Harvest Public Media
Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and field. Based at KCUR in Kansas City, Harvest covers these agriculture-related topics through an expanding network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest. Global demand for food and fuel is rising, and the push and pull for resources has serious ramifications for our country’s economic prosperity. What’s more, we all eat, so we all have a stake in how our food is produced In the Midwest, in particular, today’s emerging agenda for agriculture is headlined by climate change, food safety, biofuel production, animal welfare, water quality, and sustainability. By examining these local, regional and national issues and their implications with in-depth and unbiased reporting, Harvest is filling a critical information void. Most Harvest Public Media stories begin with radio — regular reports are aired on our member stations in the Midwest. But Harvest also explores issues through online analyses, television documentaries and features, podcasts, photography, video, blogs and social networking. We are committed to the highest journalistic standards. Click here to read our ethics policy.
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Hemp farming is technically legal in the U.S. now, but there are plenty of hurdles for new farmers to overcome. Hear more about growing hemp -- the challenges and the opportunities -- in this report from Harvest Public Media.
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In 2016, farmers across the Midwest were using nearly 40 times more glyphosate than in 1992. This comes even as the controversial herbicide has become increasingly less effective, and health concerns and lawsuits are mounting.
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The Trump Administration is looking to move the home base for several U.S. Department of Agriculture agencies out of Washington, DC. The plan is surprisingly controversial.
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The latest Agriculture census is out. Among other things, the census reveals there’s been more farmland consolidation. American farmers are also getting older, with the average age now pegged at 57 and inching higher.
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Dicamba is primarily used on soybeans and cotton, but Bayer has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to allow it to be used on corn in the future.
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The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility, or NBAF, will study the deadliest of animal diseases. But it’s taking years longer and millions more dollars than expected to build that massive federal lab near the K-State campus in Manhattan. In this three-part series from Harvest Public Media and the Kansas News Service, we explore the facility’s construction delays and which federal agency is actually in charge of the lab. We also examine safety concerns and whether the community's first responders and public health officials are prepared for the lab to open.
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In parts of Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri, the impacts of recent floods have closed highways and train routes. That infrastructure is vital for farmers to get their crops to the international market.
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President Trump's proposal would cut about 15 percent from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s total budget.
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Some of the fish tested by a nonprofit marine conservation organization was in Kansas, Missouri and Colorado.
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The USDA’s Dairy Margin Coverage Program pays dairy farmers when the cost of producing milk exceeds their profits.