editor NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 Abby is a reporter for Harvest Public Media based in Macomb, Ill. NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 Abby Wendle Fri, 23 Apr 2021 03:53:54 +0000 https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Abby Wendle The U.S. may be on the verge of a boom in new fertilizer plants, which could be good news for farmers, but not the environment. Today’s farmers can produce more from their land than ever before thanks, in part, to nitrogen fertilizer, a key ingredient that has never been more widely available. New technologies, especially hydraulic fracturing, “fracking,” have increased domestic production of natural gas, which is essential to making nitrogen fertilizer. The fossil fuel is used to both power the plants and as the main ingredient in the product, making nitrogen fertilizer just one more way we use fuel to grow our crops. “We’ve had extremely high fertilizer prices relative to history,” said David Asbridge, senior economist and founder of the industry advisory group, NPK Fertilizer Advisory Service (NPKFAS). “And the fertilizer producers have made a lot of money. Particularly the nitrogen guys because natural gas prices have dropped at the same time.” The fertilizer industry is taking the https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/more-fertilizer-plants-come-online-and-bring-their-baggage-co2 197 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 11 Dec 2015 06:00:00 +0000 More Fertilizer Plants Come Online And Bring Their Baggage: CO2 Abby Wendle I wiped my palms on my jeans, tugged at the bill of my baseball hat, and took a deep breath. It was my first time competing in the annual Illinois State Corn Husking Contest at the end of September and I was nervous. I peered around the tall stalks of corn in my row to get a glance at my competition. There were half a dozen or more competing in my heat, Women Age 21-49. The top two finalists would go on to represent Illinois in the national competition held in Indiana later in the month. The competitors squared off against their rows of corn. Some stretched as we waited for the announcer to start the race. Ardith Clair, an 80-year-old hand-husker I met last year, had told me she started husking two decades ago because she’s competitive. “I just want to win,” I remembered her saying. I’m the same way. Plus, the other farm reporters at Harvest Public Media had a bet on this race. The highest estimate, waged by our Nebraska-based Grant Gerlock, was that I could pick 160 ears of corn. https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/watch-corn-husking-101 269 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Fri, 23 Oct 2015 19:17:09 +0000 Watch: Corn Husking 101 Abby Wendle All week, Harvest Public Media’s series Choice Cuts: Meat In America is examining how the meat industry is changing the U.S. food system and the American diet. Drive down a dirt road, a two-lane country highway, even many Interstates in the Midwest and the view out the window is likely to get monotonous: massive fields filled with acres of corn sprawled in all directions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) expects farmers to harvest about 13.6 billion bushels of corn this season, the third-largest harvest in U.S. history. A fraction of that gigantic crop will sweeten our food and drinks, about a third will be made into ethanol for fuel and, when you figure in exports and byproducts, more than half will go to fattening the livestock that become our chicken filets, pork chops, and burgers. While we don’t actually eat field corn - the kind of corn mostly grown in the U.S. - the Corn Belt is the backbone of the meat industry. "A lot of that corn, since it’s going into livestock feed https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/massive-corn-crops-necessary-satisfy-our-appetite-meat 173 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Sun, 04 Oct 2015 07:00:00 +0000 Massive Corn Crops Necessary To Satisfy Our Appetite For Meat Abby Wendle https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/my-farm-roots-room-roam 233 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Wed, 05 Aug 2015 12:01:00 +0000 My Farm Roots: Room To Roam Abby Wendle It’s Monday, around 9 o’clock, and the library is locked for the night. Silently, Linda Zellmer appears on the other side of the glass door. She opens it and guides us up four dark floors towards a puddle of light. “There it is,” she says, gazing down at the swollen bud of an orchid cactus. “It’s slowly opening.” Zellmer perches on a stool behind her camera and waits in anticipation of the night’s big event: the moment when the bud opens . While most plants flower for weeks, orchid cacti only blossom for a few short hours a year, and always at night. Botanists name it Epiphyllum oxypetalum , but the plant’s elaborate, nocturnal mating dance has earned it the nickname of “Queen of the Night” or “Lady of the Night.” ( Watch timelapse video ) The orchid cactus flowers in hopes of reproducing. Its’ strong, sweet smell meant to draw pollinators, like birds and bugs, close. “When it opens up, you can smell it. Like, this whole area will smell like this flower,” Zellmer says, snapping photos https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org/post/brief-reign-queen-night-orchid-cactus 51 as https://www.harvestpublicmedia.org Mon, 29 Jun 2015 11:20:00 +0000 The Brief Reign Of The 'Queen Of The Night' Orchid Cactus