Barn Raiser

barnraisingmedia.comNewsletter

11 Nov 2024

Welcome to the Barn Raiser bluesky! Subscribe to our newsletter to receive regular updates on the issues facing rural communities and small towns! barnraisingmedia.com/newsletter/

barnraisingmedia.comIt’s Time to Stop a Runaway TrainA new map makes it possible to see where factory farms exist. It’s just the first step voters can take to find out if their water is polluted and where their representatives stand.

2h

A new map makes it possible to see where factory farms exist. It’s just the first step voters can take to find out if their water is polluted and where their representatives stand on one of the major public health issues of our day. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comCongressional Campaign Lets Rural and Small Town Volunteers Take the LeadIn an era of alienating politics, locals in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District are trying something new: making organizing fun again.

6h

In an era of nationalized campaign strategies and divisive politics, a campaign in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District is doing something different: letting local organizers lead. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comFinding Hope in Troubled TimesHow do people and political movements find hope when obstacles mount and success seems far from certain?

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How do people and political movements find hope when obstacles mount and success seems far from certain? Author Paul Rogat Loeb probes this question in a newly updated book that includes stories by famous and not-so-famous activists from around the world. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comConventional Farmers Go Rogue in IowaA trio of row crop farmers in Iowa are doing the unthinkable: challenging the status quo of industrial ag in the fight to save Iowa’s water quality.

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A trio of row crop farmers in Iowa are doing what was once unthinkable: challenging the status quo of industrial ag in the fight to save Iowa’s water quality. They’re attempting to build a following to pressure candidates to take swift action. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

Barn Raiser reposted

Michael Grunwald

@mikegrunwald.bsky.social

3d

Such a generous @barnraiser.bsky.social profile of me and my not very successful efforts to change people’s minds about food and ag. I loved “compelling, funny and self-effacing,” but “boyish looking at 56” was when I had to make sure I wasn’t being punked. barnraisingmedia.com/can-we-feed-...

barnraisingmedia.comCan We Feed the World Without Frying the Planet?At this year’s Real Organic conference, two leading voices in food systems debate about how we can feed 10 billion people while also feeding the planet.

barnraisingmedia.comRural Voters Can Swing ElectionsRural voters comprise 20% of the electorate and can determine electoral outcomes but it is hard for candidate to reach them.

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Rural America is not a monolith. The people the New Pennsylvania Project is trying to reach are more varied—and often more dispersed—than broad descriptions of the “rural vote” suggest. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.com‘Win, Lose or Draw,’ Pearson Campaign Builds a Progressive Coalition in Rural TennesseeWhen Tennessee Republicans redrew congressional district lines in May, they intended to make District 9 a safe Republican seat. Yet Justin Pearson is now n striking distance of his Republican…

4d

“I think our message is reaching Republicans and conservative people because it is people-first policies, and for anybody with a good conscience or goodwill, I think that resonates.” barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comCan We Feed the World Without Frying the Planet?At this year’s Real Organic conference, two leading voices in food systems debate about how we can feed 10 billion people while also feeding the planet.

4d

“We can’t decarbonize the atmosphere if we keep vaporizing trees.” barnraisingmedia.com/can-we-feed-...

barnraisingmedia.comCan We Feed the World Without Frying the Planet?At this year’s Real Organic conference, two leading voices in food systems debate about how we can feed 10 billion people while also feeding the planet.

5d

The clash between industrial agriculture and the organic food movement took center stage at this year’s Real Organic conference. With a world population expected to grow to 10 billion by 2050, how will we grow the world’s food? barnraisingmedia.com/can-we-feed-...

barnraisingmedia.comCan We Feed the World Without Frying the Planet?At this year’s Real Organic conference, two leading voices in food systems debate about how we can feed 10 billion people while also feeding the planet.

5d

Real Organic conference explores contrasting approaches to feeding 10 billion people barnraisingmedia.com/can-we-feed-...

barnraisingmedia.comAs Growers Sow Division, Farmworkers Choose SolidarityThe rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together.

6d

The rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together. barnraisingmedia.com/as-growers-s...

barnraisingmedia.com‘Win, Lose or Draw,’ Pearson Campaign Builds a Progressive Coalition in Rural TennesseeWhen Tennessee Republicans redrew congressional district lines in May, they intended to make District 9 a safe Republican seat. Yet Justin Pearson is now n striking distance of his Republican…

6d

In 2023, Pearson was expelled by Republicans from the state legislature as part of a protest for tighter gun safety laws with the “Tennessee Three.” Instead of silencing his cause, the expulsion drew national attention and rallied Memphians around his leadership. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comNew Maps Challenge the Longest Serving Woman in CongressFor over 40 years, Marcy Kaptur has represented Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. Will her legacy outlast newly drawn maps that give Republicans an advantage?

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Graham Oberly, an Ohio Farmers Union member who owns a produce operation in Champaign County, said Kaptur has been responsive to the concerns of smaller-scale farmers. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comNew Maps Challenge the Longest Serving Woman in CongressFor over 40 years, Marcy Kaptur has represented Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. Will her legacy outlast newly drawn maps that give Republicans an advantage?

