Matt Barron

1 month ago | barnraisingmedia.com | Justin Perkins |Anjulie Rao |Joel Bleifuss |Matt Barron

In 1973, Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz infamously instructed farmers: “Get big or get out.” Fast forward 52 years, and a handful of multinational corporations control America’s agricultural economy. As the nonprofit, farmer-led organization Farm Action has observed, this is not an accident. Decades of rollbacks in antitrust law, mergers and market manipulation through price fixing and collusion has allowed corporations to control virtually every link in the food supply chain.

Jan 22, 2025 | barnraisingmedia.com | Matt Barron |Frederick Clarkson |Bennet Goldstein |Maija Hecht

Much has been made of the problem the Democrats have in messaging. Why were the things they do to help rural folks and working-class voters not better known and appreciated at the ballot box on Election Day last November? You would think that as part of his re-election campaign last year ex-Sen.

Jan 21, 2025 | dailyyonder.com | Robin Johnson |Matt Barron

There are many reasons for the outcome of the 2024 elections being cast about, but Democrat’s continuing problems in rural America stand out. Take the US Senate races in the Great Lakes states, including the Blue Wall. Four incumbent Democrats ran for reelection and one open seat featured a sitting and former members of Congress facing off. Senator Amy Klobuchar stands out above everyone else with a solid 58.1% of the two-party vote in Minnesota.

Dec 29, 2024 | barnraisingmedia.com | Wendell Berry |Melissa Cropper |Stephanie Woodard |Matt Barron

Wendell Berry responds to “White Rural Rage” and Paul Krugman. “Those of us who speak for the country (‘rural America’) must never give up” by Wendell Berry The president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers explains why Vance’s extreme agenda runs counter to the rural culture of helping one’s neighbors.

Nov 20, 2024 | barnraisingmedia.com | Matt Barron |Dan Chapman |Bryce Oates |Jake Davis

When Americans walk up to the meat case at their local supermarket or grocery store, they are looking for low prices on that package of pork chops, chicken wings or the holiday ham. Cheap food is a reality for most of us. U.S. eaters pay a lower share of their incomes for food than any nation in the world. But that cheap food exacts a brutal, unseen cost far from the checkout counter in the form of abused animals and workers, environmental degradation and ravaged rural communities.