Harvest Public Media
From ‘combine karaoke’ to cursing: The sounds of harvest in the Midwest
How farmers entertain themselves driving a combine cab during Harvest season and what this time of year sounds like on a farm.
Bridging the cultural divide through soccer
Fort Morgan is a town of about 11,000 people tucked into the farmland of northeastern Colorado. Among its residents are people of Latino and European ancestry, and more recent immigrants, including refugees from eastern Africa. The town is home to a Cargill meat-packing plant. In areas home to the meatpacking industry across the Midwest, it’s…
Nitrate Runoff, Explained
Midwest farmers need fertilizer to help their crops grow. The problem is, nitrogen spread on farm fields in addition to existing ground nitrogen can turn into nitrates that leach off fields and into local waterways. Here’s why you should care: 1. It’s gathering in the Gulf of Mexico, creating a “dead zone” Nitrates in the…
My Farm Roots: Farm Kid Without a Farm
In the Midwest, agriculture can be such a strong lure that there are some farm kids without farms. Ally Babcock lives with her family in a modern subdivision in Ames, Iowa. Tucked under the home’s back deck is a tiny barn space, enough room for her sheep and rabbits. “It’s a little difficult [not living…
My Farm Roots: Farm kids’ big life lesson
Farm dog? Check. Barn cats? Check. Muddy work books lined up at the back door? Five checks. We kick off our fourth season of “My Farm Roots” with the Renyer Family, five farm kids I had the pleasure of meeting last week. Driving onto the Renyer farm, out in Nemaha County, Kan., I was struck…
When it rains, it pours – how storms are affecting this year’s crops
Driving down a two-lane highway in rural Missouri, Matt Plenge squinted at a patch of gray clouds hanging low over his farm fields in the distance. “Does it look hazy up there?” he asked. “We only had a 20 percent chance today. We shouldn’t get any rain.” Plenge, like most farmers, always keeps one eye…
CSA farms get creative to stand out from the crowd
The local food scene has exploded in recent years, which means there’s a lot more local produce on dinner tables. It also means that during the spring season as small farms start ramping back up, they have to work a bit harder to attract new customers.
How redefining ‘farmers’ could change a farm-subsidy loophole
Big farms are collecting taxpayer dollars that they haven’t necessarily earned by taking advantage of a loophole in government subsidy rules, according to regulators, members of Congress and the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is taking aim at what is known as the “actively engaged” loophole, which has been gaping for nearly three decades, by changing the qualifications for some subsidy payments. But many watchdog groups say a proposed fix fails to address the problem.
Irish beef imports approved after 15-year European ban
Ireland will be the first European Union country allowed to send beef to U.S. dinner tables, more than 15 years after a deadly outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe led U.S. regulators to ban European beef imports. The ban on EU beef imports was lifted in March and Ireland’s beef production systems passed a…
Food fights, FLOTUS and GMOs: The top food and field stories from 2014
Harvest Public Media was created four years ago to report on agriculture and food production in the geographic area where the majority of that takes place – the Midwest. This year, my third of counting the top ag stories of the year, I find that the issues taking center stage were set not here, but in the politics, policies and processes of Washington D.C., state legislatures or the ballot box.