A digest of events, trends, issues, ideas and journalism from and about rural America, by the Institute for Rural Journalism, based at the University of Kentucky.
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The U.S. food and agriculture industries will produce $10.4
trillion for the economy in 2026, backing 48.7 million jobs, reports Feed &
Grain staff.
Despite rising inflation and global trade pressures, the
sector makes up almost 20% of the national economy, increasing profits by $894
billion each year, according to data from the Feeding the Economy report.
Food manufacturing is the largest manufacturing sector in
the country, from two million farms and ranches to 200,000 food manufacturing,
processing and storage facilities. It also includes more than one million restaurants and
foodservice establishments, and 200,000 retail food stores.
The economic impact of the food and agriculture sector in each state. (Interactive map via Feeding the Economy, Click here to choose your state.)
Some of the highlights from the report show the food and
agriculture sector generating:
More than $177.3 billion worth of exports
More than $3 trillion in workers' wages
6.5% growth in direct employment over the last decade
4% yearly rise in wages and 13% rise over the last decade, surpassing inflation
$1.35 trillion in tax revenue for federal, state and local governments, increasing 7% each year
Many rural communities rely on food and agriculture revenue as the backbone of their local economy, with wages reinvested to support local housing, healthcare, education, small businesses and infrastructure, reports Feeding the Economy. “From farm to factory and truck to table, food and agriculture's impact sustains jobs, powers commerce, and strengthens communities across America."
AI companies chose not to attribute their source materials. (Photo by Markus Winkler, Unsplash)
ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Grok all hijack Canadian news stories to use in their databases without adding legal attributions to stories pilfered from authors or arranging for copyright payment to publishers, according to an AI audit by Canadian researchers at McGill University, reports Brier Dudley, Free Press editor for The Seattle Times.
Professors Taylor Owen and Aengus Bridgman at McGill "tested four major AI models to see how much they knew about current news stories in Canada and how much credit they give to outlets that originally reported the stories," Dudley explains. The audit proved that tested AI models were "quite knowledgeable about current news stories. But in queries involving web searches, they provided no source attribution in 82% of the responses."
Owen and Bridgman write, "They have [taken and used content] without compensation, without attribution, and without any obligation to sustain the infrastructure they are drawing from. The result is a system that accelerates the economic decline of the journalism it relies on.”
The lack of attribution by AI companies is intentional. "When asked about a story from a specific outlet, the responses named the source 74% to 97% of the time," Dudley adds. "That indicates the companies are technically capable of naming sources but are making a 'design choice' not to, the audit states."
AI's pilfered stories let people get news without visiting the publisher's site or paying for a subscription. Dudley writes, "AI companies get the subscription and advertising revenue, instead of news sites that paid to report, edit and publish the stories."
Through the Online News Act, Canada now requires tech behemoths like Google and Meta that profit from using news sources to compensate publishers. With the Journalism Competition and Preservation Act, the U.S. tried to pass protections similar to those adopted in Canada, but the bill faded in Congress in 2023.
Dudley writes, "It’s past time for a new version of the JCPA, addressing how AI companies
are changing the way people get information and preventing them from
suffocating the local news industry. . . . To help get the ball rolling, I encourage academics in the U.S. to
connect with Owen and Bridgman, who are willing to share their models,
and produce similar audits here."
Streams flow through farmland on their way to the Susquehanna River, in Union County, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Will Parson, Chesapeake Bay Program)
Pennsylvania hasn't been waiting for Washington lawmakers to move the stalled federal farm bill forward. In 2019, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a state farm bill that "provides farm-to-school grants, business development for farms looking to produce higher-value products, and farm workforce development," reports Lisa Held of Civil Eats. "It has been continually funded with bipartisan support — and it could serve as a model for other states."
Instead of passing a new farm bill in 2023, U.S. lawmakers have only reached agreement on repeated extensions of the expired 2018 Farm Bill; then punting, delaying, or otherwise putting the more contentious parts of a new Farm Bill on hold.
Additionally, under the Trump administration, the Department of Agriculture "has also proven willing to cancel contracts with farmers enrolled in programs funded by the federal bill," Held explains. In some cases, farmers enrolled in USDA programs were left on the hook to pay for improvements or farming changes that the USDA committed to covering through grants.
