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Farmworkers are making — and enforcing — the strongest heat protection rules in the country

Feb 29, 2024
Farms that participate in the Fair Food Program ensure workers have access to things like shade and water. In return, they're first in line to sell to big buyers.
Farms participating in the Fair Food Program ensure farmworkers receive certain heat protections, including access to shaded areas and water.
Photo Courtesy of Eva Marie Uzcategui for The Washington Post

A new book follows one meal from seed to serving

Oct 17, 2023
"The Dish" by Andrew Friedman shows just how many steps the phrase "farm to table" skips.
From farmers to dishwashers, every part of the food chain of one meal is examined in the book.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Climate change means more extremes for Washington hops farmer

Sep 25, 2023
After a cold spring and unseasonably hot and dry summer, Patrick Smith of Yakima is seeing some abnormalities in when his crops mature.
"Overall, I'd say that the apple crop statewide is looking quite good," Washington farmer Patrick Smith says.
Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images

A citrus farm is still dealing with lasting damage from Hurricane Irma

Sep 14, 2018
The storm was the fifth costliest in U.S. history, damaging orange trees in Lake Placid, Florida.
Hurricanes are added stress on citrus farmers in Florida who already battle greening, a disease that effects their trees and causes bitter fruits to fall off of them prematurely.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Georgian pecans are popular in China, where tariffs just shot up

Jul 5, 2018
We visit a farm in Georgia that sells 60 percent of their nuts to China.
Lamar Pecan Company in Hawkinsville, GA.
Daisy Palacios/Marketplace

Amid Trump’s immigration crackdown, farmers look for reform

Sep 26, 2017
Farmers want to see reform to the H-2A visas program, that allows foreign agricultural laborers to work legally in the U.S.
Gary Paulk, a muscadine and berry farmer in Irwin County, said he lost about $200,000 in 2011 due to a labor shortage.
Elly Yu for Marketplace

Farmers struggle with low commodity prices

Jul 25, 2017
Farmers, in particular those producing grain, are struggling, thanks mostly to low commodity prices amid a global grain glut.
Tom Giessel is a Kansas wheat farmer who harvested 1,800 acres of wheat in late June. He stands here in his field near Larned, Kansas. 
Peggy Lowe for Marketplace

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FFA continues to grow, even as farms disappear

Oct 10, 2016
Even as the number of farms in the U.S is decreasing, FFA is growing strong
Photo 1: High-school Junior Tyler Reid. Photo 2: Isaiah Nance's FFA jacket, depicting his state and high-school. Photo 3: Brothers Xavier and Isaiah Nance and Tyler Reid. Accokeek, MD
Adam Allington/Marketplace

New York farm workers want the right to a day off

May 27, 2016
Agricultural workers are marching across the state to demand better working conditions.
A group of farmworkers and activists is walking 200 miles across New York to advocate for a bill that would give farmworkers a day off, overtime pay, and the right to collective bargaining.
Eilis O’Neill/Marketplace

Trouble on the chicken farm

Apr 21, 2015
The avian flu has infected millions of hens in Iowa.