Harvest Public Media

Farmers in the Midwest are gearing up for a fight over whether pipelines can cut through their land. Many look to the experience other farmers had with the Dakota Access Pipeline a few years ago.

The perennial grain can produce an annual crop even as it stays in the ground for up to four years. Its deep root system helps pull carbon out of the air and makes it more resistant to floods and drought.

Taxpayers spent nearly $40 billion on crop insurance premiums between 2001 and 2020 across a 13-state region that includes Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and South Dakota, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group.

Even with a few recent rains, much of the Great Plains are in a drought. Wildfires have swept across the grasslands and farmers are worried about how they’ll make it through the growing season.

Two Illinois farmers set out to improve soil health in the Midwest. The program they founded also has a myriad of climate benefits.

The wide ranging plan is entirely voluntary, but leaders say they have buy-in and each of the action items are economically feasible without drastic changes to beef prices or profits for producers, processors and retailers.

Looking for ways to fund lobbying and legal efforts to preserve their way of business, pork producers are turning down guaranteed money that could go to advertising and marketing.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the top 10 importers of U.S. poultry have put some restrictions in place — largely banning chicken and turkey products from specific counties or regions in the U.S. Seven years ago, several countries banned poultry from the entire U.S. because of a bird flu outbreak.

State officials and scientists are cautioning backyard flock owners to be on high alert for bird flu. The highly contagious disease has reached small flocks in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska.

Farmers till their land to prepare soil for planting, but a new study published in the journal “Earth’s Future” found topsoil in the Midwest is eroding on average nearly 2 millimeters per year.