You might recall in the wake of Donald Trump’s first inauguration how POTUS, angry about discussion over the size of his swearing-in crowd, trotted out press secretary Sean Spicer to set the record straight. Spicer dressed down the media, saying it was engaging “in deliberately false reporting,” and the facts indicated that “this was the […]| Investigate Midwest
What happens when immigration enforcement targets the very workers who help keep it alive? The conversation comes as Investigate Midwest launches a new grant-funded reporting series exploring how Trump-era immigration raids, stepped-up ICE enforcement, and delayed federal reform have reshaped the agricultural workforce — and the lives of noncitizen workers behind it.| Investigate Midwest
Ajulo Othow started solar and storage company EnerWealth Solutions seven years ago to get small solar projects on farmland and other places in rural communities in the Southeast where money is tight and the phrase “green economy” is rarely spoken. In just the last year, Othow said the amount of solar her company has developed […]| Investigate Midwest
Iowa and Minnesota farmers are investing in new oat mill and pushing Quaker and General Mills to check out their product.| Investigate Midwest
The tariff wars waged by President Trump’s two administrations have reshaped U.S. agricultural trade with China. The first trade war, in 2018 and 2019, opened the door for South American countries to gain market share in soybean and corn sales to China. Unlike the first, this second trade war is global in scope. Its full […]| Investigate Midwest
If you live in Champaign County, odds are you’re close to soybean fields – and to the weed killers sprayed on them. A new analysis by Tufts University researchers found that 45% of the county’s residents lived near heavy 2,4-D use in 2023, nearly double the share in 2017. Statewide, farmers applied more than 2 […]| Investigate Midwest
Corn is ubiquitous. Americans eat a lot of corn products. There’s the obvious…corn tortillas, corn flakes and corn chips just to name a few. Beyond that the manufactured food industry uses processed corn in a majority of foods served to the public. Sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup. Thickeners like corn starch. Additives like dextrose, […]| Investigate Midwest
On Sunday, Sept. 14, from 5 to 8 p.m., Investigate Midwest invites you to join in the fun at Walker Homestead, just outside Iowa City, during our annual fundraiser, Sunset on the Farm. This year’s gathering will feature unlimited wood-fired pizza and fresh salad, live music, a silent auction, and s’mores by the fire. Guests […]| Investigate Midwest
This story was originally published by The New Lede. Roughly a quarter of the nation’s large cattle, dairy and hog farms are located in just 30 U.S. counties, a new satellite-mapping study has found. The research also links large farms — whether in these dense hotspots or scattered elsewhere — to elevated air pollution. The study supports […]| Investigate Midwest
Unyielding is a University of Missouri School of Journalism project for Investigate Midwest. Missouri has nearly 27 million acres of farmland. Nearly all of it is blanketed by pesticides. Crop farming is integral to Missouri’s economy, and pesticides are meant to ease the process. But these substances also come with risks. The level of risk differs […]| Investigate Midwest
Jack Link’s has poured $2.3 million into Trump campaigns to ensure its meat snacks stay eligible for SNAP and school nutrition programs.| Investigate Midwest
Opinion: A new federal lawsuit aims to block Prop 12, threatening California’s landmark animal welfare law and raising stakes for farmers and consumers alike.| Investigate Midwest
Over 500,000 immigrants lost work authorization, causing labor shortages and a projected 14.5% rise in food prices by 2028.| Investigate Midwest
Investigate Midwest: OSHA found ADM’s grain dust prevention systems were inadequate during a July 2024 explosion at its Decatur plant.| Investigate Midwest
CRAWFORDSVILLE, Iowa — A few years ago, Holly Jones started studying the micro-climate and the topography on her family farm in Crawfordsville, Iowa, about 40 miles south of Iowa City. Jones said learning more about the landscape of her fifth generation flower farm helped her recognize some of the ways weather and climate change could […]| Investigate Midwest
Six months into her tenure, Brooke Rollins has reduced USDA staff, sidelined science, shifted agency culture, and expanded DOGE’s influence.| Investigate Midwest
Immigration tracker covers the latest enforcement in the ag sector, including policy shifts, raids, and labor impacts on the food system.| Investigate Midwest
Nothing beats ice cream on a hot summer afternoon. But while you’re savoring that frozen treat, it’s worth asking: how much of what you paid actually reaches the farmer who produced the milk? The answer might surprise you: Dairy farmers earn a far smaller share from ice cream than from butter. That’s because milk undergoes […]| Investigate Midwest
KLEVENVILLE, Wis. — Two piglets jostled in the barnyard as Jess D’Souza stepped outside. Neither youngster seemed to be winning their morning game of tug-of-war over an empty feed bag. Jess approached the chicken coop. She swung open the weathered door. The flood of fowl scampered up a hill to a cluster of empty food […]| Investigate Midwest
This story was originally published by The New Lede. Agricultural operations across Iowa are a leading cause of significant water pollution problems in the state, posing dire risks to public and environmental health, according to a new scientific report that is sparking heated debate in the key US farm state. The 227-page “Central Iowa Source Water Research […]| Investigate Midwest
Most U.S. states have experienced a decline in the number of households using the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, over the last decade. Only 14 states have seen an increase in the number of households using the food assistance program, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data for fiscal years 2015 to […]| Investigate Midwest
It’s Fourth of July week, which means we’ve officially entered the second half of the year. At Investigate Midwest, we began 2025 with a renewed focus on covering the incoming Trump administration, including his appointments that have the greatest impact on the nation’s food system. One story investigated efforts by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President […]| Investigate Midwest
Last month, Investigate Midwest’s Monica Cordero explored why President Donald Trump’s second trade war could hit U.S. farmers harder than his first. Her story reported on the various financial challenges farmers face. Here are four charts from that story that highlight those challenges: Net farm income declined for two consecutive years after peaking in 2022. […]| Investigate Midwest
