Something’s got to give in Central Valley farming. The only question is what.
Agriculture
Posted inFebruary 22, 2016: Fractured
Far from home, the West’s foreign sheepherders get a pay raise
Since the ’50s, Western states have brought in international workers but offer them few of the benefits given other workers.
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Will this desert community survive its water overdraft problem?
Borrego Springs, California, was founded on the promise of endless water. Now they must conserve — or else.
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No, federal land transfers are not in the Constitution
Legal scholars debunk arguments about how founding documents support local control of all lands.
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The surprising history of the Malheur wildlife refuge
The refuge’s creation helped support nearby ranchers.
Posted inJanuary 25, 2016: The Forever War
Montana rancher looks to the past to prepare for tomorrow’s climate
Can re-engineering the family ranch help it survive climate change?
Posted inJanuary 25, 2016: The Forever War
Wildlife Services and its eternal war on predators
The federal agency has been researching nonlethal means to protect livestock for decades. So why is it still killing so many carnivores?
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Economic downturns fuel Sagebrush Rebellion events
Natural resource-dependent rural economies help explain why disputes happen where they do.
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Who’s who inside and on the outskirts of the Malheur occupation
Here are the most vocal occupiers, along with a core group of militia members staying in Burns.
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Former BLM chief: Bundys ‘pursuing an agenda’ on public land
Bob Abbey was Bureau of Land Management chief from 2009 to 2012 and Nevada state director from 1997 to 2005. In a recent interview with High Country News, he discusses the BLM’s response to ranchers, including Cliven Bundy in Nevada, who broke federal laws, as well as the importance of collaborating with local law enforcement when it comes […]
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The BLM’s inconsistent approach toward rule breakers
A look at how the feds have — and have not — punished individuals for defying regulations.
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Malheur occupation, explained
The deep history behind the Bundy brothers’ takeover of a wildlife refuge in Oregon.
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Forty years of Sagebrush Rebellion
The Oregon occupation, the 2014 Bundy standoff and many other stories are all related to a long-simmering movement.
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Locavores aren’t loved by everybody
In the last 20 years, the amount of locally grown foods consumed in the American diet has tripled, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it now comprises 2 percent of the food consumed in the country. As with anything that’s popular, some have seen fit to attack this trend. Why do they do […]
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Big Ag stands on shifting ground
Between 2006 and 2011, farmers on the western edge of the Midwest’s farm belt in Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and the Dakotas converted more than 1.3 million acres of grasslands to corn and soybean fields. Some people were seriously alarmed. Wildlife habitat was destroyed, and water, soil and the air itself suffered. But that conversion of […]
Posted inDecember 7, 2015: Good Neighbors
Why being a good neighbor is a good idea
Researchers look to Southwestern ranchers to learn why we share — and what happens when we don’t.
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Range riders track wolves in eastern Washington
Wolf-livestock conflicts have increased, and ranchers and environmentalists are gathering data to mitigate the clashes.
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Will GMO salmon harm Alaska’s fishing industry?
Fishermen fear AquaBounty’s creation will collapse salmon prices, but history tells a more complex tale.
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Pot growers put huge energy demand on the grid
Utilities should view legalization as an opportunity, not a threat.