Happy Thanksgiving, friends!
Suzanne, here, your digital editor.
I get to work with the digital tools and platforms that will help us bring our accountability journalism on Big Ag and ag leaders.
Professionally, I am delighted IowaWatch was acquired by Investigate Midwest this year. We have more people, more resources and more expertise to bring deeply reported work. Personally, I am also delighted: I have smart, talented coworkers and a sense of purpose in my work.
Today, we wanted to show you some of the places covered by Investigate Midwest as well as a few members of our staff. We hope you enjoy a glimpse of our team (click below).
— Suzanne Behnke, Digital Editor
P.S. Below we’ve also included some reading recommendations for your holiday weekend.
Editor's note: The following story is a compilation of the five-part series "Scaling Up" by Madison McVan published in September and October. This story examines changes in the pork industry over the last few decades.
Scaling up: 4 ways hog farms changed since the 1990s | Madison McVan, Investigate Midwest
The pork industry shifted dramatically over the past three decades. The USDA report published in August tracks how the industry moved away from small operations where farmers raised hogs from birth to slaughter and toward large operations focusing on only one or two stages of the hog’s life cycle.
Read more.
Column: APHIS needs to be held accountable for Envigo dog breeding failures | Dave Dickey
The conduct of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in oversight of Envigo's Cumberland, Virginia, beagle breeding facility between 2017 and 2022 is atrocious, sickening and heartbreaking, writes Dave Dickey in his latest column.
Envigo was founded in 2015 through a merger of UK-based Huntingdon Life Sciences and Indianapolis-based Harlan Laboratories. In November 2021, West Lafayette, Indiana-based Inotiv Inc. purchased Envigo for about $545 million in a cash and stock deal.
Read more.
More news
The following stories are a product of the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk, an editorially independent reporting network based at the University of Missouri School of Journalism in partnership with Report For America and funded by the Walton Family Foundation. Investigate Midwest is part of this network.
Midwest river towns looking for answers after forever chemicals found in water
Water and wastewater sampling by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 2019 detected the chemicals. Now the agency says the drinking water of nearly 300,000 people, including the Quad Cities of Illinois and Iowa, will need additional testing to ensure it is safe. This story was reported and written by Wisconsin Watch and WNIJ-Northern Public Radio.
Read more.
High concentrations of dangerous 'forever chemicals' found in Midwestern rivers, report shows
Waterkeeper Alliance asked waterkeepers across the United States to test for PFAS chemicals. PFAS is the shortened term for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as “forever chemicals” because their components break down very slowly over time. Many are now present in people, animals and food and are linked to certain cancers, lower immune response and reproductive effects. The report found that 83% of the waters tested had at least one of these chemicals. Missouri had the highest.
Read more.
Year-end campaign: Giving Tuesday nears
We are ready for next week's Giving Tuesday on Nov. 29. In the nonprofit news industry, we call it "Giving Newsday."
This year we are again participating in NewsMatch, a program supported by the Knight Foundation and other organizations, to double donations through the end of Dec. 31. This means $25 becomes $50 and $100 becomes $200 — all the way up to $1,000 given by a single individual.
Our goal is $15,000 in donations; we're more than a third of the way there. On Giving Newsday we'll be reaching out to ask you to support our accountability journalism.