Because of its independent farm bill, Pennsylvania "is building stronger agricultural economies and communities, the kind of work a federal farm bill was designed for," Held reports. "Several other states are considering similar packages or are investing in agriculture one small bill at a time."
Even when a new federal Farm Bill is passed, it may not be what many farmers need. Pennsylvania is a state with highly diversified crops that are often left out of the national farm bill. Pennsylvania's farm bill goes further to address the unique needs of its farming communities.
“Pennsylvania has been trying really hard to create policies that broaden the reach of ag policy and include producers that have traditionally been ignored or left out," Lindsey Shapiro, a vegetable farmer and federal policy organizer for a sustainable farming company, told Held.
Many Pennsylvanians "attribute a good portion of that focus to the state’s secretary of Agriculture, Russell Redding, who has had the job for 13 (non-contiguous) years under three different governors," Held reports. "In Redding’s mind, states should start to think about their own laws as the central tool for agricultural policies, with complementary federal laws— not the other way around."
The proposed Franklin County prison would sit on land south of the Arkansas River, above. (Wikipedia photo)
Franklin County, Arkansas, might be small and red-leaning, but some of its residents are ready to duke it out with Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders over a $825 million, 3,000-bed prison she has planned for 815 acres of rocky Franklin County land, reports Cameron McWhirter of The Wall Street Journal. The state quietly purchased the large track of property for the proposed prison to avoid a bidding war.
When news of the planned prison began to circulate, many Franklin County residents were shocked and angered. "Marc Dietz, 55, a businessman and rancher who operates a family-owned radio station in Ozark, said many locals felt blindsided," McWhirter writes. Dietz told him, "We’re a small county, not enough votes, and she thought she’d run roughshod."
Location of Franklin County in Arkansas (Wikipedia map)
The resistance in Franklin County, where Sanders received 76% of the vote in her 2022 gubernatorial bid, dealt her a major setback in fulfilling her campaign promise to address the state's prison overcrowding problems. Sanders told the Journal, "Some people want this to be a fight over the money and different things. But what it really is is, do we care about the safety and security of our citizens, or do we not?”
The battle between Franklin County residents opposing the prison and state officials and lawmakers pushing to get it done "has seeped into Board of Corrections appointments, state budget discussions, a GOP primary — and some odder places," McWhirter explains. One resident has lined his farm fencing "with plastic skeletons and placards reading, 'This Prison is Going to Kill Arkansas.' Other residents joined RASH, or 'Republicans Against Sarah Huckabee.'"
Since Sanders announced the prison plan, "funding for it has stalled in the state Senate, blocked by a handful of Republican senators," McWhirter reports. "State Sen. Bart Hester said he and most GOP legislators back the Franklin County location, but a few holdouts. . . are blocking the move."
Mobile Health Clinics staffed by student pharmacists and supervising faculty provided health care in rural Ohio.
Dozens of states across the U.S. allow pharmacists to have expanded care status similar to the role a primary care medical professional would fill. In 2019, the Ohio legislature granted pharmacists "provider status," which means they are "recognized healthcare providers in the state insurance code and allowed to be reimbursed for services like chronic disease management and immunizations."
Using their change to "provider status" as a launching pad, leadership at Ohio Northern University's Raabe College of Pharmacy in rural Hardin County, Ohio, challenged themselves to reenvisioned how they could use their existing "HealthWise" service, which was originally intended for ONU employees, to address health care deficiencies throughout rural Hardin County and its rural county neighbors, reports Kay Miller Temple for Rural Health Information Hub.
During a Hardin County health needs planning meeting, Michael Rush, PharmD, who teaches residents and is the director of operations at ONU HealthWise, was inspired by a food truck he saw outside; he thought a mobile HealthWise might be the answer.
Location of ONU in Ohio
Once shared, Rush's idea gained traction, and numerous funding awards and grants led to Raabe College hiring a pharmacist and purchasing a bus, which "built out ONU HealthWise into the ONU HealthWise Mobile Health Clinic," Temple writes.
Today, ONU student pharmacists and their supervising faculty aboard the HealthWise Mobile unit provide a broad spectrum of health care, including "preventive health education, medication reconciliation, medication therapy management, and chronic disease state management," Temple reports. Health screenings, immunizations and specialty care are also addressed on-site.
