Alex Milan Tracy for Underscore
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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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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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Tariff tracker: The latest moves shaking up global ag trade
April 16, 2025
The Trump administration’s trade war will have a major impact on the nation’s agriculture sector, especially as the U.S. and China have raised tariff rates against each other.
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Concerns about brain cancer cases in Piatt County grow, but Illinois public health agency yet to investigate
March 17, 2025
For rural Illinois residents, accessing information about the occurrence of cancer in their area is difficult because cancer data are sometimes suppressed in rural areas due to concerns of confidentiality and small populations.
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Farmland values lose steam after years of rapid growth
March 12, 2025
Institutional investors helped fuel soaring land values, but economic conditions are changing. From Kansas to Iowa, states that once saw double-digital farmland price increases are experiencing a cooling market.
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Is there still room for agriculture in Walmart’s backyard?
March 03, 2025
Walmart helped transform America’s food system. Now, it’s transforming Northwest Arkansas’ agriculture community.
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President Trump’s tariffs bring return of uncertainty for America’s farmers
February 12, 2025
Midwest farmers fear economic fallout as Trump’s shifting tariff policies reignite trade tensions with key partners. Many worry that new trade wars will further disrupt global markets, leaving them with fewer buyers and declining profits.
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Egg prices continue to swing drastically, cracking already strained grocery budgets
February 03, 2025
Bird flu outbreaks, drought conditions and inflation push grocery costs higher. Explore the interactive chart in the Graphic of the Week.
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Trump ag secretary nominee says food issues from mass deportations are ‘hypothetical’
January 24, 2025
Many farmers rely on undocumented immigrants. When Brooke Rollins was asked who would work on farms if the labor force was deported, she said she would address any ‘hypothetical issues that turn out to be real.’
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New Senate agriculture committee leadership has extensive ties to industry heavyweights
January 15, 2025
U.S. Sen. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican, has received tens of thousands of campaign donations from employees at Tyson Foods, one of the country’s largest meat companies.
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GRAPHIC: As Trump policy changes loom, nearly half of farmworkers lack legal status
December 30, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump said his mass deportation of undocumented immigrants would start with the “criminals,” but that “you have no choice” but to eventually deport everyone in the country illegally, according to a December interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.
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US could rely more on foreign ag workers under Trump. High demand is already straining the government.
November 15, 2024
A new GAO report warns that rapid growth of H-2A program could impact workers’ rights. These workers might be even more important under a second-term Donald Trump, who supported the program in the past.
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As ag consolidation grows, Harris and Trump pitch different approaches
October 29, 2024
Small farmers are losing ground as corporate giants tighten their grip, driving up costs for consumers. Many say the next president needs to tackle consolidation and its impact on farmers.
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Unsealed: Syngenta spent decades attempting to quiet health concerns about its profitable herbicide.
October 23, 2024
A former Florida rancher battling Parkinson’s disease reflects on years of using paraquat, as thousands of lawsuits claim the herbicide contributed to their illness and new documents shed light on the ongoing legal fight.
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Wisconsin dairy industry fights back as towns seek to curb CAFO growth
September 11, 2024
Since 2018, large Wisconsin dairy farms have filed 13 lawsuits against city and state governments, according to an Investigate Midwest analysis of court records and state permitting data for concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
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Corteva, Pioneer Hi-Bred settle lawsuit with farmworkers sprayed with pesticides
August 14, 2024
The 2019 incident led to a change of the Illinois pesticide law, increasing penalties for exposing humans to chemicals.
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