Kansas City, MO – Agriculture is a big business fueled by big businesses. And although farmers themselves still come in many sizes, the distinction between corporate ownership and family farmer is blurring.

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A surprising thing happens while touring Chris Boeckmann’s turkey farm, where 50,000 birds are grown each year for Cargill Inc.

Chris Boeckmann grows turkeys for Cargill on his Loose Creek, Mo., farm. But he also raises grass-fed all-natural beef for his private label. (Photo by Peggy Lowe, Harvest Public Media)

After seeing the huge brooder barn, after looking into a second enormous facility for the older birds and after spying the Cargill sign, the obvious conclusion is that this is a corporate farm.

Then the tour takes a turn in the opposite direction.

After a drive past those barns and down a rambling, gutted road, out on the rest of Boeckmann’s 185 acres, is a small herd of cattle. Unlike his turkeys, Boeckmann is raising these 50 animals without hormones or antibiotics and they are roaming freely in pristine pastures.

Huh?

“When I talk to people about the beef production, I get that exact reaction. Well, aren’t you working both sides of the fence?’” Boeckmann said. “And quite frankly, yeah, we are.”

Boeckmann is a good example of the way food production is trending these days, a hybrid farmer who works with the large multinational corporations that control the agricultural markets but who is also responding to consumers increasing demand for “natural” food.

“There’s seems to be a bifurcation,” said Harvey S. James, Jr., an associate ag economics professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “If you look at trends in the number of farms, we’re seeing an increase in the number of very large farms and the very rapid increase in the number of very small farms.”

Boeckmann incorporated his all-natural grass-fed beef operation this year and is selling under his Boeckmann Family Farms label to local customers. (Photo by Peggy Lowe, Harvest Public Media)

Boeckmann has been raising turkeys for Cargill, which is among the top four companies producing turkeys in the U.S., for 25 years. He signed with the company in 1987, soon after he took over his family’s farm in Loose Creek, Mo., about 15 miles east of Jefferson City.

About that same time farms began the intense concentration of markets, producing ever larger amounts of food. The median-sized poultry operation (half producing less, half producing more) for example, grew from 300,000 birds a year in 1987 to 681,600 birds in 2007, an increase of 127 percent, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. Production of hogs, cattle, dairy and field crops also grew exponentially.

Running a large operation for a corporation has its pros and cons. Boeckmann’s contract with Cargill lessens his risk in a risky business, giving him an annual income he can count on, he said. But on the negative side, the contract is strict and he must abide by Cargill’s dictates.

Boeckmann is a hybrid farmer who works with the large, multinational corporations that control the agricultural markets, but also responds to increasing consumer demand for "natural" food. (Photo by Peggy Lowe, Harvest Public Media)

“Kind of a common joke among poultry producers is that we’re just contracted labor and a lot of time it’s referred to as that,” Boeckmann said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about the poultry industry or contract hogs or swine. Realize that the corporation owns the birds, so they have total control of genetics. They manufacture and make the feed. They have total control of nutrition.”

That negative feeling is not just with farmers. The term “corporate farming” took on a bad connotation after films like “Food, Inc.” and Michael Pollan’s book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” criticized large industrial agribusiness. Consumers noticed and began increasingly demanding food free of drugs, raised in an environmentally friendly way and using production methods that consider animal welfare.

Suddenly the locally grown food movement took off, growing into a $7 billion business last year, up from $4.8 billion in 2008. A new food culture emerged, with fresh food growing by nearly 7 percent from 2003-2009 and packaged foods declining by 2 percent, according to the Hartman Group, a research and consulting firm for the food and beverage industries.

“We believe what is going on in American food culture has been a long-term shift towards wanting higher quality and fresher-tasting and fresher-feeling foods that do not have ingredient panels with 100 words on them,” said James Richardson, a senior vice president at the Hartman Group.

But here’s what those same consumers might not know: the term “corporate farming” is a bit ambiguous out in farm country, where a corporation might simply be a long-established family with a large crop or livestock operation. Incorporating the farm, James said, is simply a legal way to protect the family.

“People who work and run these large farms see themselves as farmers,” James said. “They wear the cowboy boots, they have the hats. They’re in rural America. They’re the neighbors. It’s just a more rationalized large-scale operation.”

Boeckmann is in a similar situation, although on a much smaller scale. He incorporated his beef operation this year and is selling under his Boeckmann Family Farms label to local customers, restaurants and groceries.

Although his beef customers are asking for natural turkeys, Boeckmann said he can’t do that – yet. His Cargill contract stipulates that he can’t raise any other birds on his farm. But he is exploring that option, he said, and time will tell.

