Jonathan Ahl
Jonathan Ahl reports from the Rolla Bureau for St. Louis Public Radio. Before coming to St. Louis Public Radio in November of 2018, Jonathan was the General Manager for Tri States Public Radio in Macomb, Illinois. He previously was the News Director at Iowa Public Radio and before that at WCBU in Peoria, Illinois. Jonathan has also held reporting positions in central Illinois for public radio stations.
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Looking for ways to fund lobbying and legal efforts to preserve their way of business, pork producers are turning down guaranteed money that could go to advertising and marketing.
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Farmers in ten states, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri, are now free to use a herbicide that had been restricted in January.
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The University of Missouri’s Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute is projecting a trip to the grocery store will cost 5% more in 2022 compared to last year.
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Russia is a big exporter of fertilizer and its raw ingredients. As economic sanctions cut off that market, farmers are feeling the effects.
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Consumers around the world bought more than double the amount of plant based meat alternatives during the pandemic. But that didn’t curb their appetite for the real thing.
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The pandemic introduced virtual options for the farm show. On the heels of declining numbers of farmers and technology improvements, some predict an eventual end to the in-person gatherings.
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Farmers are going into the growing season looking at fertilizer prices that have gone up as much as 200% over last year. That could lead to higher food prices, more farmers struggling to survive, or both.
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The federal government is offering grant money to help address the problem, but small towns fear they lack the tech knowhow and resources to defend their systems and are daunted by grant applications.
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Small towns far from big cities rely upon federal grants to help them, but numerous definitions of what the government considers rural make that complicated.
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New numbers from the USDA show rural areas are losing their grocery, specialty food and convenience stores and gaining some dollar stores and superstores.