Did one of Nevada’s top water regulators try to cash in on the drought?
Agriculture
Ranch Diaries: What life’s like as a female rancher
Some ranchers still say women ruin horses and a rancher and his wife can be paid at two-for-the-price-of-one.
Raw manure, public water and a failed crackdown: the case of Snydar Farm
Washington’s Dept. of Ecology appears hesitant and often barred from regulating agriculture.
Innovation amid drought in the Sacramento Delta
Checking in with a farmer who traded some of his water for long term survival.
Can small communities tackle global food security?
Climate change has profound impacts on growing seasons and crop yields, but local solutions have promise.
Contaminated soil lingers where apples once grew in Washington
Soil at hundreds of properties contains lead and arsenic that can lower children’s IQs and increase cancer risk.
Fish and Wildlife and integrity, a rental crisis, California homelessness and more.
Hcn.org news in brief.
Washington welcomes wolves back — across deep political divides
The state’s emphasis on non-lethal control is saving livestock and wolves, but rural residents are still leery.
Where nuns are ranch hands
Colorado’s Abbey of St. Walburga is a spiritual refuge — and a working ranch.
Farmers team up with Humane Society on behalf of animals
Like all farmers and ranchers, Kevin Fulton has experienced his share of tough days at work. But he does everything possible to make sure that his animals – goats, sheep, cattle and chickens – never have to experience more than one bad day themselves. “If we can provide an environment where our animals only have […]
Researchers find an answer to invasive cheatgrass
Will this native bacteria finally thwart one of the most invasive weeds in North America?
The Colorado River’s desalination plant is on its last legs
The obscure Paradox Valley Unit keeps the Colorado River’s salinity levels in check for farmers, but causes quakes upstream.
Sheep wars rage on in southwest Montana
Was this the final grazing season in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest?
Groups sue Wyoming over ‘data trespassing’ law
The laws make it a crime to collect data on open land if the collector lacks certain permissions.
How to drought-proof California’s farms
Three years into its most severe drought in over a thousand years, it’s unclear how much longer California can continue growing half of the nation’s produce. The crisis confronting Big Ag and family farmers alike may signal the end of agriculture as it’s currently practiced. But it need not spell doom for farming altogether: On […]
Where agriculture and aesthetics go hand-in-glove
Former Seattleite and author Bryce Andrews writes and ranches in Montana.
Ranch Diaries: One dog can be worth three hands
A cowboy and a good canine or two can handle several hundred cattle.
Montana farmers start talking climate change
The Montana Farmers Union is fighting political polarization with pragmatic discussions about how to adapt and what to expect.
Ranch Diaries: Is it worth it to raise our calves ‘naturally’?
The logistics of raising natural beef at Triangle P.
Beekeepers vs. invasive species rules on federal lands
Should apiarists be allowed to place hives of non-native honeybees on public lands?
