Rural America
The mission of Rural America In These Times is to make the issues faced by rural America part of national discourse and to overcome the rural-urban divide.
We seek to build bridges, facilitate communication and foster cooperation between urban people who understand the value of a healthy and sustainable agricultural system, and the farmers in our rural communities that provide food that we all eat.
Latest Stories
Construction Companies Are Exploiting Agricultural Visas to Underpay Workers. The Supreme Court Could Change That.
By bringing in H-2A visa workers to construct hog confinement facilities, companies can dodge overtime pay and undercut local construction workers. One company has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in.
Sky Chadde and Ryan Murphy
The Tragedy of Misunderstanding the Commons
Twelfth-century peasants developed commons practices to survive domination. We could use them to reclaim our lives from capitalism.
Steven Stoll
It’s Too Hot to Keep Using Pesticides
Farm workers are being sickened by agrochemicals—and, due to extreme heat, by the PPE they wear to protect themselves.
Harrison Watson
Despite Heat Deaths, Many States Don’t Require Water Breaks
As temperatures break records, lawmakers in state after state have declined to require that companies give their outdoor workers shade and water breaks.
Barbara Barrett
Fighting Industrial Development and Defending Black History in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”
In Wallace, descendants of enslaved people live on one of the last preserved stretches of Louisiana’s Mississippi River. Now, a massive grain export facility threatens the community’s history and future.
Daja E. Henry
A Farmer’s Almanac for the End of This World
The Earthbound Farmer’s Almanac offers a place for sharing stories, experiments and strategies for food autonomy in our age of ecological devastation.
Joseph Bullington
How Land Swaps Turn Public Lands into Private Playgrounds
Land exchanges, a management tool used by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, too often benefit rich landowners at the public’s expense.
Erica Rosenberg
Inside the Government’s Failing Program to Protect Farmworkers
Fifty years ago, the U.S. created a program to protect farmworkers from dangerous housing, wage theft and other rampant abuse. Internal documents show a failing system.
Johnathan Hettinger and Sky Chadde