The Rural Blog

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. Links may expire, require subscription or go behind pay walls. Please send news and knowledge you think would be useful to benjy.hamm@uky.edu.

The Rural Blog

PAGES

Quick hits: SS Edmund Fitzgerald mystery remains; internet carriers team up; complex beef pricing; what to wear for extreme-weather reporting

Quick hits: Bakery sign debate; global cheese demand; Marlboro man's mystique; discover the Stargazer Highway

Ag round-up: Americans love butter and cheese; Brooke Rollins' nomination; toxic farm fertilizer; what to give a farmer?

More modern cheesemaking was created by rural folks; the steps to make it are delicious dairy science

Quick hits: A good job for bots; farm safety for kids; double-dairy delights; blueberry contests; what's in your cart?

U.S. dairy herd growth hits a 22-year low; breeding for beef operations offers significantly higher profit margin

Quick hits: Elmo helps adults; schools sue social media; rural hearing loss; chatbot and climate deniers talk

As more Americans chose to eat more cheese, farmers look for ways to increase milk fat content

Full-fat milk may not pose health risks; new studies show the type of dairy is more important than fat content

New trade deal with Japan would lower or eliminate tariffs on $7 billion in American food and agricultural products

Executives at dairy-promotion nonprofit get huge salaries from farmers' milk checks even as dairy farms go bankrupt

Farmers urge suspension of tariffs on Mexico

If cheese made from raw milk is outlawed, only outlaws will have raw milk cheese

Artisan cheese maker at center of food safety battle

More states may OK raw-milk sales to help dairies, but FDA may ban sale of aged raw-milk cheese

Host of lobbying interests oppose extending milk-promotion fee to importers of dairy products