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The dozens of independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan news organizations that make up the Rural News Network are developing the broadest news alliance reporting on rural America. These newsrooms are pursuing coverage that provides a more complete picture of what it means to live and work in these communities.
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LATEST NEWS FROM THE NETWORK
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Food and Environment Reporting Network
Trump’s assault on small farmers
May 16, 2025
The president’s policies are accelerating farm consolidation and hollowing out farming communities. In a collaboration with Mother Jones, the FERN examines how Trump’s second term jeopardizes small farms as we know them.
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As temperatures rise, the US Corn Belt could see insurance claims soar
May 14, 2025
Crop insurance is a lifeline for farmers. But research shows it’s not ready for climate change.
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Oklahoma’s small farms feel outsized impact from USDA grant cuts
May 13, 2025
The U.S. Department of Agriculture canceled a couple of programs providing tribal governments, states, schools and food banks money to buy locally produced food. Some farmers involved in the projects are looking to pivot their operations.
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Trump asks Congress to cut at the heart of the West
May 12, 2025
The White House wants to alter life for U.S. hunters, anglers, RVers, off-road-vehicle drivers, backpackers, birdwatchers and hikers.
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Trump Budget Proposal Portends Deep Cuts to Public Lands
May 05, 2025
Recommendations include new consolidated wildfire service, more tasks in state hands, less science.
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Human killings of wolves are on the rise in Washington
May 01, 2025
The wolf population is in decline for the first time since the species returned to the state. In southwestern Washington they’ve been wiped out.
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Hollister Farmers’ Market kicks off another season
April 29, 2025
The first 2025 San Benito Street event on April 16 was attended by a large crowd and more than 90 vendors.
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Trump Deportations Have Dairy Farmers on Edge
April 27, 2025
“It’s just a job that the domestic workforce hasn’t sought out for decades”
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USDA funding uncertainty puts Maine farmers in a bind
April 27, 2025
“Farmers really aren’t sure if they can trust these projects and these programs moving forward, and that’s really devastating.”
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After forcing resignations, USDA tries to walk back staff cuts and calls frontline workers ‘vital’
April 25, 2025
More than 700 USDA workers accepted resignation offers that provided months of paid leave. Now the agency is warning that key biosecurity work, like port inspections and outbreak response, will suffer without them.
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Trump 2.0: How the president’s first 100 days have impacted Minnesota
April 24, 2025
Minnesota’s agriculture-heavy economy faces outsized risks from Trump’s tariff policies, with farmers bracing for export losses to key markets like China.
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Hawaiʻi Farmers And Ranchers Face $46 Million In Federal Funding Cuts
April 23, 2025
The USDA decision has led to lost jobs, confusion and a setback on climate initiatives in the agricultural sector.
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Amid Ongoing Threats to Local Food Systems, Alaska Native and Rural Alaskan Leaders Imagine Alternatives
April 23, 2025
Cascading environmental, economic, and political factors are making it increasingly challenging to put food on the table in rural Alaska. These communities are looking to the past, and the future, for solutions.
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Farmers, seasonal businesses worry as immigration crackdown ramps up
April 19, 2025
“There are a lot less local people that want to do [this work], so we have to have this program,” said the owner of an apple orchard. “Without it, we’ll just be out of the industry. We go away.”
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Report: Wildlife Refuge System ‘at risk’ with no units fully resourced amid DOGE uncertainty
April 18, 2025
Federal trove of wildlife habitat that includes seven Wyoming units is in shambles, the department’s chief says.
RURAL NEWS SPOTLIGHT
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