Going once, going twice, gone! Farm auctions are moving online, and that's changing a rural tradition

Jun 5, 2023
Farm auctions — a marketplace for knickknacks, farm land and everything in between — are often also social gathering spaces for rural communities. That’s changing as more auctions go online.
Auctioneer Ryan Creamer calls a bid from inside the trailer cab, while Austin Creamer monitors online bidding from a laptop. At this farm auction, Creamer said live auctions with internet bidders are the best selling opportunities.
Elizabeth Rembert/Harvest Public Media

How Nebraska's largest Black-owned business is approaching the post-pandemic era

Jul 1, 2021
"We are at an inflection point," said Carmen Tapio, founder and CEO of North End Teleservices.
"We are at an inflection point," said Carmen Tapio, founder and CEO of North End Teleservices in Omaha.
Courtesy of North End Teleservices

Why much of Nebraska's economy remains strong despite the pandemic

Jan 19, 2021
Some businesses in Newman Grove, Nebraska, have been booming as fewer people leave town to shop. Also, the region's agriculture economy remains healthy.
Rural Nebraska is benefiting from a resilient farm economy and has avoided the shutdowns suffered by many metropolitan areas.
Scott Olson/Getty Images

Nebraskans vote to cap interest rates on payday loans

Nov 11, 2020
Voters overwhelmingly approved limiting annual interest on small-dollar loans to 36%.
A new report from the Joint Economic Committee in Congress finds that Black, Hispanic, and poorer Americans are much more likely to be considered "unbanked" or "underbanked".
Oli Scarff/Getty Images

"It's a mess": Midwest flooding leaves small businesses reeling

Mar 18, 2019
Heavy rain and melting snow have brought historic flooding to parts of the Midwest. Around 200 miles of Missouri River levees in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas have been compromised, according to the Associated Press, and flood warnings are still up for at least a dozen states. At least two people have died, thousands have […]
Floodwater covers a famer's field near Plattsmouth, Nebraska.  Damage estimates from flooding in Nebraska top $1 billion. Midwest states are battling some of the worst flooding they have experienced in decades as rain and snow melt from the recent "bomb cyclone" has inundated rivers and streams. At least three deaths have been linked to the flooding.
Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images

Farmers plant soybeans amid uncertainty over tariffs

May 2, 2018
After President Donald Trump threatened tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese goods, the Chinese government threatened to target soybeans, an important American cash crop. As farmers got ready to plant their fields, they didn’t have much choice but to stick to planting soybeans and hope for the best. But there are other actions they could […]

Reinventing the rural health care system

Feb 2, 2018
A new report outlines the challenges the health care system in rural communities faces.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

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

Yazidis find a home in Lincoln, Nebraska

Sep 26, 2017
The state capital is the home of the largest Yazidi community in the country.
Khaled Hesso and his family were among the first Yazidis to move to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Daisy Palacios/Marketplace

How Latinos are transforming the economy of a small rural town

Sep 8, 2017
Immigrants drawn by jobs at the local meat-packing plant are making their mark in business and politics.
Norma Corral, an immigrant from Mexico, worked at Cargill's beef processing plant in Schuyler, Nebraska for a decade before opening up her business, Paleteria Oasis, in downtown.
Daisy Palacios/Marketplace