Barn Raiser - Independent source for rural and small town news.

Conservation Programs Are Popular with Farmers. Why Does the G.O.P. Want to Defund Them?

Republicans are targeting Inflation Reduction Act climate funding that mostly benefits red state farmers

Bryce Oates & Jake Davis

Electrifying Democracy in Rural America

For this energy policy expert, rural electric co-ops empower communities and strengthen democracy.

Joel Bleifuss & Justin Perkins

High-Speed Thrills and Warm Weather Blues at the ‘Snowmobile Capital of the World’

S. Nicole Lane

As snowmobile racers compete for the title of world champion in Eagle River, Wisconsin, warm weather signals an uncertain future for the sport and its community

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American and Mexican flags displayed in front of a commercial crab processing plant.

Practicing an ‘Insurgent Politics of Care’ in Rural America

How rural residents and immigrant communities are adapting to the broken rural health landscape on Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Paco Alvarez

Wendell Berry: What New York Times Columnist Paul Krugman Gets Wrong About Rural America

‘Those of us who speak for the country (“rural America”) must never give up’

Wendell Berry

Food & Agriculture

Farmers Face a Precarious Future. Is the Farm Bureau on Their Side?

At the Farm Bureau’s “New Frontiers” conference, tensions flare over the future of farming

Emma Penrod

Opinion

Native Seed Network Takes Root in the Northeast

Diverse groups join forces to bolster the native seed supply for ecological restoration

Eve Allen

Opinion

The USDA’s organic label is broken. Here’s how to fix it.

This grassroots, farmer-led movement is working to restore credibility to organic certification

Linley Dixon

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Politics & Policy

What Rural Healthcare Looks Like in ‘The Land that Time Forgot’

How immigrant workers navigate rural healthcare in Maryland’s Eastern Shore

Thurka Sangaramoorthy

Opinion

Democrats Are Missing a Key Moment to Back Farmworkers

Despite a lack of evidence, Republicans in the House claim that high farmworker wages are causing farmers to go broke. Democrats should stand up for farmworkers and set the record straight.

Bryce Oates

This Teachers Union Leader Wants to Turn Rural Schools Into Community Hubs

The American Federation of Teachers’ Rural Caucus advocates turning public schools into social service centers

Joel Bleifuss & Justin Perkins

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Native Life

Tribes Call on NASA to Halt Desecration of the Moon

Indigenous leaders accuse NASA of using a loophole to bypass promises made to Native nations

Stephanie Woodard

The Bad River Chippewa Take on an Oil Giant: Review of ‘Bad River: A Story of Defiance’

A new film chronicles how the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa are united in their opposition to Enbridge pipelines

Bill McKibben

Wiping Away the Tears

Carrying repatriated artifacts, a new generation of Lakota ride to honor those who died in the Wounded Knee Massacre

Winona LaDuke

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Barn Raisers

What Liberal Elites Don’t Know About Rural Americans Can Hurt Us

The New York Review of Books strikes out, again

Wendell Berry

Jon Council: An Appalachian Carpenter Organizing Across Political Divides

“Everyone needs to be able to turn on the tap and have clean water in their home”

Justin Perkins & Joel Bleifuss

Welcome to Barn Raiser: Your independent source for rural and small town news

A letter from the editors

Joel Bleifuss & Justin Perkins

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Special Reports

New

Charting a Path of Rural Progress

Interviews with the organizers who created a rural policy platform for 2024

Rural Communities Respond to the Long-Term Care Crisis

Rural communities come together to respond to the crisis in long-term care

A sign for Fair Maps Wisconsin on Hans Breitenmoser’s farm in Merrill, Wisconsin.

Interviews with Rural Organizers

Meet the rural organizers and placemakers working for change and justice

a log-cabin library in the small town of Wabeno, Wisconsin

Rural Libraries

Rural libraries, under threat, are finding renewed purpose

New York’s Green Amendment Faces Critical Test in New Lawsuit

Seneca Meadows, the state’s largest landfill, is running out of space and wants to expand. Community members say it violates their rights under the Green Amendment.

Peter Mantius

Saving the Southeast’s Salt Marshes

Imperilled by rising seas and over-development, tidal wetlands in the region, crucial to it’s ecological, cultural and economic life, are gaining new protections through an array of ambitious local initiatives backed by federal dollars

Dan Chapman