Farm Policy, Food Supply & Rural Coverage
305 articles · page 3 of 11
Layoffs Hit Farm Agencies at Critical Moment
As USDA and food agencies face dramatic workforce cuts, farmers lose access to extension, enforcement, and research that props up production and protects land.
John Deere's AI Grip Tightens Beyond the Tractor
As the farm equipment giant moves deeper into farm data, software, and AI, it's cementing control over farming decisions that farmers used to make themselves.
Trump's Cheaper Beef Plan Worries Cattle Experts
A new tariff deal to lower ground beef costs is raising red flags among ranchers and industry analysts who question whether cheap imports will tank prices for U.S. farmers.
Diesel at $6 a gallon. Harvest is about to get brutal.
As combines roll out, farmers face record fuel costs driven by Middle East tension, Russian export collapse, and 20-year inventory lows.
Four decades of soil: How one family broke the extraction cycle
Jim and Susan Braddock transformed their Midwest operation through 40 years of conservation, proving that rebuilding soil is both possible and economically viable.
Farm succession: The quiet fight to keep land in family hands
Strategic estate planning can prevent land sales and consolidation. Here's how the next generation secures both their future and the farm.
EPA air monitors disappearing—farmers and farmworkers lose the right to know
Budget cuts and regulatory rollbacks are dismantling EPA air monitoring networks. Farmers and agricultural workers lose the data needed to track pollution from their own operations and neighboring facilities.
Southeast's specialty crops face a labor crisis without solutions
North Carolina's fruit and vegetable growers face acute labor shortages. Policy and technology alone won't fix a system designed to undervalue farmworkers.
Diesel near $6 a gallon: harvest squeeze tightens
Diesel prices hit all-time highs just as harvest peaks. For family farms already stretched by debt, every gallon burned is margin money gone.
UN declares PFAS a human rights crisis
The United Nations warns that 'forever chemicals' found in nearly everyone's blood demand urgent action. What that means for American farmland.
Big Food co-opts regenerative ag while consolidating power
Danone, Mars, and Nestlé are using regenerative agriculture as a marketing tool. The real story: consolidation deepens while farmers get the bill.
Equipment market 'recovery' masks consolidation's squeeze
Premium prices and stabilized used-equipment markets advantage big operations while small farmers face rising barriers to machinery access and repair options.
Ag pollution thrives when air monitors disappear
EPA air monitors are disappearing from rural regions. Livestock and pesticide operations escape scrutiny. Industrial farms exploit the gaps.
Slashed corn yields: who absorbs the loss when supplies tighten
USDA's latest yield forecast is sharply lower. Family farms face margin squeeze while consolidation sharpens its advantage in tight-supply years.
Farmworkers push courts to lock in wages
The United Farm Workers is escalating its fight for faster wage increases, using federal courts as farmworkers' wages stagnate amid rising farm input costs and labor shortages.
Senate's farm bill vote: finally moving or stuck again?
With Congress returning this week, the Senate Ag Committee chair says a farm bill vote could happen soon. But the stall over food assistance funding shows how far apart lawmakers still are.
USDA isn't ready for climate-driven farm pests and disease
A federal watchdog report finds the agriculture department has failed to adequately prepare for the changing pest and disease threats that climate change is creating.
Record Outbreak Ends. The Food Safety Reckoning Begins.
A cyclospora outbreak linked to one producer sickened 12,000 people and killed two. It exposed the fragility of consolidated produce supply chains.
In Farm Country, Hunger Becomes Sickness
New research from Texas shows food insecurity is driving chronic illness in rural communities. The people who feed the nation are going hungry.
Chemours Agrees Record PFAS Settlement in North Carolina
After years of contamination, the chemical giant settles with North Carolina over PFAS pollution. What it means for farmland and water.
Farmers Face Crushing Debt Amid Volatile Market
Rising fertilizer costs, food insecurity, and record-high diesel prices are taking a toll on American farmers, who are struggling to manage their finances in an increasingly vol...
The Beef 'Shortage' Isn't What It Seems
With cattle herds at their lowest since 1961, high beef prices tell a story not of scarcity but of where the profits go—and who pays the cost.
Drone Tariffs Hit Small Farms Hardest, New Data Shows
Trump's tariffs on agricultural drones deepen inequality as large farms pull further ahead in adopting precision tech.
Unions Sue to Stop USDA Reorganization
Four unions filed the second lawsuit Tuesday against a USDA restructuring plan backed by worker advocates and state officials concerned about farm program protections.
Congress Takes Aim at Corporate Farmland Grabs
New legislation would ban corporate interests from buying American farmland, pushing back against consolidation that prices out family farmers.
Court Blocks H-2A Wage Cuts, Protecting Farmworkers
A federal court invalidated Trump's new H-2A wage formula, blocking pay cuts that would have affected hundreds of thousands of farmworkers across the country.
Farmland Values Stall as Credit Crisis Deepens
Federal Reserve data shows farmland prices have flatlined, with inflation-adjusted values dropping nearly 4% across the Midwest. For debt-strapped farmers, the timing couldn't be worse.
Building the Food System Big Ag Can't Control
A new Civil Eats handbook shows how local food systems and farmers markets become the practical antidote to consolidation and corporate control of what gets grown and sold.
Harvest Pressure: When Farm Debt Becomes Consolidation
As harvest debt peaks, thousands of mid-scale operations face a choice: take the buyout offer or carry another year of leverage that may not exist come spring.
COOL Executive Order: Whose Beef Gets Labeled, and Who Profits
A Trump administration move to weaken Country of Origin Labeling strips consumers of information and leaves family cattle ranchers facing squeeze from corporate consolidation.