agriculture

The decline of honeybees has been attributed to a variety of causes, from nasty parasites to the stress of being transported from state to state to feed on various crops in need of pollination.

Biologist Says Promoting Diversity Is Key To 'Keeping The Bees'

3:32pm July 09, 2014

Laurence Packer says humans need to appreciate both domestic bees and the some 20,000 species of wild bees. His book Keeping The Bees explores all types, including some that feed on tears.

Queue Listen Now

Breeding Battle Threatens Key Source Of California Strawberries

11:48pm July 06, 2014

by Dan Charles

The University of California, Davis is the source of most commercial strawberries. Now, the university's strawberry breeders are going into business for themselves, and farmers are worried.

Queue Listen Now

When families give up farming and move away, it drains life out of small communities.

National

In The Making Of Megafarms, A Mixture Of Pride And Pain

11:37am June 17, 2014

by Dan Charles

A tiny fraction of America's 2 million farmers produces most of our food. They are the winners of a long-running competition for land and profits that has also drained the life out of small towns.

Queue Listen Now

The 2011 Asparagus Queen, Megan Roskan, and runner-up Christine Merten wave to spectators during an Independence Day parade in Whitehall, Mich. With interests waning in agricultural pageants, organizers are relaxing the requirements to encourage more peop

National

All Hail The Asparagus Queen! How Ag Pageants Lure New Contestants

7:33pm February 03, 2014

by NPR Staff

Some farming communities are struggling to find enough contestants for the pageants that crown monarchs like the Asparagus Queen and Beef Queen. So they are relaxing the pageant rules to spice up the competition.

Queue Listen Now

National

Should Farmers Give John Deere And Monsanto Their Data?

8:01pm January 22, 2014

by Dan Charles

Farmers can now deliver data from their fields, minute by minute, to big agribusiness companies like Monsanto or John Deere. Those companies promise to use the data to help farmers make money. But some farmers worry that it could threaten their privacy and give the big companies too much power.

Queue Listen Now

Chris Guerre has made a number of improvements to the farm while he has lived there including repurposing an air compressor to force water up from the properties well and building a new chicken coop.

National

Here's How Young Farmers Looking For Land Are Getting Creative

8:02pm December 31, 2013

by Dan Charles

Across the country, there's a wave of interest in local food, and a new generation of young farmers wants to grow it. But many aren't buying land. Instead, they're renting it.

Queue Listen Now

Craig Rowles raises pigs near Carroll, Iowa. The piglets will enter and leave this room as a group.

Why Are Pig Farmers Still Using Growth-Promoting Drugs?

7:42pm November 04, 2013

by Dan Charles

There's a curious twist in the contentious debate over feeding antibiotics to animals in order to make them grow faster. Evidence suggests using antibiotics for growth promotion, at least among pigs, doesn't even make economic sense. But some pork producers don't believe it.

Queue Listen Now

A test field of sorghum outside Manhattan, Kan., planted by Kansas State University.

Heat, Drought Draw Farmers Back To Sorghum, The 'Camel Of Crops'

9:07pm October 31, 2013

by Dan Charles

Consumers in search of novelty are turning to once-obscure grains like quinoa, spelt and sorghum. But sorghum's great virtue for farmers is the fact that it can thrive with so little water.

Queue Listen Now

Curt Friesen is a fourth-generation farmer in central Nebraska.

Farm Families Pick Massive Corn Harvest As Prices Shrink

10:12am October 28, 2013

by Grant Gerlock

There's a lot of uncertainly in the air as harvest season gets into full swing across the Midwest. But this is a time of year when farm families come together to focus on the big task at hand.

Queue Listen Now

The changing landscape of of agriculture is leaving many sheep farms in the dust. Farms are larger and technology makes crops more economically attractive and sheep herds less.

National

Ranchers Wonder If U.S. Sheep Industry Has Bottomed Out

3:37pm October 22, 2013

by Luke Runyon

Over the last 20 years, the number of sheep in the U.S. has been cut in half. Today, the domestic sheep herd is one-tenth the size it was during World War II. Consumers are eating less lamb and wearing less wool these days. Those trends have left ranchers to wonder: When are we going to hit bottom?

Queue Listen Now