Rural America

How Deregulation Is Helping Turn Eastern Oklahoma into a Factory Farm Sacrifice Zone

Fetid air, polluted water, heavy truck traffic: Since the state loosened regulations a decade ago, a rush of industrial chicken farms is transforming life for rural residents.

Ben Felder

Donald Trump Makes a Mockery of Populism

To call Trump a “populist” is to desecrate the memory of the 19th century movement that took on robber barons like him.

Tim Brinkhof

Don't Pave Paradise

A West Virginia community rallied to stave off the destruction of Cacapon Resort State Park by private developers. Will it last?

Ellie Heffernan

In Small Town Appalachia, Locals Battle a Weapons-Grade Uranium Plant

The company Nuclear Fuel Services wants to process weapons-grade uranium for the U.S. government at a facility in Erwin, Tennessee. Some locals aren’t having it.

Taylor Sisk

A Rural New Deal Could Help Progressives Win Rural America

Championing rural and working-class communities is how progressives can build the trust needed to defuse culture war weapons wielded by the Right.

Anthony Flaccavento

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

Big Dairy is Milking California Dry

A small town fights back against dairy expansion.

Ian Whitaker

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

How Old Oil Wells Become Taxpayers' Problem

Nationwide, oil companies have abandoned more than a million oil and gas wells—and the cost of cleaning them up.

Jonathan Thompson

The Vail-ification of the West

In part two of our series, we visit the Colorado ski towns at the extreme edge of rural gentrification.

Joseph Bullington

Los Trabajadores en Vail no Pueden Darse el Lujo de Vivir Ahí

En la segunda parte de nuestra serie, visitamos las ciudades de esquí de Colorado a borde de la gentrificación rural.

Joseph Bullington

In Montana, an Avalanche of Wealth Is Displacing Workers

The people who feed, clothe and clean up after the West’s rich newcomers can’t afford to live alongside them.

Joseph Bullington