Strategically placed rocks can help shelter wildlife and maintain healthy ecosystems — but good luck convincing farmers to like them.

Learning to Love Rocks

Consumers have shown they are willing to pay more for meat from happy livestock. New technology bears the promise of accurately assessing animal emotions.

AI Could Hold the Key to Improving Animal Welfare

Unhealthy sagebrush habitats threaten ranching and endangered species, while fueling more frequent and intense wildfires. Incarcerated people in five Western states are helping restore these habitats.

Prisoners Are Saving Western Rangelands

U.S. companies want Southern farmers to plant species of this grass that is native to Asia. Experts say it’s a disastrously bad idea.

Everyone Should Grow Bamboo! No One Should Grow Bamboo!

As climate change intensifies, contamination from floods can pose hazards long after the waters recede.

Rising Waters, Sinking Prospects

Traditional farm succession planning can be notoriously challenging. Let’s look at the alternatives.

Would You Bequeath Your Farm to a Stranger?

Our national mental health crisis is even more acute in rural farm communities, where parents may unwittingly pass stress onto their children.

Farm Kids Are Experiencing High Rates of Anxiety and Depression

Much of the world debates GMOs purely in terms of human health and the environment. In Mexico, it’s also about cuisine, culture, and heritage.

Despite U.S. Pushback, Mexico’s Fight to Ban Genetically Modified Corn is Not Over

A new study from North Carolina State University surveyed people throughout the phosphorus industry, finding dim views on its long-term sustainability.

We Can’t Keep Using Phosphorus Fertilizers — Just Ask Industry Stakeholders

Farmers have long faced high suicide rates. The Farm Bill could bring mental health assistance programs and resources.

Climate Change Is Upending Farmers’ Livelihoods — and Exacerbating a Mental Health Crisis

To repopulate land with specialized native flora, it’s not as easy as visiting the seed store.

Everyone Wants to Repair Our Damaged Ecosystems — But Where Are the Seeds?

The U-pick business model, which relies on farm visitors to do the harvesting, has the potential to produce big profits. But its success depends on an array of uncontrollable variables.

The Curious Economics of Pick-Your-Own Farms

Advocates say the Farm Bill can help address the racial water gap.

Wells Are Running Dry in Rural Communities of Color. Is a Fix in Sight?

States are trying — and in some cases, succeeding — to allow teens to work longer hours and in dangerous environments.

It’s Suddenly Legal for Kids to Work in Meatpacking Plants

It’s all hands on deck in the West’s open rangelands to try to eliminate this wildfire kindling. But as it fuels more intense fires that kill off native grasses, that’s getting harder to do.

Is the War on Cheatgrass Unwinnable?

Indoor agriculture doesn’t get more local than small vertical farms right where people live and work. But the future of these farms is more closely tied to conventional urban farming than the wider vertical farming industry.

Planting Tiny Indoor Farms In Strip Malls and Office Parks

Giving workers a slice of the pie has proven to increase production and solve labor shortages — can it be replicated in other sectors of agriculture?

Profit-Sharing is Taking Root in the Wine Industry

A strange, bipartisan alliance is pushing to make 22 USDA commodity-promoting programs — e.g., beef, dairy, and corn — more accountable, and less harmful to smaller producers.

Has the Time for Checkoff Reform Finally Arrived?

Sowing novel mixtures of wheat, barley, and rye could offer farmers a hedge against climate unpredictability.

Maslins, a Method of Planting Grains You’ve Probably Never Heard of

You’ve likely heard about the benefits of eating bugs for the health and sustainability of our planet. But is the American palate ready?