The Healthwise Mobile unit services have continued to expand to meet their community's needs. When two rural pharmacies closed in 2024, the traveling care team filled the gaps.
Michelle Musser, director of ONU's Rural and Underserved Health Scholars Program, told Temple, "The students need those experiences of working in a pharmacy, different from the mobile outreach experiences. This closure allowed them to experience firsthand what a rural pharmacy closure actually does to rural communities."
Building on the first Healthwise Mobile Clinic's success, Raabe College is investing in a second van. Temple adds, "HealthWise will eventually be present in Hardin,
Allen, Auglaize, Hancock, and Wyandot Counties."
A California bill would give non-ultraprocessed food a seal and premium placement on grocery store shelves. (Unsplash photo)
A California lawmaker is promoting a bill that would give non-ultraprocessed foods a “California Certified” seal of approval and premium grocery shelf space to help educate consumers about which foods are the healthiest, report Nicole Norman and Rachel Bluth of Politico. "The legislation is the latest in a broader war on unhealthy food."
On a federal level, the Food and Drug Administration and USDA continue to tease out a national definition for ultraprocessed food. But California lawmakers created their own ultraprocessed food definition in October 2025, which labels ultraprocessed food as "any food or
beverage that contains flavor or color enhancers and that is high in
saturated fats, sodium or specific added sugars or sweeteners," Norman
and Bluth write.
Educating American consumers about the health risks of ultraprocessed foods and removing them from the national diet are "both popular and bipartisan," Politico reports. "It’s a cause popularized at the federal level by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again movement."
Unsurprisingly, companies that make ultraprocessed foods are ramping up their opposition to new laws that decrease their market share of U.S. grocery budgets. Norman and Bluth write, "National manufacturers argue that regulatory burdens drive up the price for consumers and that state regulations on ingredients 'risk undermining the system.'"
California's approach, which labels healthy food, is a new twist on the labeling ultraprocessed food debate. Over the past decade, Latin countries have passed laws that require "warning" labels or color-coded nutritional labels on the front of boxes or wrappers.
In 2024, the FDA began considering requiring food labels that "might flag certain health risks, such as high levels of salt, sugar or saturated fat," The Wall Street Journal reports. According to its website, the FDA is currently "proposinga rule that would require a front-of-package (FOP) nutrition label on most packaged
foods to provide accessible, at-a-glance information to help consumers
quickly and easily identify how foods can be part of a healthy diet."
A look inside Amazon's 17,000-square-foot Missoula facility. (Photo by Eric Dietrich, Montana Free Press)
Amazon is betting that its rural hub expansion plans will help it increase sales and delivery services to its more remote-living customers while lessening its dependence on the U.S. Postal Service, reports Sean McLain of The Wall Street Journal. The company "aims ultimately to have 200 rural delivery hubs serving around 13,000 ZIP Codes covering around 1.2 million square miles of America — an area the size of Texas, California and Alaska combined."
By opening rural hubs, Amazon hopes to "reduce its reliance on the U.S. Postal Service, a relationship that has become rocky following a dispute over contract terms," McLain writes. The company has also used United Parcel Service to complete the final leg of deliveries, which hasn't always gone smoothly either. "In 2013, a sudden surge in Amazon orders overwhelmed UPS, causing some packages to not make it in time for Christmas."
Residents in Conner, Montana, who used to wait about a week for their packages to arrive, are already reaping the benefits of speedy deliveries from the rural hub Amazon built on the outskirts of Missoula. Now most Conner-bound packages arrive within Amazon's traditional two-day window. McLain adds, "Around 14,000 packages leave the [Missoula] warehouse on an average day."
Rural Amazon routes require delivery drivers to carefully plan and be ready to handle extreme weather, big horn sheep, dirt or mud roads, high winds and mountain passes. McLain reports, "Deliveries to the Missoula warehouse come from a large urban hub in Spokane, Wash., a three-hour drive across two mountain passes."
Despite backcountry travel and weather challenges, Amazon plans to "construct around 40 to 50 new delivery hubs a year," McLain reports. At that pace, the company should "be able to ship packages to every U.S. ZIP Code in four years."
