Tag: Harvest Public Media

How small companies bring fast internet to rural places that telecom giants ignore

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

Black farmers have lost $326 billion worth of farmland, study says

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

As bird flu sweeps across U.S. even small, backyard flocks are at risk

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,”

Local farmers started selling online during the pandemic. That trend is here to stay

PLEASANTVILLE, IA — When the pandemic first hit, Maureen Schletzbaum had to figure out how to sell her produce while avoiding human contact. Normally, she’d set up a booth at two different farmers markets near Pleasantville, Iowa, where she and her daughter operate Straw Hat Farms. But as COVID-19 continued to spread, Schletzbaum opted to

Corn ethanol is fueling our cars and climate change, study says

Congress passed the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005, mandating a certain amount of renewable fuel – namely corn ethanol – be mixed in with traditional gasoline. The goal was to minimize emissions and the country’s dependence on foreign fossil fuels. Instead, the policy caused a chain reaction of events that has likely led to even

The air in rural areas may be just as toxic as the pollution in cities

URBANA — A new study suggests the notion of clean, country air might be misleading. Traditionally, air quality has been measured by the size of pollution particles or, more scientifically, particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. Considered that way, urban air tends to be more polluted than rural air because the

Billions are at stake in how the government defines a place as rural

HOUSTON, Mo. — A town of 1,000 people feels like a rural place to someone from Chicago. To a person living in a town of 200 people, that population of 1,000 feels almost urban. But what the government defines as rural determines tens of billions of dollars a year in spending aimed at propping up

Food banks scramble to overcome snags in the supply chain and inflation

Clogged supply chains and budget-busting food prices have food banks scrambling to stock pantry shelves. That crunch comes as food banks see increased demand from families struggling to afford meals. Food banks saw a huge increase in demand at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. And while that’s leveled off somewhat, demand remains higher than