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Conventional Farmers Go Rogue in Iowa
Trio of “Farm Bureau Refugees” demand rapid policy change to save Iowa’s water
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Can We Feed the World Without Frying the Planet?
Real Organic conference explores contrasting approaches to feeding 10 billion people
Congressional Campaign Lets Rural and Small Town Volunteers Take the Lead
Red Wing locals redefine what campaign organizing looks like
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Opinion
It’s Time to Stop a Runaway Train
The public is entitled to know where factory farm pollution exists. A new map makes that possible.
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Finding Hope in Troubled Times
A new anthology assembles more than 70 voices of movement leaders across time and place
October 17, 2026
‘Win, Lose or Draw,’ Pearson Campaign Builds a Progressive Coalition in Rural Tennessee
GOP gerrymander faces blowback amid data center opposition and economic discontent
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October 16, 2026
New Maps Challenge the Longest Serving Woman in Congress
Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur navigates growing rural-urban divide
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Politics & Policy
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People Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t Experienced
Democracy can’t just be something to ask people to defend. We have to rebuild the places where people actually practice it.
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Union Smokejumper Faces MAGA Radio Host to Replace Zinke
Grizzly bears, timber and dead livestock could sway western Montana race
Religion
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This Reconstruction-Era Church Is a Place of Sanctuary, Liberation and Reunion
With many rural churches closing their doors, Riverhill has found a way to thrive for over 150 years
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Defusing the Christian Right Requires Understanding It and Offering Something Better
Respectful dialogue begins by listening to people’s beliefs and values
Special Reports
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New
Data Centers
Scenes from the rural uprising to Big Tech data centers
More →Rethinking Immigration and Health in Rural America
How rural immigrants sustain networks of care and resistance in Maryland
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Protecting Rural Public Schools
The Movement to Defund Rural Public Schools
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The Fight to Prevent PFAS Pollution
Why PFAS—forever chemicals—contaminate wells in many rural areas
More →Native Life
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Native Americans Build Strategies to Overcome Voter Suppression
Trump administration targets a voting bloc that could decide election results in multiple states
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Indigenous Language Revivals in the U.S. and Ireland
A new book and video project showcase connections among language, culture and the natural world
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Barn Raisers
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Wendell Berry Helped Me See Grief Can Be a Gift
A fallen tree, a front porch and a call to root and rise
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Common Ground is Found at a Montana Barn Raising
The former speaker of the Montana House and Missoula mayor reflects on working together across differences
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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’
Letters to the editor
Readers Respond to the DCCC
Read →Arts & Culture
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Gutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students Behind
As Wisconsin hollows out access to liberal arts and higher ed, experts warn of education “desertification”
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How Do You Build Working-Class Solidarity in Rural America?
Beth Howard writes that to mend divisions we must “love harder”
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What Are We Waiting For?
From the Old Country: Reflections on our “hospital years”
History
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How Dissent Shaped America
From 17th century religious dissenters to Occupy Wall Street, dissent has been an integral part of our history
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Texas’ Radical Past Points to a Possible New Future
The People’s Party history shows how to build a working-class movement
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Food & Agriculture
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As Growers Sow Division, Farmworkers Choose Solidarity
The rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together.
Essay and photography by David Bacon
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A New System of Labor Threatens Farmworker Power
Harvesting machines and H-2A visas are concentrating power with growers and away from self-organized farmworker crews
Essay and photography by David Bacon
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Do Rural Residents Have the Power to Say No?
From CAFOs to data centers, corporate America dodges local control
Science & Environment
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The Movement to Ban Glyphosate Grows
Some environmental groups and Democratic leaders miss the boat
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‘Laboratories for Profound Biological Change’
If we paid attention to industrial agriculture, it could cause discomfort whenever we sit down to eat
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Is Sludge Poisoning Your Well?
PFAS wreak havoc on rural Wisconsin drinking water. Rural wells nationwide could face similar issues.