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For Farmland Conservation, It Comes Down To Who Owns It

Lin Warfel puts farmland owners in central Illinois into two categories: Those with a deep connection and desire to preserve their land, and those obsessed with short-term money. The 80-year-old still owns the land that’s been in his family since his great-grandfather arrived in Champaign County in the 1800’s. After farming it for decades, he now rents the corn and soybean operation to his neighbors down the road. It’s a crop-share arrangement. Warfel provides the land and pays the taxes. His...

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Drought Deepens In Missouri, Plains States; Ranchers Trim Herds

By Erica Hunzinger • Jul 19, 2018

Updated at 8:40 p.m. July 19 to correct numbers in 2nd paragraph —There are few places better to see the effects of an intensifying drought than a hulking, 200-plus-acre complex just off of Interstate 44 in southwest Missouri.

This is the Joplin Regional Stockyards, one of the biggest in the country, selling more than 430,000 head of cattle in 2017 alone. Usually, they’ll have 800 to 900 cows on the block at weekly Wednesday sales. On July 11, they had double that.

Help Or Hinder? Federal Agencies At Odds Over Biofuels

By Madelyn Beck • Jul 19, 2018

Scott Pruitt’s resignation from the Environmental Protection Agency this month has many in the renewable fuel industry hoping that federal agencies will get on the same page.

That’s because for the last few years, the EPA and the Department of Energy have been at odds, with taxpayer money creating a new biofuel industry that may not have the room to grow outside the lab.

Ag Researchers Say Breakthroughs Are Possible, But Only If There's Funding

By Grant Gerlock • Jul 18, 2018

A Nebraska researcher examines experimental wheat grown in a greenhouse. — Grant Gerlock / Harvest Public Media file photo

Scientific research could deliver transformative technologies to the food system over the next decade, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. Advances in things like gene editing, data sharing and microbiology could make crops more resilient to climate change and livestock more environmentally sustainable.

Pence Stumps For Republicans In Kansas City, Says Trade Disputes Will End Well

By Stephen Koranda • Jul 12, 2018

Vice President Mike Pence came to Kansas City Wednesday, where he touted Republicans running for office on both sides of the state line and tried to ease concerns about the Trump administration’s expanding trade war.

Monsanto Lawsuit Over Cancer Claims Can Proceed, Federal Judge Rules

By Bill Chappell • Jul 12, 2018

Writing that "a reasonable jury could conclude" that the herbicide in Monsanto's Roundup can cause a form of cancer, a federal judge says liability lawsuits against the company should proceed, siding with plaintiffs against an effort to quash the litigation. But the judge also said some of the expert opinions presented so far in the case are "shaky."

The lawsuits allege that glyphosate, the herbicide in the widely used Roundup, can cause non-Hodgkin's lymphoma — and that Monsanto didn't warn consumers or regulators about that alleged risk.

How Some Small Towns Are Achieving 'Brain Gain'

By Amy Mayer • Jul 10, 2018

When communities watch young people grow up, go off and never return, remaining residents and politicians often bemoan there’s been a “brain drain” — especially when such population loss means schools and businesses close.

New Kansas Initiative Looks To Track Cattle Diseases

By Angie Haflich & High Plains Public Radio • Jul 10, 2018

Kansas is taking the lead on a project aimed at tracking cattle disease with the hopes of protecting the U.S. beef industry.

Missouri Farmers Say They Want A Solution To Trade War Between U.S., Canada

By editor • Jul 3, 2018

The Canadian consul general to the Midwest is urging Missouri farmers to voice their support for renegotiating the North American Free-Trade Agreement, or NAFTA.

Chinese Tariffs On U.S. Soybeans All But Inevitable As Deadline Nears

By Amy Mayer • Jul 3, 2018

Amy Mayer / Harvest Public Media file photo

After months of verbally sparring with trade partners, the United States is poised to implement wide-reaching tariffs Friday on imported goods, and one in particular has the agriculture economy on edge: soybeans.

Depression-Era Federal Program May Come To Farmers’ Rescue As Trade War Continues

By Frank Morris • Jul 3, 2018

The corn and soybeans growing in Glenn Brunkow’s fields in the rolling Flint Hills north of Wamego, Kansas, got some much needed rain recently and look healthy.

Brunkow has reason to expect a good harvest, but the way things are looking globally, he’ll lose money on the crop. Trade disputes with China, Mexico and Canada threaten to slash U.S. food exports by billions. About half the soybean crop goes overseas, most of that to China — and since mid-April, soybean prices have plunged about 20 percent and corn about 15 percent.

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