Rural Affairs
Harvesting Change | Making Local Food Connections in the Heartland
Meet the people who are making Kansas City’s increasingly interconnected local food system more sustainable on multiple fronts.
Parched in the Panhandle: Town Frets About Water
How Seaboard Foods rebuilt the Oklahoma panhandle’s economy, which ushered in a new era of groundwater depletion from the Ogallala Aquifer.
Do We Have a Bid? Auctions Sell Produce by the Lot
Produce auctions in Missouri and Kansas allow wholesale buyers to shop local, offering a key link in the food distribution chain.
Report: Rural America Produces Greenhouse Gasses on Behalf of Urban and Suburban Areas
At least 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. come from rural America, but they’re mostly used to produce energy and food for urban and suburban areas.
Insects Don’t Get Love Like Other Animals. But Kansas Can’t Survive Without Them
Scientists are trying to figure out why insects are struggling, what it means for ecosystems and how it will ultimately affect people.
Early Morning Calls. Barren Chicken Barns. Millions in Debt.
After Tyson Foods closed four meatpacking plants in the Midwest, some contract chicken farmers faced business ruin. Here are their stories.
Kansas Farmer Brings Renewable Energy Future to Concordia
A Kansas farmer has built a renewable energy program at Cloud County Community College, embracing sustainability workforce training to confront climate change.
Droughts, Climate Change, Drive US Beef Herd to Historic Low
Persistent drought, complicated by climate change, have helped drive the nation’s inventory of beef cattle to a 61–year low.
‘Lifeblood of the Community’: States Invest to Save Rural Grocery Stores
In Kansas, 1 in 5 rural grocery stores closed between 2008 and 2018. No new store has opened in half of the 105 communities that lost grocers over that time.
Harvesting Change | Advocating for Family Farms
Patchwork Family Farms provides vital links in the local food chain, relieving farmers from the stress of processing, packaging and marketing to customers.