Harvest Public Media was one of the first Local Journalism Center public media collaboratives to launch in 2010 — based at KCUR with six partner stations in the central U.S. Its intent was to serve as “a reporting collaboration of public broadcasting stations in the Midwest focused on food production.”
Today, Harvest has become an multimedia platform for solutions-based reporting on agriculture and food production, upstream and downstream health determinants, energy and climate change, and rural life.
"Everyone eats," says editor Maria Altman. "Harvest's work gives readers and listeners a closer look at where their food comes from and how food policy, climate change and global trade impacts what they eat, or will eat in the future."
In 2023, this work attracted the attention of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, particularly as Harvest's content relates to the organization's health equity and healthy eating initiatives.
Harvest was in the middle of planning a multi-stage expansion effort that involves adding a second editor, identifying and securing new partners, and ramping up story production.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation provided its first grant to KCUR to support this expansion, investing $100,000 in January 2024. This gift, as well as a three-year grant from the David K. Smoot Sustainability of Life on Earth Fund, enabled Altman to rapidly begin the expansion work.
Last year, Harvest hired Skyler Rossi as a second editor. In addition, five new stations joined the collaboration: WXPR in Rhinelander, Wisconsin; Siouxland Public Media in Sioux City, Iowa; WCBU in Peoria, Illinois; WGLT in Normal, Illinois; and WVPE in Elkhart, Indiana.
Harvest reporting was recognized with two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards and four Public Media Journalists Association Awards. Harvest content was picked up by stations in nearly every state in the U.S. and beyond. And more than 30 Harvest stories were picked up by national outlets including NPR, Here & Now, Climate Now, Marketplace, The Guardian and others.
These successes enabled Harvest to successfully secure a second year of investment by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for 2025.
"We are enthusiastic about Harvest Public Media's ability to help move conversations about food systems and public health forward through solid, compelling reporting," said Jennie Day-Burget, Senior Communications Officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "By reporting from the communities where our food comes from, Harvest shines a light on the myriad factors that impact our health and wellness."
To read the latest content from Harvest, visit kcur.org/harvestpublicmedia.
