Harvest Public Media
Newspapers in Rural Areas are Folding, Leaving Vast News Deserts
The U.S. has lost more than 2,800 newspapers since 2005, many in rural areas. Now some journalists are trying to provide local news with new business models.
U.S. Hopes to Build Pipelines for Carbon Capture. Landowners Don’t Want Them
Thousands of miles of oil and gas pipelines crisscross the country. Now, more are being proposed to carry things like carbon dioxide to combat climate change.
As Ogallala Aquifer Declines in the Great Plains, States Weigh Metering Irrigation Wells
Water levels are dropping in the Ogallala Aquifer, and states in the Great Plains are considering whether to monitor groundwater irrigators are pumping out.
Poor Regulatory Safeguards Leave Farmworkers Suffocating in the Face of Increasing Heat Waves
A fifth of reported heat-related deaths are agricultural workers. Advocates are calling attention to the impact of climate change on this group from heat waves.
Rural America Grew Early in Pandemic, Mostly in Recreational Counties
Despite a spike in deaths from COVID-19 and fewer births, recent research suggests rural counties saw population growth during the first year of the pandemic. Remote work opportunities could have contributed to more people moving to scenic rural destinations.
Waffles, Not Pancakes: Local Farmer’s Invention Could Improve Crop Yields
As vice president of Shatto Milk Company, Matt Shatto also wears another hat, that of CEO of TerraManus Technologies. Shatto has come up with a simple way that he says can increase crop yields. It’s a plastic disk that, when used with regular tilling, can help soil retain water and consolidate it instead of compact it. He says…
As High-Tech Farms Take Hold, Can Farm Towns Hold On?
Brandon Biesemeier climbs up a small ladder into a John Deere sprayer, takes a seat in the enclosed cab, closes the door, and blocks out most of the machine’s loud engine hum. It is a familiar perch to the fourth-generation farmer on Colorado’s eastern plains. He turns onto a country road, heading south to spray…
Without Big Trade Deals, Missouri Farmers Worry They’ll Lose Out
President Trump made campaign promises to pull the U.S. out of big international trade deals and focus instead on one-on-one agreements with other countries. But that has farmers worried they will lose some of the $135 billion in goods they sold overseas last year. Two years ago, Missouri rancher Mike John expected the U.S. beef…
Big Data Is Transforming How Scientists Create Better Seeds
This summer, in cornfields in Iowa and Nebraska, about a thousand small point-and-shoot digital cameras will be enclosed in waterproof cases, mounted on poles and attached to solar-powered battery chargers. They will take pictures every ten minutes as plants grow; all part of a plan to create better seeds. “We watch plants go through their…
As Bird Flu Strengthens In China, Midwest Farmers Prepare For The Next Outbreak
Midwest farmers are warily watching as one strain of a highly contagious bird flu virus infects and kills humans in China and another less-worrying but still highly contagious strain infects a Tennessee poultry farm. Two years after a devastating bird flu outbreak in the Midwest, many farmers here say they now have a better idea…