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.
-
The Environmental Defense Fund's report says by 2030, Iowa will see more warm days that are good for corn growth, but will see even more days of extreme heat that will stunt yields. The report says the yields of corn per acre would be higher without climate change.
-
The Des Moines-based World Food Prize Foundation awarded a NASA climate scientist with the 2022 World Food Prize on Thursday.
-
A case of bird flu has been confirmed in a backyard flock of 48 birds in Dallas County. It’s the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Iowa since May and the 20th this year.
-
More than a dozen Iowa environmental groups are calling on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to more strongly regulate animal confinements and feedlots.
-
Some of Iowa’s neighbors, such as Minnesota, South Dakota and Nebraska have seen new bird flu cases this fall. The virus hasn’t surfaced in Iowa’s backyard or commercial flocks since May, but experts are cautioning it could come back as wild birds migrate south.
-
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case this month over whether California overreached with an animal welfare law which regulates housing requirements for pigs if the pork will be sold in the state. Two large pork industry groups say that burdens pork producers outside of California.
-
A poll from analytics firm Gallup reports that 71% of Americans now approve of labor unions, the highest approval in nearly 60 years.
-
Farmers explore and demo the latest technology in agriculture at the Farm Progress Show each year. But challenges like high input prices this year weigh into the decisions farmers are making about buying new things.
-
Across the Midwest, farmland prices have risen sharply from last year, in part because of high commodity prices and a global food shortage. The highly competitive market, which often includes investors, can make it difficult for young farmers to grow their businesses.
-
At the Farm Progress Show in Boone, there's a new soy-based asphalt floor in the Varied Industries Tent. The soy asphalt provides another use for soybeans and recycles road that would otherwise go to landfills.