Weather and trade tensions worry tobacco farmers

Oct 23, 2018
Farmers in North Carolina face losses from recent storms and Chinese tariffs.
A tobacco field in North Carolina. China is the largest consumer of the state’s tobacco.
Travis HEYING/AFP/Getty Images

Weather and trade tensions worry tobacco farmers

Oct 23, 2018
Farmers in North Carolina face losses from recent storms and Chinese tariffs.
A tobacco field in North Carolina. China is the largest consumer of the state’s tobacco.
Travis HEYING/AFP/Getty Images

What it's like to live near Brexit's greatest issue

Oct 19, 2018
The Irish border has been a big problem for negotiators. For the people living there, that means a lot of uncertainty.
“It's very different to what's been portrayed in the media,” said James Johnston, director of the Ulster Farmers Mart in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. "There's free movement across the border. And I think just the general consensus, whether somebody's voted to leave or voted to remain, they're all united to keep up that freedom of movement.”
Courtesy of the BBC

What it's like to live near Brexit's greatest issue

Oct 19, 2018
The Irish border has been a big problem for negotiators. For the people living there, that means a lot of uncertainty.
“It's very different to what's been portrayed in the media,” said James Johnston, director of the Ulster Farmers Mart in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland. "There's free movement across the border. And I think just the general consensus, whether somebody's voted to leave or voted to remain, they're all united to keep up that freedom of movement.”
Courtesy of the BBC

Iowa farmers' trade war reality

Sep 24, 2018
China and Canada were once two of the state's best customers. Iowa's agriculture secretary has some ideas about what to do next.
Corn grows on a farm near Tipton, Iowa.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Government aid is coming to U.S. farmers hit by tariff losses, but it probably won’t be enough

Aug 27, 2018
U.S. farmers who are caught up in the wider U.S., China and Mexico trade disputes are expected to get details today on a $12 billion aid package to help offset the effects of retaliatory tariffs. Farmers have been watching prices drop for milk, wheat, soybeans and more, and they don’t even know how to calculate […]
A farmer collects stray ears of corn while harvesting the crop in 2014 in Polk, Nebraska.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images

When it comes to chicken-processing plants, some communities see jobs where others see environmental concerns

Jun 14, 2018
A suburban community in Kansas turns away from the prospect of a chicken processing plant, while a rural town sees the possibility it would bring new jobs.
Shops and restaurants line one of Concordia’s main streets in downtown.
Brian Grimmett for Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

Senate committee takes a crack at a bipartisan farm bill today

Jun 13, 2018
While this version is less partisan than previous ones, safety net programs are still a hurdle

Feral swine, "the worst invasive species we'll ever see"

Jun 6, 2018
The hogs will eat just about anything, and landowners in Texas are at their wits' end. The USDA is developing a poison. "We’re out of options,” an agency researcher says.
Jackie Brister's ranch hand, Roberto Olvera, caught this feral hog running through his boss' wheat. He'll sell it to a meat processor one county over.
Filipa Rodrigues/Marketplace

The EPA is at the center of a debate over pesticide regulations

Apr 23, 2018
Chlorpyrifos has helped protect crops from pests since 1965, but it's also been linked in studies to low-IQ babies and dead fish.
Farmer Mike Locati in eastern Washington.
Courtesy of Esmy Jimenez