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Farm-to-table comes to a Louisiana jail

Feb 8, 2018
"Meals and food is the basic way that we show love and respect for one another," said the jail's warden, Catherine Fontenot. "And that’s what we need to show with people who have offended us the greatest."
one program that trains Licensed Vocational Nurses who work in rural areas for the state correctional system to be Registered Nurses
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Demand for New Mexico green chiles leaves farmers scrambling to increase supplies

Jan 15, 2018
Demand for green New Mexican chiles is growing but farmers say labor shortages are keeping them from expanding their acreage.
Red, green, or Christmas? New Mexico is known for it's chili peppers, but state farmers say labor shortages are keeping them from expanding their acreage to meet growing demand.
Carrie Jung/ for Marketplace

Homesteading in the digital age

Jan 9, 2018
Is there a future in growing our food and trading it for the things we want?
An urban farm in Berlin, Germany.
Sean Gallup/Getty Images

A rural Alaskan village established a reindeer herd to improve diet and boost economy

Dec 11, 2017
The isolated village of Port Heiden hopes reindeer, and a few other farm animals, may be the answer to expensive imported fresh food.
When Meshik Farm reindeer are not grazing on the tundra, they live in a pen the size of football field. 
Avery Lill/ for Marketplace

Agribusinesses seek legal presence for unauthorized workers in the U.S.

Dec 5, 2017
With an employee shortage, the agricultural sector needs immigrant labor to fill all open positions.
Two Spanish-speaking cowboys check cattle at one of the largest feedlots in the U.S., located in southwest Kansas. The owner of the feedlot would like federal immigration reform to allow for a “legal presence” for undocumented workers.
Peggy Lowe for Marketplace

In Nebraska, historic shelterbelts are making way for more crops

Nov 28, 2017
The strips of trees once protected farmers from Dust Bowl storms. Reporter Carson Vaughan wrote about them.
A view of the plains in Sidney, Nebraska.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

How cranberries get from the bog to your Thanksgiving table

Nov 23, 2017
Tech is helping the industry produce better fruit.
Cranberry bogs must be intentionally flooded to easily collect the fruit.
SERGEI GAPON/AFP/Getty Images

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Do farmed Atlantic salmon have a future on the West Coast?

Oct 30, 2017
Fish farm break: 150,000 Atlantic salmon escaped into Washington state's Puget Sound in August. Now comes the fallout.
Kurt Beardslee, of the Wild Fish Conservancy, wants to end fish farming in Puget Sound.
Eilis O'Neill/ for Marketplace

Passing on a tradition of wild rice harvest in northern Minnesota

Oct 18, 2017
Native Americans migrated to Minnesota centuries ago “where food grew on the water,” 500 years later, the wild rice harvest tradition is still being passed on.
Bruce Martineau poles his father Francis Martineau to the shore of Deadfish Lake after harvesting wild rice on the Fond du Lac reservation on Sept. 5, 2017.
Dan Karker/ for Marketplace

Puerto Rican farms are starting over from seeds

Sep 29, 2017
Hurricane Maria devastated farmland on the island.
Irma Maldanado stands with Sussury her parrot and her dog in what is left of her home that was destroyed when Hurricane Maria passed through on September 27, 2017 in Corozal, Puerto Rico. 
Joe Raedle/Getty Images