Investigate Midwest

Journalists aren't superheroes - but without good, ethical journalists doing their best, we would be lost.

Binge drinking not seen as cause of Iowa’s rising cancer rates, researchers say.

A hitchhiking trip that got derailed in the best way, a life-changing trip to Nepal and a Haitian mission trip that ended in big changes for an Iowa family – all true stories told live with the return of this Investigate Midwest storytelling event.

Researchers think long-tenured farmers in the Midwest are less likely to make deals with Big Ag companies.

Mindy Brashears, the former head of the USDA's agency overseeing meatpacking plants, has been largely quiet about her agency’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, in exclusive interviews, she addresses the criticism the USDA put food production over worker safety.

Technological innovation, specialization, increased farm size and policy decisions have driven down the cost of production.

Production contracts lock farmers into guaranteed prices and lower financial risk, but put meat companies in control of some aspects of the operation.

Farms are more likely to specialize in one or two stages of a hog’s life cycle, instead of raising animals from birth to slaughter.

The number of large hog operations increased while small farms disappeared in recent decades.

Iowa’s outdoor recreation trust fund is empty. Will lawmakers change that?