Ohio Rep. Marcy Kaptur navigates growing rural-urban divide barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.com‘Win, Lose or Draw,’ Pearson Campaign Builds a Progressive Coalition in Rural TennesseeWhen Tennessee Republicans redrew congressional district lines in May, they intended to make District 9 a safe Republican seat. Yet Justin Pearson is now n striking distance of his Republican…

GOP gerrymander faces blowback amid data center opposition and economic discontent barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comNew Maps Challenge the Longest Serving Woman in CongressFor over 40 years, Marcy Kaptur has represented Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. Will her legacy outlast newly drawn maps that give Republicans an advantage?

For over 40 years, Marcy Kaptur has represented the people of Toledo in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District. But on November 3, Kaptur is running for reelection to a new seat that picks up several red, predominantly rural counties. @lizskalka.bsky.social barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.com‘Win, Lose or Draw,’ Pearson Campaign Builds a Progressive Coalition in Rural TennesseeWhen Tennessee Republicans redrew congressional district lines in May, they intended to make District 9 a safe Republican seat. Yet Justin Pearson is now n striking distance of his Republican…

When Tennessee Republicans redrew congressional district lines in May, they intended to make District 9 a safe Republican seat. In response, state Sen. Justin Pearson has focused on issues that appeal to both urban and rural voters across the political spectrum. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

As Wisconsin hollows out access to liberal arts and higher ed, experts warn of education “desertification” barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comAs Growers Sow Division, Farmworkers Choose SolidarityThe rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together.

One H-2A worker from Mexico, Juan Carlos Santiago Rincon, died July 8, and a second from Jamaica, Earl Edwards, died on July 31. barnraisingmedia.com/as-growers-s...

barnraisingmedia.comAs Growers Sow Division, Farmworkers Choose SolidarityThe rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together.

In 2013, the Labor Department certified 98,821 H-2A jobs; in 2025 it certified 398,258 jobs, about a four-fold increase. Moreover, the positions tend to be concentrated with the largest farm operators (those with 500 or more jobs). barnraisingmedia.com/as-growers-s...

barnraisingmedia.comAs Growers Sow Division, Farmworkers Choose SolidarityThe rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together.

The rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together. barnraisingmedia.com/as-growers-s...

barnraisingmedia.comAs Growers Sow Division, Farmworkers Choose SolidarityThe rapid expansion of H-2A visas has allowed corporate farms to pit workers against each other. Yet workers are standing together.

Each year, members of the farmworker union Familias Unidas por la Justicia hold a five-mile march to remember the deadly trouble that ended the life of one H-2A worker, Honesto Silva, a 28-year-old married father of three. barnraisingmedia.com/as-growers-s...

barnraisingmedia.comRural Voters Can Swing ElectionsRural voters comprise 20% of the electorate and can determine electoral outcomes but it is hard for candidate to reach them.

Rural voters nationwide make up roughly a fifth of the American electorate, even as they live across communities that can be more difficult for campaigns and civic organizations to reach. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comRural Voters Can Swing ElectionsRural voters comprise 20% of the electorate and can determine electoral outcomes but it is hard for candidate to reach them.

Reaching them is the hard part barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

Barn Raiser reposted

Institute for Policy Studies

@ips-dc.org

barnraisingmedia.comPeople Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t ExperiencedFor many Americans, democracy is an abstraction. We need experience with democracy as something we actually do: a system we participate in to shape the world around us.

NEW: Community life — places where you can walk in and know people, take responsibility for something, make decisions together — is collapsing all over the country. Defending democracy nationally requires rebuilding this locally. IPS fellow @katehesspace.bsky.social in @barnraiser.bsky.social:

barnraisingmedia.comRural Voters Can Swing ElectionsRural voters comprise 20% of the electorate and can determine electoral outcomes but it is hard for candidate to reach them.

Rural organizers tell Barn Raiser’s reporter about long drives to drop boxes, vanishing local newspapers, expanding civic deserts and disenchanted voters who wonder where the candidates or their respective parties were the rest of the year. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comRural Voters Can Swing ElectionsRural voters comprise 20% of the electorate and can determine electoral outcomes but it is hard for candidate to reach them.

Rural Americans are one-fifth of the electorate, enough to swing elections where the candidates are running neck and neck. So why do campaigns struggle to reach them? barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

Barn Raiser reposted

Bucks County Beacon

@buckscountybeacon.com

buckscountybeacon.comOPINION: People Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t Experienced - Bucks County BeaconDemocracy can’t just be something to ask people to defend. We have to rebuild the places where people actually practice it.

People Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t Experienced | Democracy can’t just be something to ask people to defend. We have to rebuild the places where people actually practice it, writes Kate Hess Pace in @barnraiser.bsky.social.

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

To mark Boo U’s closing, instructors and students held a celebration to pay tribute to the school. Among the guests: members of the very first graduating class, who received their associate degrees in the 1970s, two years after the school opened. barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comPeople Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t ExperiencedFor many Americans, democracy is an abstraction. We need experience with democracy as something we actually do: a system we participate in to shape the world around us.

