-
Sheep producers in the Midwest say wool prices have been dismal for decades, but in recent years they’ve plummeted. Now producers are looking for new ways to add value to this fiber or drop it all together.
-
Since 1952, Schwan’s yellow trucks and friendly drivers have been delivering frozen food to households. The industry has become more competitive and crowded and the company has responded, rebranding and halting deliveries in most states.
-
The U.S. has lost more than 2,800 newspapers since 2005, many of them in rural areas. Now some journalists are redoubling their efforts to provide local news and trying new models in a difficult industry.
-
The Environmental Protection Agency announced the first federal limits on PFAS in drinking water. Only two Midwestern states currently have limits on levels acceptable in drinking water.
-
Last year it cost more to raise a hog than it brought in at sale. This year is looking slightly better so far for pork production, but input costs—such as energy and labor—remain high.
-
Towns in the path of the total eclipse could see millions of dollars flow into their communities to witness a few minutes of darkness when the moon passes in front of the sun.
-
Gray foxes, the only canine species in North America that can climb trees, are found across much of the U.S. But over the last two decades, populations in the Midwest have plummeted and multiple state agencies are trying to find out the reasons behind their shrinking numbers.
-
Raising roosters is big business. Now a push to ease penalties for cockfighting is ruffling feathersCockfighting, the practice of fighting roosters, has been around for centuries. In the U.S. it’s a federal crime and illegal in all 50 states. But in Oklahoma, there’s an effort to lower the penalties for cockfighting that breeders say simply protects their right to raise roosters, while animal rights groups are calling foul.
-
This farmer's livelihood was ruined by PFAS-contaminated fertilizer that few Midwest states test forBiosolids — a type of treated sewage byproduct from wastewater treatment plants — are used as a nutrient-rich fertilizer on farms across the Midwest. But a group of toxic “forever chemicals” are slipping through the cracks and could be inadvertently contaminating millions of acres of farmland.
-
An Environmental Working Group report questions the effectiveness of some farming practices that the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently added to its Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which incentives conservation practices. The USDA counters that the practices have gone through “a rigorous science-based evaluation process.”
-
Despite the fact that more women are going into veterinary medicine than ever before, some female practitioners in rural areas still face discrimination and pay gaps — problems experts say the industry will need to overcome to fill a shortage of animal care in those communities.
-
The sale of a fertilizer plant in southeast Iowa to Koch Industries is shining a spotlight on consolidation in the industry. Several groups are asking the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to carefully review the deal.