Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut off wheat exports, while drought conditions in the Great Plains will further reduce grain stocks. Reduced supplies could trickle down into higher prices for grocery list staples, such as bread and pasta. Global wheat supplies have been tightened from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now the crop faces a domestic…
URBANA — Surveyors will start knocking on doors in rural Champaign County this weekend to ask residents if they are happy with their internet service. Champaign County officials commissioned the survey to find the most efficient way to close internet gaps with $3 million in COVID-19 relief. “There might be a way that we can…
The American Rescue Plan promised $4 billion in debt relief to “socially disadvantaged farmers.” But a swarm of lawsuits from banks and white farmers alleging discrimination has put the aid on hold. Barbara Norman remembers exactly how she felt when she first opened the letter from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It was a cold,…
Installing fiber-optic internet in sparsely populated places like western Kansas is extremely expensive, even with government subsidies. But some smaller, local broadband providers are finding ways to make it work where the big national companies have not. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s8/audio/2022/05/050222-dc-sk-ruralbroadband-webmix.mp3 HAYS, Kansas — With a family of five and a farming operation to run, Clay Scott’s home…
For the first time, researchers have assigned a value to the Black-owned farmland lost over the past century. Throughout the 20th century, Black farmers in the U.S. were forced to give up millions of acres of farmland. A new study puts a number to that loss — $326 billion. Discriminatory lending practices at the federal…
https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s60/audio/2022/05/kernzawebaudio.mp3 The perennial grain can produce an annual crop even as it stays in the ground for up to four years. Its deep root system helps pull carbon out of the air and makes it more resistant to floods and drought. This story was produced in partnership with the Food & Environment Reporting Network Carmen…
Most of Illinois has had plenty of rain, but even with a few recent rains, much of the Great Plains are in a drought. Wildfires have swept across the grasslands and farmers are worried about how they’ll make it through the growing season. https://cpa.ds.npr.org/s60/audio/2022/05/drought-in-plains-hpm-web2.wav Listen to this story here. Randy Uhrmacher is in his tractor,…
The 1913 CASE 30-60 is one of just five that still exist, making the model highly sought after by antique tractor enthusiasts. A century-year-old tractor just became the most expensive tractor ever sold. The 1913 CASE 30-60 model tractor sold at an auction house in Illinois for a whopping $1.47 million. It’s one of only…
This story was produced in partnership with the Food & Environment Reporting Network Climate change is not a big concern for Lin Warfel. Sure, he’s noticed the increasing rainfall over the 60 odd years he’s been farming corn and soybeans in central Illinois — especially when ponds form in his soybean fields. But he’s pretty…
Looking for ways to fund lobbying and legal efforts to preserve their way of business, pork producers are turning down guaranteed money that could go to advertising and marketing. Pork producers are feeling threatened by attempts to change the way they raise pigs. So much so that they made the surprising move of reducing the…
It’s never been a better time to sell manure. “We have been inundated with calls,” said Andy Scholting, president and co-founder of Nutrient Advisors, a Nebraskan manure broker. “We’ve certainly never seen so much demand for manure fertilizer.” Farmers are blowing up the office’s phones, hoping to find an alternative to expensive synthetic fertilizers. Prices…
For some Midwesterners, farmers markets are a quintessential summertime tradition touting local, healthy food and laid-back community gathering spaces. But people of color say many markets aren’t designed with them in mind, and in fact, systematically exclude them from participating. That’s why the Farmers Market Coalition gathered a group of experts to design an anti-racist…
In fall 2020, Leah Shaffer ordered four chickens from a Missouri hatchery — a pandemic impulse purchase to get her two children outside, she said. “I wanted them to have a reason to go out basically into the backyard and just have some real life sort of experience with nature instead of just computer time,”…
Farmers till their land to prepare soil for planting, but a new study published in the journal “Earth’s Future” found topsoil in the Midwest is eroding on average nearly 2 millimeters per year. A few years ago, Isaac Larsen attended a wedding at a pioneer church in Minnesota. After the ceremony, he wandered around a…
Every spring Americans grumble about losing an hour of sleep to daylight saving time. This year the debate over changing the clocks is lingering, after the U.S. Senate passed a bill to end the biannual time changes and make daylight saving time permanent. Similar measures have been proposed in 27 states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois…