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Frank Morris
Managing Supervisor, Harvest Public Media

As news director, Frank Morris supervises the reporters in KCUR's newsroom.  He has presided over the station's news coverage since 1999.

In addition to his managerial duties, Morris files regularly with National Public Radio.  He’s covered everything from tornados to tax law for the network, in stories spanning six states.   His work has won dozens of awards, including four national Public Radio News Directors awards (PRNDIs) and several regional Edward R. Murrow awards. 

Morris grew up in rural Kansas, listening to the public radio station out of Hutchinson.  He worked as a DJ throughout college at the University of Kansas.  After graduating with degrees in Philosophy and Political Science, Morris went to work at an AM news/talk station in Lawrence, Kansas, and later at the Statehouse in Topeka for Kansas Public Radio. He started at KCUR in 1991.    He’s married with two fine sons.

Articles by this author:

  • High prices boost farmers' bottom lines

    Thanks to high commodity prices and surging productivity, U.S. farmers notched record-high earnings last year. That has helped boost the demand for farmland and has many farm stores buzzing. But whether the boom can last is an open question.

    By: Frank Morris
    1 Comments
  • Antitrust official stampeded by big beef

    Dudley Butler set out to change the cattle industry. But he ran into many hurdles, not least of which was fierce opposition from meatpackers, who exert a lot of influence in Washington, D.C.

    By: Frank Morris
    1 Comments
  • FDA puts new limit on antibiotics in livestock

    The Food and Drug Administration is clamping down on the off-label use of certain antibiotics in food-producing animals. While curbing use won’t change much in the meat industry, the order signals a bigger concern about antibiotics regulation, some farmers say.

    By: Frank Morris
  • On the fast track to a new farm subsidy

    The 2012 Farm Bill may not wait until 2012. In fact, the whole (normally messy) process could be sewn up before the new year. But critics say the fast track farm bill may allow farm state legislators to replace one old, unpopular subsidy with a new one that could be almost as lucrative for big, row crop farmers.

    By: Frank Morris
  • Is U.S. farm policy feeding the obesity epidemic?

    These days, U.S. farm policy is blamed for a lot of things — even the nation's obesity epidemic. The idea is that the roughly $15 billion in annual subsidies that the federal government gives to farmers encourages them to grow too much grain. As a result, the theory goes, prices drop, food gets cheaper and we end up eating too much. It seems like a simple equation. But the truth is rarely simple.

    By: Frank Morris
    8 Comments
  • So much for that ethanol subsidy

    The federal government pays oil companies about $6 billion a year to use ethanol.   That subsidy was once iron clad, but things have changed, and now Congress could cut it off as soon as the end of this month.   Funny thing is, the ethanol industry says it doesn’t really care.  

    By: Frank Morris
    1 Comments
  • Losing ethanol subsidy could help industry, expert says

    The U.S. Senate in mid-June voted to end a $6 billion a year tax credit supporting the ethanol industry.  And at least one expert believes this may actually help the industry.

     

    The Associated Press reported that the Senate measure will be added to a bill renewing a federal economic development program -- and the prospects for the overall bill are uncertain.  Read that story HERE

    By: Frank Morris
    2 Comments
  • Big ads for big ag

    Agribusiness groups are urging farmers to do something a bit foreign to many of them: talk to strangers. Facing declining numbers and an onslaught of bad publicity, farmers and the groups that represent them have launched a marketing campaign to help revive a somewhat tarnished image.

    By: Frank Morris
    2 Comments
  • The cellulosic challenge

    The “next generation” of ethanol has been in development for decades, but significant progress has been hard to come by — and may still be a long way off.  Even corn ethanol’s most ardent supporters say it can’t completely replace petroleum as a fuel.  There is no way to grow that much corn — and besides, devoting the entire crop to fuel would severely exacerbate world hunger.

    By: Frank Morris
  • Energy in and energy out

    Congress this week extended a tax subsidy for ethanol, along with an import tariff supporting the fuel — which already enjoys a guaranteed market.   But, what are taxpayers getting for their money?

    Click HERE earn more about this Harvest Special Report

    By: Frank Morris