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, center, meets in January with governors and representatives of the seven Colorado
River basin states.(Department of the Interior photo)
As negotiations among seven Western states stall over how to share the drying Colorado River, complex water negotiation experts Karen Schlatter and Sharon B. Megdal, writing for The Conversation, believe there is a path to end the deadlock and begin meaningful discussions that could lead to a water division agreement.
Right now, the states are divided into subgroups "based on whether they are in the river’s Upper Basin – Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico – or the Lower Basin, which includes Arizona, Nevada and California," Schlatter and Megdal explain. "Each basin group holds strong positions and has generally been unwilling to shift."
Schlatter and Megdal point out that the Colorado River water conflicts seem like a battle because they are. The Colorado River negotiations include "all five of the most common sources of conflict between people: values, data, relationships, interests and structure."
Over time, negotiations between state water experts have likely become stagnant after so many conflict-filled discussions that a fruitful give-and-take agreement isn't currently possible. Schlatter and Megdal explain, "We believe it’s unreasonable – and unrealistic and unfair – to expect them to be experts at designing and facilitating an effective process for sorting out their differences. . . . Federal officials are not necessarily the best people to run the process either."
Perhaps the most hopeful possibility is for the federal Bureau of Reclamation, which has the authority to decide on water issues for states, to adopt "short-term rules that would give the states another chance to negotiate a longer-term deal – ideally with an unbiased third-party facilitator for support," they explain.
Recent historical water compromise agreements, such as the "collaborative and consensus-based planning process in the Yakima River Basin in Washington state or the Colorado River contingency plans to manage drought in 2019," can serve as examples, Schlatter and Megdal explain. "We believe that an agreement between the seven states is still possible."
The dashboard includes research results on roughly 60 topics related to a county's quality of life.
East Tennessee State University researchers created an online dashboard containing in-depth data about the state's counties. The portal is designed to help policymakers and lawmakers "move beyond superficial data and take a deep dive into why certain rural counties struggle," reports Liz Carey of The Daily Yonder. "Of Tennessee’s 95 counties, 78 are designated as rural, and 70 counties have more than half of their residents in rural areas."
To build the Tennessee Livability Indicators Dashboard, researchers at ETSU's Center for Rural Health and Research used data collected "from various agencies about 60 topics related to the counties’ quality of life," Carey explains. Data points cover "economic development, housing, transportation, education, employment, availability of health care access, and how friendly a community is for aging residents."
Dr. Qian Huang, a research assistant professor at CRHR, told the Yonder, "By bringing these data together, we aim to equip communities, leaders, and organizations with the tools they need to make informed decisions and strengthen livability across the state."
As the state decides where federal funds from the Rural Health Transformation Program are needed most, the dashboard can provide immediate, data-informed guidance. Carey adds, "Factors covered in the dashboard, such as hospital access, teen birth rate, suicide rates, and access to dental healthcare, will also help track successes from the use of those funds."
CRHR was formed in 2019 to help build a broader understanding of and for the state's rural counties. Carey reports, "Dashboard researchers said they hoped the dashboard would be used as a model for other states to be able to drill down into data about their communities, as well."
Ashley Wood, a second-year kindergarten teacher in Phelps County, Missouri, is
learning to teach her students reading with the new coaching model. (Photo via Missouri Independent)
Teachers in rural Missouri are helping students learn to read with a model that applies the science of reading to student learning, paired with teacher support and coaching.
Through the Rural Schools Early Literacy Collaborative, literacy coaches from the national nonprofit TNTP "work directly with teachers in [select Missouri] schools, helping them implement structured reading instruction grounded in the science of reading," reports William Hehemann of the Missouri Independent.
Part of the effort includes coaches trained in reading sciences who regularly visit classrooms to observe teachers in action and model foundational lessons with students for practicing teachers. Hehemann explains, "Teachers receive feedback tied directly to classroom instruction. Coaching conversations are specific, practical and immediately applicable, accelerating growth in instructional practice."
The RSELC is working to improve reading proficiency across the state, where a majority of students are struggling. Hehemann reports, "According to the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, only 27% of Missouri fourth-grade students scored at or above the proficient reading level . . . . Improving early literacy is critical because reading proficiency by the end of third grade is closely linked to long-term academic success."