“It’s something that in the long run, we might take a serious look at. Is that the direction we want to go? There’s obviously pros and cons and I don’t have the answer for that yet, where we intend to go,” he said. “But it’s definitely something the consumers may drive us in one direction or another, over time.”

Editorial note: You can’t feed the growing world population without farmers. But there are serious questions today about who will take on the job a few decades from now. Farmers are getting older, and technological, cultural and political forces are bringing immense changes to those who build their lives around the land.

In this weeklong special report on “The Farmer of the Future,” Harvest Public Media and NET News look at how some of those forces may play out over the next few years. Tune in every day this week for radio reports, culminating Friday, May 18th with the NET News documentary “Hispanic Farmers on Broken Ground,” airing on NET1/HD at 7 p.m. CT.

Harvest Public Media, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reports on issues of food, fuel and field across the Midwest.

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State Sen. Deb Fischer won 41% of the vote in Tuesday's primary, with a remarkable come-from-behind victory. (Photo credit Nebraska Watchdog)

“Even two or three days ago I thought, well this is interesting. She’s at lease a competitive second, Hibbing said. “But this is why we have elections. And it continues a history of really unexpected primaries in Nebraska.”

Attorney General Bruning had been the favorite going into election day, although polls had shown Fischer closing the gap. In the end, she beat Attorney General Jon Bruning by five points and State Treasurer Don Stenberg by 12 points.

“It wasn’t 10 votes, and there won’t be a recount, so she won,” Hibbing said. “Not a lopsided victory, but as we say, a stunning one.”

Fischer’s victory was made more unlikely considering the difference in fundraising among the candidates and spending on television ads. However, she may have been helped by outside groups such as the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund, and the Ending Spending Action Fund which collectively spent millions of dollars in Nebraska, much of it criticizing Bruning on taxes and spending.

The general election puts Fischer up against former Governor and Senator, Bob Kerrey. While Fischer has not run a statewide campaign before now, Hibbing still considered Kerrey to be an underdog as a Democrat. Hibbing believed statements from the candidates that they would like to keep the campaign positive were honest.

“On the other hand, this is a post-Citizens United era that we live in which means there’s going to be a lot of money floating around in interest groups and I’m afraid they’re going to have something to say about dragging the campaign down a bit,” Hibbing said.

With control of the U.S. Senate in the balance, outside groups are certain to have their say on how Nebraskans should decide in November.

For the complete interview with John Hibbing, click on the audio bar at the top of this page.

Columbia, MO – It seems every farming operation today professes to be “sustainable.” We may not know if that’s true until decades from now, but farmers’ choices today well may provide a game plan for tomorrow.

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The farmer of future will grow food and raise animals with tomorrow in mind. They’ll know contributing to the food supply is not enough. If the soil, air and water they use to produce food is damaged, good luck feeding anyone.

Dan Howell, a farmer-rancher in Marshall County, Kan., is experimenting with his land like an idealistic young farmer. (Photo by Jessica Naudziunas, Harvest Public Media)

That’s the idea, anyway, behind “sustainability” one of the big buzz words in agriculture today. It’s all about making sure natural resources are not depleted or permanently damaged so that we can farm into the future. But how best to do this and who’s really making the commitment for the long term?

Unlike with the organic label, you can’t be certified “sustainable.” So many people have come up with their own idea of the word.

There is a five-part definition, courtesy of Congress no less. But it’s a little complicated and vague, covering everything from enhancing environmental quality and using resources wisely to keeping a close watch on the farm finances. Part E reads: “Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.”

How do you interpret that?

Howell used to farm commodity crops on all of his land. Now, he has diversified his farm. (Photo by Jessica Naudziunas, Harvest Public Media)

“These are the kinds of questions that a lot of people can spend a lot of time debating and looking at the fine detail,” said Rob Hedberg, national director of the of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program (SARE).

Farmers have studied the fine detail, picking and choosing sustainable methods as they please. The consensus, though, seems to be that farming sustainably is not organic or industrial, it’s a mix of all of the good practices from each.

“Sustainability is a journey,” said William Powers, a farmer in Lincoln, Neb., and director of the Nebraska outpost for the SARE program. “Sustainability goes beyond something that is written down.”

Sustainable farming speaks directly to educating the individual, Powers said, but the big idea behind agriculture in the U.S. for so long has been “grow food, at any cost to the environment, to communities, to farmers themselves, to feed the world.” Though, as hard as the industrial agriculture model works to reach that goal, Powers said, when he looks around he doesn’t see a well-fed world. The town nearest his farm has people who go hungry.

