July 10, 2025 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting
We need your help reporting on cancer in farming communities
Cancer rates are growing in many farming communities. Multiple studies indicate a potential link to widespread pesticide use.
Investigate Midwest is undertaking a major investigative series exploring that potential link. This project involves an in-depth analysis of health and pesticide data, investigating the influence of pesticide companies and exploring how state and federal laws are falling short.
However, this project also aims to connect with those families and individuals who have been most affected by this growing public health crisis.
Have you or a loved one been diagnosed with cancer that you believe may have been caused by widespread pesticide use? If so, Investigate Midwest invites you to complete this brief form and help us as we embark on this critical project.
— Ben Felder, editor in chief
DATA HARVEST: What's happened to America's meat recalls?
By Melissa Dai, Investigate Midwest
After plummeting during the height of COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service recalls of meat, poultry and egg products have gradually begun to rebound.
But the numbers haven’t fully recovered, raising questions about what’s changed and why.
Read more and view the charts here.
OPINION: Right-to-repair advocates score a small win at John Deere’s expense
By Dave Dickey, Columnist
The writing is on the wall.
Should John Deere choose to defend itself in court rather than attempt to reach a settlement, it very much may be handed a massive spanking by the Justice Department, which alleges the company’s repair restrictions violate federal and state antitrust laws.
In a nutshell, the Justice Department claims Deere is scamming farmers by forcing them to exclusively use Deere dealers to repair their combines and tractors when they stop running. The feds have a case.
It takes proprietary diagnostic software to fix broken Deere tractors. Software that Deere refuses to sell to DIY farmers or independent repair shops. Deere likes it that way because it provides the company a significant after-market revenue stream.
Read more here.
ICYMI: Iowa county confronts a deadly cancer surge
By Keith Schneider, for The New Lede
This June 2024 investigation explores Palo Alto County, Iowa, where cancer rates are 50% higher than the national average, and one of the worst rates in the U.S. Residents describe losing family members to aggressive tumors while wondering if decades of heavy pesticide use, fertilizer runoff and contaminated water are to blame. Local health officials are calling for more testing and research, but many fear the environmental damage is already deeply rooted. Don’t miss this look at the human cost of industrial farming in Iowa.
Read more here.
News from our trusted media partners
Wisconsin pig farmer holds on at Wonderfarm as Washington breaks a promise, Wisconsin Watch
'It doesn’t have to be this way' – Scientists confirm Iowa farm pollution is creating dire health risks - Investigate Midwest, The New Lede
Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public as a watchdog over influential agricultural corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism.
