Rural
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Gwen Frisbie-Fulton: ‘The people closest to the problem are often the ones who can find the solution’
About two years ago, tents started to show up in my neighborhood along the creek beds and in small stands of trees. Most only became visible when the leaves fell, exposing their orange rainflies and blue tarps. This increase in houselessness didn’t feel surprising to me or to my neighbors: The rent has nearly doubled…
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A love letter to the working class, from Gwen Frisbie-Fulton
It started in the back seat of my family’s Jeep Cherokee, the one with the broken AC and vinyl seats that stuck to my thighs in the late summer heat. After school we would wait, all the doors flung open, for my dad to get off work. My mother reading in the front seat, her…
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Guest post: Elon Musk’s chainsaw comes for the farm
I am incredibly concerned about what has been going on at President Donald Trump’s USDA in the last few weeks—in particular Elon Musk’s chainsaw approach to government agencies.
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Guest post: Stand against pipeline to protect Iowa’s natural resources
Iowa towns, farmland, and natural resources shouldn’t be a playground for corporate power.
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Guest post: Forget Project 2025. We need a better Farm Bill
When it comes to farm policy in 2025, we don’t need Project 2025. We need a new Farm Bill that acknowledges the challenges we face, tackles them head on, and puts our rural communities before corporate profits. Reading about the recent round of layoffs at John Deere’s Ottumwa plant got me thinking about the future…
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Guest post: Iowa needs to stop ignoring our clean water crisis
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources needs to come clean about our dirty water.
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Guest post: Iowa electeds siding with corporate interests on new Farm Bill
By siding repeatedly with corporate agribusiness on the Farm Bill reauthorization and not sticking up for family farmers, Iowa’s congressional representatives have let us down.
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Coalition proposes radical solution to food insecurity: Iowa farmers
The Iowa Food System Coalition wants to work with Iowa farmers to convince more of them to switch from commodity farming in an effort to boost farm-to-table food offerings. Food insecurity in Iowa has reached staggering numbers, and one organization is asking: What if the call is coming from inside the house? Iowa, a state…
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Kalbach: The House’s draft Farm Bill is a gift for corporate ag
Farm Bill draft neglects families and independent farmers After months of delay, the Farm Bill is finally moving in Congress. The House Agriculture Committee passed its draft of the 2024 Farm Bill on May 23, the first step in a process that will include a Senate draft followed by floor debates later this year. Buckle…
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Greenfield tornado: How to volunteer, donate, help with recovery
Officials are still limiting who can go into town, but there are still ways you can help with Greenfield tornado recovery. Donations, volunteer efforts, and offers to help in any way possible have swamped the southwest Iowa town of Greenfield in Adair County since it took a hit from a tornado on Tuesday, May 21,…
