Harvest Public Media Group

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OUR MISSION:   Global demand for food is rising, and the push and pull for resources has serious ramifications for our country’s economic recovery and prosperity. Today’s emerging agenda for agriculture is headlined by energy and climate change, food safety, biofuels, animal production and welfare, human health, water quality, and local food systems. By examining these local, regional and national issues and their implications, Harvest Public Media has created a rich multimedia resource devoted to food, agriculture and rural issues.

HOW WE REPORT:   Most Harvest Public Media stories begin with radio — regular reports are aired on our six member stations in the Midwest. But Harvest also explores issues through online analyses, television reports, podcasts, photography, video, blogs and social networking.  

FUNDING:   Harvest Public Media is a collaboration of public media stations across the Midwest and is funded by those stations. Initial funding was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. 

PARTNER STATIONS: KCUR inKansas City (lead station); Iowa Public Radio; Nebraska Public Media; WILL in Illinois; St. Louis PUblic Radio; KOSU in Oklahoma City

Series

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2 Pieces

For the Midwest farmer, every year is unique. Early spring. Long, cold winter. Sizzling heat wave. Mother Nature throws up constant curve balls. So, honestly, what’s the big deal about climate change? Well, that’s what we’re exploring here at Harvest Public Media in our ongoing series “Climate Pains: America’s Breadbasket braces for change in the weather.”

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5 Pieces

In a five-part special report, Harvest Public Media asks: Just who will be the U.S. farmer of the future?

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6 Pieces

Americans seem to be spending a lot of time talking about how and what they eat. Credit the local food movement for much of this discussion. From home gardens to farmers markets to a concern about food miles, Americans are connecting to food in new ways. Some “lovacores” even advocate for food systems to be rebuilt on the premise of a local food advantage.

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5 Pieces

In this five-part series, Harvest Public Media explores the American ethanol industry and its impact on consumers and rural communities. The first three parts of this series aired on NPR’s Morning Edition, and the entire series is free for download and broadcast. You can find an online package HERE; please link back to this on your station’s site should you air any part of this series. Doing so will help support Harvest’s mission to produce high quality agriculture and biofuel journalism for public media.


Pieces

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The answer to the lack of robots in meat processing gives insight into the limits of robotic technology, and the economics of what it takes to put ...

Bought by WABE and New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 11, 2015
  • Length: 04:07
  • Purchases: 2
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HOST INTRO: When you think of moving to a housing development in the suburbs, you might imagine golf courses, swimming pools and rows of identical ...

Bought by WABE and WFIU


  • Added: Dec 17, 2013
  • Length: 04:51
  • Purchases: 2
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As farm bill negotiations continue in Washington, it’s fairly certain that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, will be cut. One...

  • Added: Dec 02, 2013
  • Length: 03:29
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As farmers across the Midwest have simplified the landscape and plowed up grassland to grow more corn and soybeans, habitat for pheasants and other...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Dec 02, 2013
  • Length: 05:01
  • Purchases: 1
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Farmers and scientists have long understood that what lives beneath the soil affects how crops grow. That spurred the field of plant pathology, whi...

Bought by WABE


  • Added: Dec 02, 2013
  • Length: 04:05
  • Purchases: 1
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Hot-button food issues of the day—such as the use of genetically modified organisms or the treatment of livestock—tend to pit large industries agai...

Bought by KOSU


  • Added: Nov 11, 2013
  • Length: 04:06
  • Purchases: 1
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Organic food is a hot market in the U.S. The Organic Trade Association says that sales over the last five years have grown 35 percent. But there’s ...

Bought by KOSU


  • Added: Nov 11, 2013
  • Length: 04:01
  • Purchases: 1
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HOST INTRO: Thanks to tight competition, hog farmers all over the country are feeling a push to expand or get out of the business. That means indoo...

Bought by KOSU


  • Added: Nov 11, 2013
  • Length: 03:42
  • Purchases: 1
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Host intro: What goes up, generally comes down. And that’s certainly true this year with corn prices. After record highs, farmers are expecting the...

  • Added: Oct 17, 2013
  • Length: 04:18
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The export market is becoming more and more important to U.S. farmers. While the final numbers haven’t been tallied, it looks like American farmers...

  • Added: Oct 17, 2013
  • Length: 03:57