Tagged: Harvest Public Media

The dirt’s far from settled at the construction site of the new home for the National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility— or NBAF — in Manhattan, Kan.

Kansas City, MO – The vast majority of women-run farms are smaller, and focus on niche markets, like grass-fed livestock. Together, Helen Gunderson and Betsy Dahl are breaking into a typical male territory and taking it in their own direction.

Listen to the story at Harvest Public Media

Kansas City, MO –

Across the Midwest, the landscape of farming is subtly changing hands. As the population ages, one group of farmland owners is growing: widows. In Iowa, women over 65 now own more than a one-quarter of the farmland.

While women have long been a part of farm life, women landowners frequently face unique social and cultural challenges. Advocates say that they haven't always been respected as farm decision makers and leaders. Slowly this is changing.

By Tim Lloyd/Harvest Public Media

Kansas City, MO –

You've probably heard of Web 2.0, but what about Ag 2.0? It's shorthand for the infusion of technology into every facet of the agriculture industry.

Now a fresh crop of entrepreneurs is busy developing technologies that could change the face of farming.

Harvest Public Media's Tim Lloyd profiles one local company that's cultivated a new way for farmers to sell what they grow.

Got your interest piqued?

By Rick Frederickson/Harvest Public Media

Des Moines, IA –

(Photo by slolee / Flickr Creative Commons License)

Listen to the story

Marquette wine may be the most highly anticipated new product to ever hit Iowa's commercial wine industry.

And it's time has arrived.

Kansas City, MO –

Bad Seed, which is open every Friday from May through February, is one of a handful of Kansas City winter markets and part of a nationwide trend. The number of winter farmers markets has increased 17 percent in the last two years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As more small farmers find ways to grow produce in the winter, they're finding a home at winter markets.

Read and listen to the story at Harvest Public Media.

By Jessica Naudziunas, Harvest Public Media

Columbia, Missouri – President Obama signed into law yesterday a measure that will set new, expansive nutrition guidelines in the country's public schools. As Harvest Public Media's Jessica Naudziunas reports, the new law will get produce from local farms.

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The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will shape new public school food offerings to help encourage healthier choices in vending machines and school lunches.