Sept. 11, 2025 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting
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Join our live conversation on immigrant farm labor
We’re opening up the conversation and want you there.
Next week, Investigate Midwest is hosting a live web panel on immigration and the future of America’s farm workforce as part of a series investigating the impact of President Trump’s immigration policies on the nation’s agriculture system.
The event is free to attend (sign up here!) and we have a great panel of experts who are working closely on laws, policies and other issues related to immigration. I’ll be moderating the panel and I want your help.
What questions do you have about how labor organizations are responding to new immigration policies? Do you want to know more about how state lawmakers are responding? What about the economic impact of workplace raids and deportations?
I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions, so if you have any, feel free to respond to this email. Most importantly, I’d love for you to join us next Thursday, Sept. 18, at noon for this important discussion.
— Ben Felder, editor in chief
US grain growers face deepening losses
By Juan Vassallo, Investigate Midwest
After a brief period of profit, corn and soybean farmers now face a costly downturn. Rising production costs and weakening markets are eating into profits — today, farmers lose as much as $131 per acre of corn, and forecasts suggest it could get worse. Find out how far this trend goes and what’s at stake for rural America.
ICYMI: This didn't come out of left field
By Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest
Fortune reported this week that U.S. soybean farmers are heading into harvest with no orders from China, their largest buyer. American Soybean Association President Caleb Ragland called it “a very dire situation,” as prices fall below production costs. Investigate Midwest flagged the trend weeks earlier. Last month, Mónica Cordero showed U.S. farm exports to China had already dropped 39% year-over-year, as tariffs escalated and Brazil captured more of the market. Together, these stories connect the dots between the data and the lived reality: policy disputes and global trade shifts are leaving Midwest farmers with shrinking markets and mounting losses.
Sunset on the Farm 2025
When: Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, 5–8 p.m. CST
Where: Walker Homestead, 3867 James Ave. SW, Iowa City
Tickets: From $28.52 (children under 5 free)
What’s included: Unlimited pizza and salad, live music, sunflower to take home
Extras: Silent auction, cash wine bar, and s’mores by the fire
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.
