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Detectorists Find More Than What’s Underground
Relic hunters build comradery by uncovering history in rural Pennsylvania
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On the Chopping Block
BLM plans to raze 380,000 acres of pinyon-juniper forests vital to Nevada tribes
This Rural Organizer Shapes Progressive Activism into Policy
How Annie Contractor helps create systemic change from the ground up
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J.D. Vance’s Populist Charade
Thoughts on a dangerous vice presidential candidate as President Biden steps aside
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‘Making Our Communities What They Need to Be’
A small town union leader on building Vermont’s labor movement for a new generation
Food & Agriculture
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Harvesting Destruction
Reflections of a lifelong Montana rancher on the corporate takeover of our food system and what it means for the future of our nation and planet
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What a Leading Epidemiologist Says You Should Know About the Bird Flu
Michael Osterholm breaks down what the bird flu is, why it’s spreading to dairy cows and the pandemic lessons we failed to learn
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The Book That Made the ‘Hog Barons’ Squeal
A Q&A with author Austin Frerick on how the “barons” responded to his book and what consolidation in the food industry means for Main Street
Politics & Policy
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Driftless Water Defenders Go on the Offensive in Iowa
New group mobilizes citizens to protect Iowa’s “last island of ecological integrity”
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This Organizer Has a Proven Strategy to Win Affordable Healthcare for All
With Health Care for America Now!, Margarida Jorge is building a coalition with a winning record of reform
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Organizing Rural and Small Town America for Affordable Housing and Racial Justice
Affordable housing is among the top issues for rural Americans. For this organizer, it’s also the starting point for building strong communities.
Special Reports
New
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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Interviews with Rural Organizers
Meet the rural organizers and changemakers working for change and justice
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Rural Libraries
Rural libraries, under threat, are finding renewed purpose
More →Native Life
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The Indigenous Growers Reviving Hemp’s Deep Roots
“Cannabis and hemp offer solutions to many challenges in an industrial society”
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Federal Courts Sentence Native Americans to Longer Prison Terms
How federal authority over tribes fails to provide equal justice under the law
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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
Barn Raisers
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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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Building Movements for Food and Racial Justice Through Organic Farming
For Iriel Edwards, a decision to take up farming in Louisiana was fueled by a desire to connect to the deep ecological knowledge of her ancestors
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Welcome to Barn Raiser: Your independent source for rural and small town news
A letter from the editors
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Letters to the editor
Readers Respond to Wendell Berry
Read →Science & Environment
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Finger Lakes Residents Fight to Enforce Constitutional Right to a Clean Environment
In recent court filings, New York Attorney General Letitia James argues that citizens cannot use the Green Amendment to block the state’s largest landfill from expanding
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Mangroves in Georgia? What a Tropical Plant Reveals About a Warming World
The jury’s out on the overall benefits of, or drawbacks to, mangrove migration
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Will the EPA’s New PFAS Rules Protect Our Water, Farms and Health?
Polluters should be held responsible for the billions per year in estimated cleanup costs.
History
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The 19th Century Haunting that Made This Small Tennessee Town Famous
Historian sheds new light on the dark tale of the Bell Witch
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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."
Arts & Culture
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How a South Carolina Town Transformed into a Southeastern Arts Hub
Lake City officials are now eyeing year-round arts initiatives to secure economic growth
Religion
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In Short Measures Life May Perfect Be
In an age overrun by our relentless desire for more—whether more wealth or more productivity from limited soil—Wendell Berry’s writings offer a way to find wholeness in life’s finitude
David Barr, Sightings
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The Politics of Loving Your Neighbor in Rural America
Reflections of a Lutheran pastor in Dunn County, Wisconsin