In this paper I describe my work with local farmers and rural residents in northern Iowa concerned with the environmental impact of large-scale factory hog production facilities. I discuss my ethnographic work among these farmers and its connection to the development of a surface and ground water contamination research project with the Centers for Disease Controlâs National Center for Environmental Health. I focus on the internal political research dynamics of collaborating with state and federal researchers and bureaucrats in formulating the projectâs research questions, interpreting the data, and presenting the results. Specific attention is given to understanding the interconnection of state agencies, corporate agricultural interests, farm organizations, and the local rural community. The case provides insight into the influence of an increasingly centralized corporate agricultural sector on state power and the production of state knowledge concerning agriculture and the environment.

Keywords: Corporate agriculture, state ideology, power, United States