Read →
From Frying Pans to ‘Teflon Flu’: How One Scientist’s Discovery Changed the World Forever
The origins of PFAS “forever chemicals”
Read →
How to Keep Your Garden Free From Toxic Forever Chemicals
Is your big box store selling you soil contaminated with PFAS?
Rep. Bill Pluecker
Why I Joined Maine’s Farmer Day of Action and Tractor Brigade
A Maine farmer reports from the front lines of the new American agriculture movement
Read → 
Read →
Why the Greenpeace Trial Is a Lesson for Us All
Criminalizing the protection of water, not its degradation, is a sign of things to come—but Water Protectors are here to stay
Read →
Opinion
A Wisconsin Farmer Learns First-Hand the Costs of Trump’s Tariffs
“Thanks to Trump, the total cost of my seed treater had risen from $12,810 to $26,132.”
Science & Environment
Read →
Bird Flu Spreads as Musk’s DOGE Cuts Public Health Funding
“It’s not enough for us to sit by on the sidelines,” says Dr. Michael Osterholm
Read →
‘Cruelty Is the Point’: The Toxic Trickle-Down of Musk’s Government Purge
Kyla Bennett, former EPA whistleblower, says Musk’s DOGE “coup” has major ramifications for rural America
Read →
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?
Politics & Policy
Read →
Public Schools Build Connections in Rural Communities. Vouchers Tear Them Down.
Here is what you can do to stand up for rural public schools before it’s too late
Read →
How Democrats Can Win By Organizing from the County Up
In her new role as a party leader, Jane Kleeb is organizing Democrats to go on the offensive
Read →
In Red States, Rural Voters Are Leading the Resistance to School Vouchers
Convincing rural voters to walk away from public schools could be a greater obstacle than expected for the GOP
Special Reports
See all →
New
Reimagining Rural Cartographies
Written and photo essays that examine nontraditional maps of the Midwest
More →
Rural Perspectives on the 2024 Election
Candidates, strategists and organizers reflect on the lessons learned.
More →
Charting a Path of Rural Progress
Interviews with the organizers who created a rural policy platform for 2024
More →
Rural Communities Respond to the Long-Term Care Crisis
Rural communities come together to respond to the crisis in long-term care
More →Barn Raisers
Read →
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
Read →
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’
Read →
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
Read →Food & Agriculture
Read →
Can Democrats Stop the GOP From Taking a Chainsaw to the Farm Bill?
Republicans are gearing up to cut SNAP programs and increase payments to the largest farmers
Read →
‘Clean Water,’ ‘Equity,’ ‘Microplastics’ and Other Words Banned in Leaked USDA Memo
Agricultural Research Service sent out a list of 110 terms that can no longer be used
Read →
Farmers in Trump Country Were Counting on Clean Energy Grants. Then the Government Changed the Rules.
Thousands of farmers and small rural businesses now in limbo as USDA demands grant rewrites that favor fossil fuels over renewables
Native Life
Read →
Read →
In a North Dakota Courtroom, the Battle for Standing Rock Continues
Greenpeace and the owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline square off in court
Read →
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
Religion
Read →
The Problem With J.D. Vance’s Augustine
Vance’s misguided interpretation of Christian love is an attempt to justify the jingoistic policies of “America First”
Zachary Taylor, Sightings
Read →
Donald Trump, MAGA and the Logic of the Gun
Trump’s image as a vigilante “peacemaker” reflects the religiously-tinged violence of the American frontier
Rachel Wagner, Religion Dispatches
Read →
Pete Hegseth’s War on Religious Freedom and the Constitution
What Pete Hegseth’s record says about where he would lead the Department of Defense
Arts & Culture
Read →
Carín León Says There’s Nothing ‘Regional’ About His Music
A review of the latest album by the Grammy-winning Mexican artist and his challenge to the gringo music industry’s pigeonholing labels
Read →
Going Off the Grid in the Midwest
What walking an arbitrary line through Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa reveals
Read →
The Arts Organization Helping Transform Appalachia’s Craft Economy
Creative entrepreneurs are getting needed support to grow and sustain their businesses after Hurricane Helene
History
Read →
How Rural Post Offices Sustain Community
Reflections on the post offices of Benzie County, Michigan, as a living map
Mary Welcome, essay & photography
Read →
Jim Hightower Confronts the 1980s Farm Crisis
"It's the same old story—Reagan helps the rich, and Lord help the rest of us."