Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

When it comes to chicken-processing plants, some communities see jobs where others see environmental concerns

Jun 14, 2018
A suburban community in Kansas turns away from the prospect of a chicken processing plant, while a rural town sees the possibility it would bring new jobs.
Shops and restaurants line one of Concordia’s main streets in downtown.
Brian Grimmett for Marketplace

Senate committee takes a crack at a bipartisan farm bill today

Jun 13, 2018
While this version is less partisan than previous ones, safety net programs are still a hurdle

Feral swine, "the worst invasive species we'll ever see"

Jun 6, 2018
The hogs will eat just about anything, and landowners in Texas are at their wits' end. The USDA is developing a poison. "We’re out of options,” an agency researcher says.
Jackie Brister's ranch hand, Roberto Olvera, caught this feral hog running through his boss' wheat. He'll sell it to a meat processor one county over.
Filipa Rodrigues/Marketplace

What’s behind Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto?

May 30, 2018
A whopping $66 billion deal in the agribusiness space just won the approval of antitrust regulators in Washington, D.C. That clears the way for German behemoth Bayer to acquire St. Louis-based Monsanto. Monsanto has for years ridden the success of the herbicide Roundup and seeds that are tolerant of the chemical. But now Monsanto— and […]

U.S. pauses China tariffs but deal has its shortcomings

May 21, 2018
The reason the United States is pausing tariffs on China for now appears to be a promise from China that it will increase its imports from the U.S. — primarily agricultural and energy products. That would presumably help — at least in the short term — to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, which […]

Farmers have been relying on the high value of their land to get them through years of low commodity prices

May 18, 2018
Land accounts for 80 percent of farm assets according to the Department of Agriculture. So farmers are using their land as collateral to face low commodity prices, but the amount of production that farmers need to service their debt is rising.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story. 

Following the hurricane, recovery in Puerto Rico takes different forms

We revisit a dairy farmer, a convenience store owner, a homeowner and a community center to see where things stand seven months after Hurricane Maria.
Clockwise from top left: Juan Orta says he's spent $75,000 of his own money to reopen his convenience store in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico; Cows at Vaqueria Ceiba del Mar in Hatillo, Puerto Rico; Luis Martinez, owner of Ceiba del Mar; Glorimar Rivera who lives on a street that was once covered in power lines and fallen poles.
Peter Balonon-Rosen/Marketplace

For public good, not for profit.

The EPA is at the center of a debate over pesticide regulations

Apr 23, 2018
Chlorpyrifos has helped protect crops from pests since 1965, but it's also been linked in studies to low-IQ babies and dead fish.
Farmer Mike Locati in eastern Washington.
Courtesy of Esmy Jimenez

New Farm Bill proposes changes to food stamps

Apr 13, 2018
80% of spending in the Farm Bill goes to food stamps

Farmers are "excited" by the prospect re-entering the TPP

Apr 13, 2018
Keith Alverson says farmers like him are after the 95 precent of consumers outside the U.S.
The photographer holds an ear of corn he found on the ground next to a corn field during harvest on September 13, 2012 near Teltow, Germany. 
Sean Gallup/Getty Images