Katie Peikes
ReporterKatie Peikes was a reporter for Iowa Public Radio from 2018 to 2023. She joined IPR as its first-ever Western Iowa reporter, and then served as the agricultural reporter.
Before moving to Iowa, Katie worked as a science reporter and fill-in host for Delaware Public Media, where she spent two years reporting on Delaware's coast and the region’s poultry industry. She has also worked as a journalist in Utah, reporting on a wide range of topics including local government, education and the environment. She is originally from Connecticut.
-
Water utilities in Iowa and across the country would be required to monitor their treated drinking water for six “forever chemicals" under a proposal from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
-
The report from Iowa State University Extension and Outreach says from 2011 to 2021, the number of Iowa acres operated by large commercial farms grew to about 1,930 acres each. And acres operated by small farms fell by nearly 50%, with each farm operating about 300 acres.
-
Sensors in space could improve our understanding of whether crops in the Corn Belt have enough water to grow. Iowa State University researchers have gotten help from a NASA grant of more than half a million dollars to study this.
-
A new analysis says converting more land to grow crops for biofuels may harm wildlife protected under the Endangered Species Act.
-
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Animal Disease Center in Ames have been using American Rescue Plan funding to see how different coronavirus variants operate in deer over time.
-
Emergency allotments that took effect in 2020 for those receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits will end next month. Many expect the decrease will be especially challenging for low-income families.
-
Iowa environmentalists and landowners are advocating for Iowa lawmakers to address three proposed carbon pipelines and ban the use of eminent domain for the projects.
-
A study done for the ethanol industry predicts dire consequences if carbon dioxide pipelines don’t go forward in Iowa but do in other states.
-
Genetically modified foods have been on supermarket shelves since the 1990s, but they’ve only required a label for the last year. The USDA says implementation and compliance with the program have been “successful,” while experts suggest consumers aren’t noticing the labels.
-
The latest case of bird flu in Iowa and the first of 2023 was found in a Buena Vista County commercial turkey facility. More than 27,000 turkeys are being destroyed to contain the spread of the virus.