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1 week ago | 
southernfoodways.org | Brooks Lamb |Melissa Booth Hall
A Tough Row to Hoe
Small and midsized farms face serious challenges. Still, argues a Tennessee farm advocate, they’re worth saving.
by Brooks LambPhotos by Kathleen GreesonJess Wilson farms on forty acres in Monteagle, Tennessee. She and her husband, Nate Wilson, have cobbled their land together, buying different parcels at different times. Throughout their farming careers, they have grown a variety of fruits and vegetables. They’ve kept bees and milked goats.
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Jan 12, 2025 | 
barnraisingmedia.com | Kristi Eaton |Bennet Goldstein |Brooks Lamb
For the past few years, Ratliff has both worked for and received support for her art from Nest’s Makers United program. Nest is a New York-based nonprofit committed to unlocking the power of craft to advance economic opportunity and gender equity in the United States and around the world.
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Dec 25, 2024 | 
barnraisingmedia.com | Lee Winkelman |Brooks Lamb |S. Nicole Lane |Maija Hecht
2024 is the year a storied R&B artist put out a transcendent country album. I am talking of course about Swamp Dogg’s latest album Blackgrass: From West Virginia to 125th St. I first encountered Swamp Dogg some 30 years ago when I bought a budget CD that collected soul songs about the Vietnam War.
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Dec 10, 2024 | 
resilience.org | Brooks Lamb |Barn Raiser
This story was originally published by Barn Raiser, your independent source for rural and small town newsFarmers like Dustin Watson are turning toward new land-centered models to overcome the challenges of farm transfer and successionDustin Watson looks over the pastures and woodlands he grew up on. Behind him is the farmhouse his great-grandfather built, not far from the chicken coops and tractor sheds his grandfather raised decades ago.
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Dec 8, 2024 | 
barnraisingmedia.com | Brooks Lamb |Dan Chapman |Sherry Kempf |Bryce Oates
Dustin Watson looks over the pastures and woodlands he grew up on. Behind him is the farmhouse his great-grandfather built, not far from the chicken coops and tractor sheds his grandfather raised decades ago. Cattle graze near one of his favorite places on the farm, the tree he was recently married under. It’s a rare moment of rest for a man who doesn’t often sit still.
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Nov 3, 2024 | 
barnraisingmedia.com | Winona LaDuke |Brooks Lamb
In September, Wisconsin’s GOP U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde falsely claimed that his Democratic opponent, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, had given taxpayer money “to a transgender clinic,” which was apparently a reference to her earmark of federal dollars to support Briarpatch Youth Services, which serves at risk and homeless youth, including those who identify as LGBTQ+.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
postindustrial.com | Brooks Lamb
Country music stars are singing about farmland loss. Will it raise awareness and make a difference? My brother called me from his car on a Tuesday night. After talking for a few minutes, he mentioned a song that had just finished playing on the radio. Justin Moore’s “This Is My Dirt” speaks to my writing and work, he said. I had heard the song before, but I gave it another listen. This time, I pulled the lyrics up and read along.
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Oct 24, 2024 | 
dailyyonder.com | Brooks Lamb
My brother called me from his car on a Tuesday night. After catching up for a few minutes, he mentioned a song that had just finished playing on the radio. Justin Moore’s “This Is My Dirt” speaks directly to my writing and work, he said. I had heard the song before, but I gave it another listen. This time, I pulled the lyrics up and read along. My brother was right. The song tells the story of a farmer who is approached by a real estate developer.
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Mar 13, 2024 | 
resilience.org | Brooks Lamb |Barn Raiser
This story was originally published by Barn Raiser, your independent source for rural and small town news. As land ownership continues to consolidate into fewer and wealthier hands, some small farmers vow to stay in place. In the coming decades, the United States will face a crisis in farmland loss and ownership transfer that will decide the future of our food system and the people and land that support it.
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Sep 6, 2023 | 
modernfarmer.com | Brooks Lamb
Small farmers are struggling. For decades, they’ve been told to “get big or get out,” an imperative levied against them by both public and private forces. Recent statistics on American agriculture reveal a decline of 200,000 farms between 2007 and 2022. Since 1935, we’ve seen a decrease of 4.8 million farms—to 2 million from 6.8 million.
