Dec. 19, 2025
Last year, less than a week after Donald Trump was elected president, I wrote a note to our readers about how we planned to cover his second administration. No matter who was going to be in office, we knew it would have an incredible impact on the nation’s agriculture and food systems and we wanted to be ready.
I wrote, “As Trump returns to the White House, we will be centered on uncovering power dynamics, industry influence and regulatory changes that impact the nation’s agricultural landscape.”
It was a vow to readers and supporters like you, but it was also a pledge in our newsroom to stay focused on the stories that would otherwise not be told.
We weren’t about covering the daily political swings of Washington. Instead, we were after impactful public service journalism.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year but I’m incredibly proud of what our newsroom has accomplished.
- We doggedly covered staff and budget cuts at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, uncovering which programs were most at risk.
- We investigated U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins’ first several months in office and the unseen policy changes she had orchestrated.
- We did on-the-ground reporting in immigrant communities to better understand how deportations were impacting meatpacking plants and food warehouses.
- We also hosted a live panel discussion with officials working closely on immigration policies.
These and other stories take time and resources, and they take your support. Donating to Investigate Midwest allows us to closely cover the administration, big agribusiness and other powerful forces in the agriculture sector. It allows us to uncover documents, work sources and do the type of accountability reporting that gives us all a better understanding of our food system and the powerful forces at play.
With gratitude,
Ben Felder
Editor in Chief, Investigate Midwest
P.S. Investigate Midwest relies on donations, and fundraisers like this one, to exist. We appreciate your patience with extra emails during these times. Thanks for being a part of the Investigate Midwest community.
