There are big variations in the state-by-state unemployment picture

Sep 21, 2020
States that rely heavily on the in-person service sector are still facing high unemployment, while farm states are seeing lower jobless rates.
States that rely heavily on face-to-face service jobs, like New York, have the highest unemployment.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Southeastern produce growers say they need trade relief

Aug 31, 2020
The USMCA trade agreement has not relieved their concerns about Mexican imports. The situation is dire, a Georgia blueberry farmer says.
Joe Cornelius, left, and Russ Goodman, south Georgia blueberry farmers, at Goodman’s blueberry farm in Cogdell, Georgia. Cornelius says in five years, the blueberry industry in Georgia might be done.
Emma Hurt

Tariff pain: Will the U.S. or China hurt the most?

Aug 27, 2018
Chinese state-run media commentaries suggest that people in China can weather the trade tariffs for the sake of national pride.
Li Dapeng says her consumption of American brands and imported products is modest compared to her four-year-old son.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Trump's trade announcements barely ease treacherous path farmers face

Jul 26, 2018
Plans to negotiate with the European Union and aid plan fall short for farmers.
Soybeans loading onto a truck on their way to a grain elevator in Dwight, Illinois. U.S. soybean futures plunged when China announced retaliatory tariffs on them in June.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Midwestern farmers are tied to a Gulf dead zone

Oct 9, 2017
Minnesota is trying to limit runoff carried by the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.
Soybeans are harvested near Worthington, Minnesota.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

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

Chicken processing plants want to speed up operations

Sep 13, 2017
They'll need the USDA to roll back protections first. Critics say that will compromise worker safety.
Axel Schmidt/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Britain's farmers have second thoughts on Brexit

Aug 22, 2017
They face U.S. competition and the loss of EU subsidies.
A dairy farmer looks out of the milking parlor at Newlands Farm in Bozeat, England.
Rob Stothard/Getty Images

As fewer farmers work the land, the small town way of life fades

Jul 10, 2017
Average farms are growing and adopting new technologies to make ends meet.
Farmer Brandon Biesemeier stands on his herbicide sprayer on his family's land near Haxtun, Colorado.
Luke Runyon/Harvest Public Media and KUNC

Foreign earnings bolster Monsanto results

Jun 28, 2017
Monsanto’s earning reports beat expectations today. The agricultural giant has enjoyed solid growth over the first half of the year, with operating earnings up more than 50 percent year on year. The company’s planned acquisition by German agricultural giant Bayer is also on investors’ minds.  Click the audio player above to hear the full story.