Agriculture

Scientists who study mushrooms get a boost from a network of sophisticated aficionados who tromp through the forests observing oddball species and sharing valuable information about their finds.

Harley Hand often starts his day by getting in a combine and heading out to one of his fields. But it’s not a real combine, field or farm. He is one of...

Northwest and central Iowa adjust to an early drought this summer.

A new federal program created by the Biden administration to reverse years of economic discrimination against U.S. farmers of color has ground to a halt.

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.

A new facility for barge traffic has opened along the Missouri River in western Iowa.

The U.S. Agriculture Department is sending aid for debt relief to struggling farmers of color beginning this month. But many Black farmers distrust the department after decades of failed promises.

Supreme Beef wants to raise more than 10,000 cattle in a partially enclosed feedlot near Bloody Run Creek, not far from Monona in Clayton County. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources years ago declared Bloody Run an “outstanding Iowa water” requiring special protection, and the agency stocks trout in the popular fishing spot.

Even with recent rains across the region, scientists say expanses across the Midwest and High Plains remain in a long-haul drought.

Since COVID-19 descended on U.S. meatpacking plants, nearly 60,000 workers have gotten sick and hundreds have died. As Christina Stella of Harvest Public Media reports, some are already wondering how to protect workers from the next pandemic.