-
Missouri's 2025 state budget includes less than a third of the federal funding the state received for Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure Program grants. More than a dozen producers with selected projects are without funding for now.
-
Democrats have long enjoyed support from organized labor, but many union members don’t feel a party allegiance any more. In Kansas City's Northland, both Republican Rep. Bill Allen and his opponent, UAW member and Democrat Shirley Mata, hope to win over dissatisfied voters. Plus: The Midwest is going through another drought, but farmers might not be eligible for relief.
-
Many unhoused students in Missouri and Kansas aren't getting the school support they need — in large part because the districts aren't counting them. Plus: Farmers expect less income this year, which is likely to send ripples through the larger economy.
-
Crop prices have returned to more normal levels this year — down from record highs. As farmers expect less income this year, that's likely to send ripples through the larger agricultural economy.
-
Missouri has a tropical fruit of its very own: the pawpaw. Although this Midwest native is getting more popular, you're unlikely to find them in a grocery store yet. Plus: While corn and soybeans dominate the Midwestern landscape today, some farmers are integrating strips of native prairie back into their fields.
-
When Tyson closed a chicken processing facility in southeast Missouri, it also ended contracts with nearby chicken farmers. Now, some of those farmers are suing. Plus: Kansas farms are consolidating, pushing people to leave the region and making rural life even lonelier.
-
Commercial chicken farmers literally bet the farm, spending millions of dollars on land and enormous chicken houses to raise birds they never own — putting their livelihoods in the hands of a single company that is both their supplier and sole buyer. When Tyson closed a processing plant in southeast Missouri, some farmers facing bankruptcy decided to sue.
-
Kansas farms have expanded their operations and are now bigger than ever, which has led to an economic boom. But that also means fewer farmers, and that has contributed to depopulation in rural parts of the state that were socially isolated to begin with.
-
Sending birds through the mail is a longstanding practice in the United States, but reports of deliveries that come too late for hatchlings to survive are getting more common. It's part of a larger trend of complaints about delays within the U.S. Postal Service.
-
A small insect carrying pathogens that can lead to corn stunt was confirmed in Missouri and Oklahoma for the first time. Experts are learning more about the insect and how the disease left its mark on corn fields.
-
Access to land is one of the biggest challenges that beginning farmers face. A new program in Missouri joins a nationwide effort to help.
-
Documentation status, language barriers and lack of information can all create barriers for immigrants to access federal grants. Now a number of organizations are stepping in to provide direct support.