Democracy can’t just be something to ask people to defend. We have to rebuild the places where people actually practice it. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

In recent years the pace of colleges shutting down has ticked up. According to analysis by the Hechinger Report, colleges are now closing at a rate of nearly one per week. barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

As Wisconsin hollows out access to liberal arts and higher ed, experts warn of education “desertification” barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

Experts warn the recent demise of two-year colleges, driven by years of budget cuts and state policy, represents a “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students. barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comPeople Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t ExperiencedFor many Americans, democracy is an abstraction. We need experience with democracy as something we actually do: a system we participate in to shape the world around us.

Democracy can’t just be something to ask people to defend. We have to rebuild the places where people actually practice it. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comPeople Won’t Defend a Democracy They Haven’t ExperiencedFor many Americans, democracy is an abstraction. We need experience with democracy as something we actually do: a system we participate in to shape the world around us.

For many Americans, democracy is an abstraction. In rural Indiana, one organizer learned the erosion of civic institutions meant it was difficult to organize in support of democracy as a concept. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

Barn Raiser reposted

MDRC

@mdrc-news.bsky.social

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

Gutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students Behind (quotes MDRC's Alyssa Ratledge) via @barnraiser.bsky.social barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

With their focus on the liberal arts, Wisconsin’s two-year transfer colleges have long provided an accessible on-ramp to higher ed for rural and first-generation college students. barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comHow Do You Build Working-Class Solidarity in Rural America?A new memoir by Beth Howard, an organizer and daughter of a coal miner, explores the politics of organizing white working-class Appalachians.

Beth Howard writes that to mend divisions we must “love harder” barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comGutting Two-Year Colleges Leaves Rural Students BehindExperts warns the demise of Wisconsin’s two-year liberal arts transfer colleges represents the equivalent of “desertification” of education for rural and first-generation students.

As Wisconsin hollows out access to liberal arts and higher ed, experts warn of education “desertification” barnraisingmedia.com/gutting-two-...

barnraisingmedia.comUnion Smokejumper Faces MAGA Radio Host to Replace ZinkeMontana’s 1st Congressional District is split geographically by the Continental Divide. It is now split politically as Democrat Sam Forstag, a union leader and smokejumper, has pulled into a…

This race will ultimately come down to Montanans voting their values—and hoping their next representative can help put out the political fires in D.C. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comUnion Smokejumper Faces MAGA Radio Host to Replace ZinkeMontana’s 1st Congressional District is split geographically by the Continental Divide. It is now split politically as Democrat Sam Forstag, a union leader and smokejumper, has pulled into a…

Grizzly bears, timber and dead livestock could sway western Montana race barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comUSDA Cuts, Labor Shortages Rankle Struggling Farm EconomyMore than 60% of U.S. mushrooms are grown in southeast Pennsylvania. But the Trump administration’s immigration policy and cuts to conservation funding and USDA staff have made the industry a…

For farmers in the district, that places the broader debate over federal agricultural policy alongside the immediate question Weber raises: how much support will be available to farmers trying to keep their operations viable? barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comUSDA Cuts, Labor Shortages Rankle Struggling Farm EconomyMore than 60% of U.S. mushrooms are grown in southeast Pennsylvania. But the Trump administration’s immigration policy and cuts to conservation funding and USDA staff have made the industry a…

Trump policies collide with one of Pennsylvania’s oldest agricultural economies barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comUnion Smokejumper Faces MAGA Radio Host to Replace ZinkeMontana’s 1st Congressional District is split geographically by the Continental Divide. It is now split politically as Democrat Sam Forstag, a union leader and smokejumper, has pulled into a…

Montana’s 1st Congressional District is split geographically by the Continental Divide. It is now split politically as Democrat Sam Forstag, a union leader and smokejumper, has pulled into a dead-heat against Aaron Flint, a conservative radio talk show host barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comUSDA Cuts, Labor Shortages Rankle Struggling Farm EconomyMore than 60% of U.S. mushrooms are grown in southeast Pennsylvania. But the Trump administration’s immigration policy and cuts to conservation funding and USDA staff have made the industry a…

More than 60% of U.S. mushrooms are grown in southeast Pennsylvania. But the Trump administration’s immigration policies, and its cuts to conservation funding and USDA staff, have made the industry a political flashpoint. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comA New System of Labor Threatens Farmworker PowerA new system of labor is concentrating power with corporate agriculture and away from self-organized farmworker crews.

Harvesting machines and H-2A visas are concentrating power with growers and away from self-organized farmworker crews barnraisingmedia.com/a-new-system...

barnraisingmedia.comHow Do You Build Working-Class Solidarity in Rural America?A new memoir by Beth Howard, an organizer and daughter of a coal miner, explores the politics of organizing white working-class Appalachians.

"It’s apparent that Howard has strong organizing chops and is bringing together people who are customarily overlooked by politicians, advocacy groups and foundations." barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...

barnraisingmedia.comWhat Rural Voters Think About Trump as the Midterms ApproachMost voters want candidates to talk about costs as economic frustrations test Republican support in key rural strongholds.

About half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than when President Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new survey that points to economic frustration among a key group. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...