Dec. 26, 2024 The Midwest Center For Investigative Reporting
A year in agribusiness: Four data visuals you need to see
Data-driven journalism is at the core of Investigate Midwest’s mission. It fuels our reporting on corporate agriculture.
In addition to our deeply reported stories, a chart or graphic can go a long way in showing how an industrial farming operation is impacting a community, or the USDA enforcement trends between two presidential administrations.
As 2024 comes to a close, I'm highlighting four data illustrations from the past year that shed more light on agribusiness across the nation.
See them all in one place at the link.
— Ben Felder, editor in chief
U.S. senator slams Tyson Foods for ‘wrong and anti-American’ efforts to silence farmers
By Ben Felder, Investigate Midwest
Citing a recent Watchdog Writers Group and Investigate Midwest investigation, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, accused Tyson Foods of using “wrong and anti-American” tactics in trying to silence its former contract poultry farmers.
On Dec. 17, Investigate Midwest reported that after closing several plants, including one in Dexter, Missouri, Tyson worked to keep a competitor from buying the closed plant, which prevented its former farmers from continuing to raise chickens for meat.
The article also reported that Tyson subpoenaed several of its former poultry farmers for communication records with journalists and federal investigators. Tyson’s subpoenas were in response to a lawsuit filed by some of its former farmers.
Read more.
Meatpacking plants across the Midwest and beyond are closing at the fastest rate in over a decade. This year alone, at least 15 plants have shut their doors, leaving thousands of workers jobless and exposing the deep challenges facing the industry.
In this week’s Graphic of the Week, reporter John McCracken analyzed layoff data to map where these closures are happening. From workforce shortages and rising costs to food safety concerns, the factors driving these shutdowns are disrupting communities and raising a critical question: What’s next for this industry?
Why does this matter?
View the graphic here.
ICYMI: The hidden cost of higher education
By Tristan Ahtone, Robert Lee, Amanda Tachine, An Garagiola, Audrianna Goodwin, Maria Parazo Rose, and Clayton Aldern,Grist
This week, we’re revisiting an investigation by our publication partner, Grist, into land-grant universities — institutions built on land taken from Indigenous nations under the 1862 Morrill Act. Today, these schools continue to profit from trust lands through oil, gas, and timber extraction, raising billions while Indigenous communities and the environment bear the cost.
This story highlights the tension between universities’ commitments to equity and climate action and their reliance on revenue from lands with a colonial legacy. It’s a critical look at land, power, and accountability in higher education.
Read more.
OPINION: Care to guess which is the top ag story of the year?
By Dave Dickey, Columnist
For most of 2024, there was not a clear choice regarding which agricultural issue or event would emerge as the most consequential. A case could be made for any number of hot button topics. But late in the year that all changed. And weighed against those that didn't quite make the cut, it really isn't all that close. Let's review several worthy contenders.
Read more.
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Investigate Midwest is an independent, nonprofit newsroom. Our mission is to serve the public as a watchdog over influential corporations and institutions through in-depth and data-driven investigative journalism.