Early data show that students taught with the coaching model have made significant strides in reading skills. "In Rolla Public Schools, more than 94% of first-grade students demonstrated year-long growth in reading after coaching support began," Hehemann writes. "In Dent-Phelps R-III School District, the share of first graders reading at grade level increased from 25.5% in the fall to 89.4% by the spring."
What began as an experiment in one rural Missouri county is "expanding across the state," Hehemann reports. "The coaching model is being implemented in 60 schools statewide. . . . Education leaders say the expansion reflects growing recognition that improving reading outcomes requires not only a strong curriculum but also sustained coaching and support for teachers."
Less than 10% of Americans reported smoking cigarettes in 2024. (Photo by A. Siimon, Unsplash)
For the first time in recorded U.S. history, the number of Americans who smoke cigarettes has dipped below 10%, reports Sarah Todd for STAT. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collected the data, the U.S. government took the unusual step of releasing it without scientific comment. The lack of a CDC analysis led independent analysts at the digital New England Journal of Medicine Evidence to synthesize the information, which turned out to be good news. "It shows that 9.9% of U.S. adults reported smoking cigarettes in 2024, down from 10.8% in 2023. E-cigarette use remained unchanged from the previous year at 7%."
Wildfires in drought-stricken parts of the U.S. can threaten ranchers' livelihoods by burning through vast swaths of grassland meant to feed a cattle herd, forcing livestock owners to purchase feed or sell livestock. But recently, ranchers have been getting a helping hand from Farm Rescue’s 'Operation Hay Lift,' which steps in and provides free hay, including its delivery, to "help ranchers who lost pasture and feed supplies," reports Jennifer M. Latzke of Kansas Farmer. "With the recent historic wildfires burning more than 701,000 acres across Nebraska, Operation Hay Lift is likely to expand."
Unlike this 1981 couple, some Reese's fans aren't as excited about new ingredient mix-ups.
Once upon a time, when chocolate and peanut butter crashed into each other, it was a happy accident. At least, that's how the 1981 Reese's peanut butter cup ad told the story. But when Reese's food designers create new shapes or design twists, known as "line extensions," not everyone appreciates the new mix-ups. Jonathan Deutsch for The Conversationexplains, "Brad Reese, grandson of the founder, issued an open letter criticizing the Hershey Company for introducing line extensions – in this case, mini hearts for Valentine’s Day, with the flavors familiar to Reese’s lovers but made with cheaper ingredients, such as “chocolate candy” and “peanut butter creme.” While Brad Reese and other vocal Reese's fans may not like the ingredient switches, it's a common food industry practice.
The past few years have burdened many American farmers with high costs and low incomes. Farmers' stress can increase with every extreme weather event, fertilizer cost increase or spiking fuel price. It's good to remember that the Farm Aid Hotline (1-800-FARM-AID) is available Monday–Friday to farmers across the U.S. The Farm Aid Hotline connects farmers with resources for
stress, legal or financial issues. The AgriStress HelpLine (833-897-2474) is an option for farmers in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Missouri, Montana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming. The free, confidential helpline is open 24/7.
Hali Williams, right, in action. She won RodeoHouston's breakaway roping title in 2026. (Photo by Mallory Beinborn, RodeoHouston)
If they'd waited for an invitation or a welcoming wave to take a seat on the horse, they'd still be waiting. "Rodeo said bronco riding wasn’t a sport for women. They got on anyway," reports Haley Potter for Offrange. "Rodeo has tried everything to keep women from it. . . . We were long limited to timed events like barrel racing. . . . Despite a deep history of women in roughstock going back well over a century, modern bronc riding has largely been a man’s game. . . . But all that is changing now."
It's new, it's all about rural, and it's served fresh every week. Say
hello to Yonder Radio -- an hour-long show designed to cover current
events and "feature nuanced stories that represent the 60 million people
who live in rural America, and the distinct communities they call
home," reportsThe Daily Yonder. Each topic will add depth to how news and events
impact rural lives. Interviewees on the show will highlight arts, music and
community projects geared toward rural audiences. Jared Ewy, a veteran
radio personality and regular contributor to the Daily Yonder, is Yonder
Radio's host. The show is also available as a podcast. If
you’re a station interested in broadcasting Yonder Radio, get in contact
with the team at info@yonderradio.com
