Opinion

Voters—Not Big Money—Should Choose Democratic Party Nominees

Support for campaign finance reform among DNC leadership could have considerable influence in state and national primaries

‘I Didn’t Know I Was Sitting in a Pool of Poison’

How do rural communities recover from PFAS contamination?

What You Can Do to Protect Public Radio and TV

Our public media was designed to be free from political interference. Let’s keep it that way.
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Keeping Farmland in Farmers’ Hands

Farm transfers are complex. Anna Sekine helps farmers pass their land to the next generation.

Beyond Legal Status: Rethinking Immigration and Health in Rural America

For immigrants on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, documentation does not guarantee access to health care

Food & Agriculture

Barbara Damrosch’s Life in the Garden

The acclaimed garden writer’s latest book is part memoir, part garden guide and part call to action

Trump Deportations Have Dairy Farmers on Edge

“It’s just a job that the domestic workforce hasn’t sought out for decades”
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Politics & Policy

Senate Republicans Fast Track Budget Bill With Grave Consequences for Rural America

After a weekend of behind-the-scenes deal cutting, the GOP voted to open debate on their pro-rich/anti-working class reconciliation bill

Right to Repair Gains Traction as John Deere Faces Trial

The Federal Trade Commission’s anti-monopoly case could give farmers freedom to repair their own equipment

For Rural Students, Going to College is Not Easy

A professor of education examines the barriers to higher ed that rural students face
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Religion

A Fighting Faith

How a decades-long battle to protect religious freedom in the military is taking on Christian Nationalism

What Counts as American Religion?

A new history reconsiders who belongs in American religious history and what should count as religion

Will Leo XIV Be the Labor Pope?

Will the U.S. Catholic church revive its legacy of support for migrant farmworkers and organized labor?
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Arts & Culture

Spearfishing Makes a Splash in Michigan

How one man’s passion brought new life to the sport in the Great Lakes

When Fantasy Meets Reality: The Folly of Kings

“The 21st century seems replete with examples as to why autocracies are, to put it mildly, very stupid”

With Rural Libraries Under Attack, a Washington Town Rallies to Defend Its Own

A state senator pulled funding from the Republic Library. Citizens responded by organizing to protect its inclusive community.
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Science & Environment

America’s Public Lands Could Still Be Up for Sale

Utah Sen. Mike Lee wants to solve the West’s housing crisis by selling public land. Behind him is a coterie of developers and conservative think tanks.
Abe Streep, ProPublica

Can Clean Energy Jobs Bring Hope to This Struggling Factory Town?

Decatur has been losing factory jobs for decades. State and local investments in clean energy and workforce training promises renewal.
Kari Lydersen, Canary Media

Will the Vampire of the Great Lakes Rise Again?

The Trump administration’s budget cuts could undermine bipartisan efforts to keep the Great Lakes great
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Native Life

In Times of Trouble, My Mother’s History Tells Me We Shall Overcome

Our lives are marked by our creative journeys, both inward and outward

Tapping Into the Sweetness of Spring

“Waziya (Old Man Winter) is finally heading north”

In a North Dakota Courtroom, the Battle for Standing Rock Continues

Greenpeace and the owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline square off in court
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Barn Raisers

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
Photo of Wendell Berry

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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Letters to the editor

Readers Respond to Wendell Berry

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History

How the U.S. Enlisted Farmers to ‘Feed the World’ in the 20th Century

As Trump eliminates U.S. international aid programs, a new history details the instrumental role Midwestern farmers played in establishing them

How Rural Post Offices Sustain Community

Reflections on the post offices of Benzie County, Michigan, as a living map
Mary Welcome, essay & photography

Land of Liberty

Myth-making in the early American republic
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