Kristian Thacker

Deep in West Virginia coal country, a lavender farm attempts to strike a balance between profit, cultivation, and remediation.

Can a Farm Survive on an Old Coal Mine?

Hemp’s detoxifying properties have been proven to tackle PFAS pollution. Through ongoing legal challenges, researchers are exploring its potential.

Can Hemp Fix Agriculture’s PFAS Problem?

With a combination of mental health and financial services, a notoriously challenging process could be made much easier for farmers.

Succession Planning Doesn’t Have to Be Scary

Team Beef is a nationwide consortium of running teams sponsored by a hefty infusion of beef checkoff dollars. What’s in it for the runners?

Running for the Ribeye

A D.C. insider argues BIPOC farmers may never see benefits from the Justice40 Initiative, a sweeping historical program for disadvantaged communities.

USDA Misses Another Chance to Help Farmers of Color

As ChatGPT and other LLMs enter the mainstream, ag practitioners should consider the potential dangers and rewards.

For Farmers, Are AI Chatbots Worth the Risk?

For many years, most living history farms in the U.S. focused on the agricultural history of white Americans alone. A shift is underway.

Living History for All

Some produce purveyors claim to offer exorbitant fruit of unparalleled quality — but are we mostly paying for a status symbol?

Putting a Down Payment on a Pineapple

Romance novels have long used farms and farmers as their themes — what’s the enduring appeal? Hint: It’s more than rugged studs in cowboy hats.

Bringing Sexy Back (to the Land)

Mycoremediation — the use of fungi to degrade contaminants — shows great promise, but still has a long way to go.

Harnessing the Power of Mushrooms to Clean Up Our Soil

Fresh produce was a crucial lifeline during my postpartum recovery. The connection between farmers, birth workers, and families can have lasting impact in addressing Black maternal health disparities.

Abundantly Nourished

For farmers caught in the nationwide “pigdemic,” feral hogs are the “top nuisance, bar none.”

Fighting the Boar Wars

It’s Highway Robbery

Its practitioners describe the 100-year-old approach as “organic-plus,” but its central rituals are more witchy than scientific.

Is Biodynamic Farming Magic?

A new initiative aims to shift some crop production from increasingly water-scarce, heat- and fire-scorched California to the Mid-Delta. Rice is key to the plan. 

The California-to-Arkansas Farmer Pipeline

As the Southwest grows more arid, ranchers are using tech to sustain the economic and ecological viability of cattle — and protect the fragile living soil beneath their hooves.

Bovines and Biocrusts

Will the brand’s in-house TikToker help to engage more young people in agriculture? 

John Deere’s New Gen Z Chief Tractor Officer

For coastal farmers, salt hay crops offer a potential upside to seawater intrusion.

Salting the Earth

Select college cafeterias have long offered fresh local produce, some of it grown right on campus. But the newest farm-to-college programs offer students a crash course in every aspect of food production.

Farm-to-College Dining Levels Up

Dairy farmers are seeing huge payouts for beef-dairy crossbreeds amid a major beef shortage and bottomed-out milk prices.

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