Farm & Field
Farm groups criticize ethanol policy changes at EPA hearing
Thursday was not the day to switch places with Chris Grundler. Grundler, the director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, was in charge of the EPA’s one in-person hearing about proposed changes to U.S. ethanol policy. More than 250 people signed up to speak at the hearing,…
Kansas AG fights EPA water ruling
Fresh off a win in one multi-state lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency, Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt announced he will join another. Schmidt’s office said Tuesday morning he was joining attorneys general from eight other states in fighting the “Waters of the U.S.” rule intended to expand the scope of the Clean Water Act…
Where do you get your meat from?
Food companies all over the world are paying close attention to the groundswell of support for food transparency: the “know where your food comes from” movement. JBS, the largest meat producer in the world, is beginning to take notice as well. But executives with JBS USA, the North American arm of its Brazilian parent company,…
Bringing farmers-market energy to a local KC cafe
The sidewalk ends in hard-packed dirt at 1708 Oak Street. There are triangle impressions left by the tires of earthmovers as contractors work on the courtyard in front of Howard’s – a new grocery and café concept from Craig Howard that is slated to open later this summer. “This opens us up to a whole…
The challenges of farming with prosthetics
When it comes to hazardous work industries, farming is in the top three with transportation and warehousing, and mining. And many times after an accident, farmers end up as amputees. But when farmers and ranchers lose a limb on the job, they have a limited selection of prosthetics to help get them back to the…
Food pantries help patrons grow their own produce
In the U.S., one in six people struggle with hunger. Food pantries across the country pass out food to help these people put meals on the table. But what if they could help teach the pantry visitors how to grow their own food, too? Grow Well Missouri, a program that travels to food pantries around…
The Field of Dreams and Wine
The Berggren family just wanted a new home for their pumpkin patch. Logistics Park Kansas City and the BSNF intermodal were set to come online in Edgerton, Kansas, two years ago and the KC Pumpkin Patch was going to lose its lease in neighboring Gardner. “My folks have always wanted to run the pumpkin patch,”…
Without stable policy, low-carbon fuels struggle to find footing
The federal government’s complex set of rules meant to spur a renewable fuels industry has fallen behind one of its main goals: cut greenhouse emissions from gasoline. Nearly a decade after the rules were drafted, low-carbon fuels have yet to arrive. The Environmental Protection Agency says it will propose tweaks to the nation’s ethanol policy…
Why ‘Going Local’ is a challenge for chefs and farmers
It’s no longer enough for a restaurant to offer roasted chicken or braised beef shank on their menu. They need to be able to tell customers exactly where that chicken came from and how the cow was raised. If they can remember the pedigree of the produce? All the better. But serving locally-sourced food is a challenge for chefs, and the farmer-foodie connections aren’t always easy to come by.
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.