Harvest Public Media

The peach crop across the U.S. is much better this summer than it was last year when cold temperatures affected crops in Georgia and South Carolina. Yet in southern Illinois, while some orchards are getting a bumper crop, others are having yet another year of low production.

Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s SUN Bucks doles out $40 per month over the summer for each eligible child. This is the first year for the program, and it's expected to reach about 21 million kids. Yet 13 states, including Oklahoma and Iowa, turned down the funding.

Warmer temperatures are leading to more extreme precipitation, dry periods and dangerously humid heat waves all at once. But in a complicated system, some things aren’t changing as expected.

Many small businesses owners are planning on retiring soon, but finding buyers to keep the businesses going can be a challenge, especially in rural areas.

Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic “dead zone.”

Abortion bans in some Midwestern states are forcing families to seek abortions outside of their home states. In Nebraska, one family's pregnancy was diagnosed with a complication late in the first trimester, right when the state's ban kicks in.

With bird flu spilling into dairies across the U.S., several Midwestern states have ramped up efforts to curb the virus. Few have expanded testing requirements like Iowa.

One year away from a federal deadline to reduce nutrient runoff into the Gulf of Mexico by 20%, increases in tile drainage, livestock and fertilizer use have made success unlikely.

Congress ended mandatory labeling for pork and beef in 2015. Now some livestock groups want to see labeling requirements included in the upcoming farm bill that would make it clear where livestock was born, raised and slaughtered.