Brooke Rollins’ agenda, immigration crackdowns and pesticide worries: our subsequent focus

It’s Fourth of July week, which implies we’ve formally entered the second half of the yr. 

At Examine Midwest, we started 2025 with a renewed concentrate on protecting the incoming Trump administration, together with his appointments which have the best impression on the nation’s meals system. 

One story investigated efforts by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s choose for Well being and Human Companies secretary, to scale back pesticide use. Huge Ag has pushed again on that effort, however pesticide critics who see a reference to rising well being issues are hopeful. 

One other story centered on Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and her affirmation listening to when she mentioned she believed issues that the nation’s meals system could be disrupted by mass deportations had been “hypothetical.” 

We’ve additionally lined huge funding cuts to the U.S. Division of Agriculture — “It’s actually crippling the company,” one former worker mentioned. 

Final month, immigration raids appeared to accentuate at farms and meatpacking vegetation. We investigated one raid at a South Omaha meatpacking plant and examined how immigrant employees had contributed to the group’s continued standing as a prime meat-processing area. 

However for all of the sturdy work our group has produced over the previous six months, I’m much more enthusiastic about what’s to return. 

Examine Midwest may have a deep dive into Rollins’ first 5 months as agriculture secretary and the way she is shaping the nation’s meals system at such a important time. 

We may even have extra protection on the impression that Trump’s immigration insurance policies are having on agricultural communities.

And the rising well being issues over pesticides and industrial farm air pollution have lengthy been a spotlight for us. Nevertheless, we’ve got a particular challenge within the works for later this yr that may assist deepen our understanding of those points. 

Investigative reporting has by no means been extra essential, notably within the agricultural sector. Whereas we’ve tried to rise to that problem previously six months, we’ve got much more in retailer over the following six.