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Opinion
Where Do Democrats Go From Here? It Starts with Bold Leadership
As chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, I believe Ken Martin as DNC chair will ensure rural America has a seat at the table
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The Best Country Album of 2024 You’ve Never Heard Of
In Blackgrass, an old Dogg shows he has plenty of new tricks
Why I Believe Ben Wikler Will Show Up for Rural America as DNC Chair
“Ben is deeply proud of the Wisconsin Idea first embraced by Progressive Era state leaders in the early 20th century”
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Photo Essay
How Rural Post Offices Sustain Community
Reflections on the post offices of Benzie County, Michigan, as a living map
Mary Welcome, essay & photography
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The Largest Oil Spill in Wisconsin History Happened Three Days Before Approval of Line 5 Reroute
Why was the public alerted about the spill more than a month later?
Religion
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How Christian Nationalists Use Transphobia to Get Votes
A rural Wisconsin pastor explains why God’s compassion has no room for hate
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The Christian Right’s Playbook to Elect Donald Trump in November
And how voters can use the tools of democracy to counter their plans
Politics & Policy
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In Rural News Deserts, Trump Won Big
The election results show “that some of the most common victims of the collapse of local news” are the same people who support Trump, says Steven Waldman, the president and founder of Rebuild Local News.
Paul Farhi & John Volk, The State of Local News
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The Right Wants to Divide Rural People and the Working Class. Here’s How We Unite.
The director of the Appalachia People’s Union on why the South is ready to stand up to Trump
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As Goes the Black Belt, So Goes Georgia
As chair of the Bryan County Democrats, Keith McCants says that to win statewide, Democrats need to go outside of Atlanta
Special Reports
New
Reimagining Rural Cartographies
Written and photo essays that examine nontraditional maps of the Midwest
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Rural Perspectives on the 2024 Election
Candidates, strategists and organizers reflect on the lessons learned.
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Charting a Path of Rural Progress
Interviews with the organizers who created a rural policy platform for 2024
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Rural Communities Respond to the Long-Term Care Crisis
Rural communities come together to respond to the crisis in long-term care
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Hope in Turbulent Times: Native Leaders Take the Long View
Representatives from three tribes discuss how their communities have learned to endure by celebrating connections
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Who Does Minnesota’s White Earth State Forest Belong To?
Can a beloved forest bridge the gap between a fractured past and a hopeful future?
Maija Hecht, essay & photography
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Indigenous Artists Give Minnesota a Map Makeover
A roundtable conversation with three women who are reviving land-based wisdom and history from a Dakota perspective
Science & Environment
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Mapping a Mountain Lion’s Ghost
One mountain lion’s 800-mile journey to the heart of Chicago offers a window into the Midwest’s changing ecology
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Rural Louisianans Confront Saltwater Intrusion on the Mississippi River
For residents of Plaquemines Parish, regional unity is needed to solve a growing drinking water crisis
Eva Tesfaye, WWNO & Lily Carey, Sierra
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Project 2025 and Its Plans for the Nation’s Public Lands
Native leader says massive deregulation would lead to “total desecration”
Barn Raisers
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Barn Raiser’s 2024 Year in Review
Wendell Berry takes on “White Rural Rage,” farmers and environmentalists team up, and rural organizers contend with the opportunities, and aftermath, of an election year
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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’
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Welcome to Barn Raiser: Your independent source for rural and small town news
A letter from the editors
Letters to the editor
Readers Respond to Wendell Berry
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Farm to Table Goes International in Rural New York
Korean lunch, Albanian dinner and Iranian wine—in the Catskills?
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Country Queers Spread the Love in Rural America
Rae Garringer’s new book documents more than a decade of LGBTQ+ rural life
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A Supper Club State of Mind
Wisconsin has more supper clubs than any other state. But how long will this iconic institution survive?
Food & Agriculture
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‘Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way’: How a Young Virginian Kept the Farm in the Family
Farmers like Dustin Watson are turning toward new land-centered models to overcome the challenges of farm transfer and succession
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When the CAFO Industry Comes for Your County
“Dodge County, Inc.” exposes the brutal costs of Big Ag
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A Second Trump Administration Threatens Longstanding USDA Conservation and Insurance Programs
Family farmers fear the Conservation Reserve Program, a steady source of income, could be eliminated
History
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Jim Hightower Confronts the 1980s Farm Crisis
"It's the same old story—Reagan helps the rich, and Lord help the rest of us."