Farm & Field
Down Economy Has Many Midwest Farmers Looking For Agronomists’ Advice
As another harvest season wraps up, Midwest farmers are once again facing low commodity prices amid enormous supplies. And when they recover from the long days bringing in the grain, they will eventually sit down with their books and try to figure out how best to farm again next year. Many will turn to an…
Why Scientists Disagree On RoundUp’s Cancer Risk
After dueling reviews of research studies, scientific panels from the U.S. government and the World Health Organization are having a hard time agreeing whether glyphosate, the most common weed killer in the United States, can cause cancer. Known by the brand name RoundUp, glyphosate is sprayed on farm fields and lawns all across the country….
How You Can Stop Antibiotic Resistance (And Still Eat Bacon)
“This is an avoidable disaster,” says one expert. And there are at least three things you can do to help.
These Colorado Veterans Are Finding Peace On The Farm
Ben and Leticia Ward’s farm in Fountain, Colorado, just outside Colorado Springs, doesn’t look like an army base. But it’s not hard to uncover whiffs of military influence at Little Roman Farm. A stack of sturdy fiberglass bins next to a greenhouse seem benign, ready to be put to use as brooding bins for chickens…
Why You Should Care About ‘Big Ag’ Companies Getting Bigger
Five of the six biggest companies that produce and sell seeds and chemicals to the world’s farmers are pursuing deals that could leave a market dominated by just three giant, global companies. They say getting bigger means bringing more sophisticated and innovative solutions to farmers faster, but opponents say consolidation has irreversible downsides. Dow and…
Five Years Later, Families of Blast Victims Still in the Dark
ATCHISON, Kan. — Five years later, the hurt is still raw for the families of six men killed when a grain elevator blew up on the banks of the Missouri River here. For them, it could have happened yesterday. “You wake up in the morning, and then you realize it’s not a bad dream —…
Food Program Gap Can Put Entire Families At Risk
Chantelle DosRemedios was pregnant with her second child when she and her husband both lost their jobs in Rhode Island. Like millions of others, she depended on a federal program designed to aid in early childhood development to keep her children fed. Moms and kids who qualify can participate in a federal program called Women,…
On Tap | From Drexel With Lavender
Turkeys meander beside a burbling creek, and blackberry bushes flourish outside a former woodshop. Life is a little different at the region’s latest brewery — in Drexel, Missouri. “We’re like a farm winery, just with beer,” says Will Reece, who co-owns the Miami Creek Brewing Company (14226 Northwest County Road 14001, Drexel) with his wife,…
A Battle Over Bringing Local Renewables To Rural Electric Co-ops
In the 1930s, rural electric cooperatives brought electricity to the country’s most far-flung communities, transforming rural economies. In Western Colorado, one of these co-ops is again trying to spur economic development, partly by generating more of their electricity locally from renewable resources, like water in irrigation ditches and the sun. Local leaders say that’ll be…
Low Wheat Prices Could Hit Kansas Rural Economy Hard
This year was a very good year for growing wheat, but that means it could be a very bad year for wheat farmers. There’s a glut on the global wheat market and prices for winter wheat – which is grown all up and down the Great Plains, from Texas to North Dakota– wheat prices this…