The Powers family owns Darby Springs Farm near Lincoln, Neb. (Photo by Jessica Naudziunas, Harvest Public Media)

“So if that’s the goal, they’ve failed,” Powers said. “It’s just not an obtainable goal in my opinion. A growing population needs to learn to feed themselves, to be able to live for themselves and that’s going to be sustainable.”

Dan Howell, a farmer-rancher in Marshall County, Kan., agrees.

Most of his 1,500+ acres once yielded strictly row crops, milo soybeans wheat the classics in Kansas. But at the age of 60, Howell is experimenting with his land like an idealistic young farmer.

Why?

“Years ago when I wanted to farm more crop ground, I went through the farm crisis of the 80s, and that was really ugly,” Howell said. “I am wanting to be a little closer to shore than farther away.”

Howell said he no longer uses big equipment or fertilizer on his land, and for the most part, the farm runs itself. He said he’s sustainable because he works with the land, instead of manipulating it to work for him.

“I don’t like buying $3 and $4 fuel,” Howell said. “So, these are things that I can do to buy less of it and still be productive.”

Changes have come in the form of a high tunnel, a young fruit orchard, and a shiitake mushroom grove built into an old cluster of trees. He sells his cows to other farmers and his produce to the local school system. Instead of living in a barn, or a small grazing field, his docile Hereford and Angus cows rule the rolling hundreds of acres around them.

“In society today, we don’t have a real strong sense of accepting diversity in agriculture,” Howell said. “I’ve had several friends, and good people, but they say Why don’t you let me rent that ground and plant and grow corn and soybeans, instead of running cows on that ground?’ They thought I had fallen off a rock fence or something.”

But, Howell said, when making a decision about the type of farm he wanted to run, he looked to the future and knew, after decades of planting soybeans, that it could not sustain him, or his family for very long.

Editorial note: You can’t feed the growing world population without farmers. But there are serious questions today about who will take on the job a few decades from now. Farmers are getting older, and technological, cultural and political forces are bringing immense changes to those who build their lives around the land.

In this weeklong special report on “The Farmer of the Future,” Harvest Public Media and NET News look at how some of those forces may play out over the next few years. Tune in every day this week for radio reports, culminating Friday, May 18th with the NET News documentary “Hispanic Farmers on Broken Ground,” airing on NET1/HD at 7 p.m. CT.

Harvest Public Media, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reports on issues of food, fuel and field across the Midwest.

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John Ewing, flanked by his wife and two daughters, declared victory to supporters at the Field Club in Omaha Tuesday night. (Photo by Brandon McDermott)

Ewing beat Democratic challenger Gwen Howard handilyin Tuesday’s primary election, winning over 60% of the vote. Shortly after Howard conceded, Ewing declared victory to supporters gathered at the Field Club in midtown Omaha, turning his attention swiftly to Terry. “This Congressional District has been without adequate representation for the citizens of this community,” Ewing said. “It’s time that we change that. It’s time that we have a representative who will represent the people of Nebraska, not the interests of Washington D.C.”

“We should be taking Nebraska values to them,” he said. “I think they could learn a few things from us.”

Ewing also thanked Howard for her “many years of service to women, children and the great state of Nebraska.” Howard endorsed Ewing at a reception held with supporters at Clancy’s Bar in midtown Omaha, saying he will do a fine job representing the Democrats in the race for Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District.

Incumbent Congressman Lee Terry sailed to victory Tuesday with almost 60% of the vote. (Photo by Robyn Wisch)

On the Republican side, Congressman Terry sailed to victory by a comfortable margin, garnering just under 60% of the vote. His closest contender was former Husker football player and financial advisor Brett Lindstrom, who came in a distant second with 23%. UNO Math Professor Jack Heidel came in third with 12% of the vote, and former Douglas County GOP Chairman Glenn Freeman made a weaker showing with 4% of the vote.

Terry was in Washington D.C. for primary night, but he made a phone call to supporters to thank them for their support. Dave Boomer, Terry’s campaign manager, said the campaign would take “nothing for granted” in the general election. But, he added, “We’re confident that the voters will return him to office in November.”

Boomer also took a swipe at Ewing, saying he has campaigned on “an agenda of higher taxes and more spending and more government, and that’s exactly what we don’t need in this country in the future.”

For full election results, click here.

KVNO reporters Ben Bohall and Angel Martin contributed to this report.

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State Sen. Deb Fischer of Valentine won a surprise victory Tuesday night. (Photo courtesy Nebraska Legislature)

After a close race, with Attorney General Jon Bruning as the early presumed front runner, Fischer surged ahead to win 41% of the vote, defeating Bruning by over 10,000 votes at final count. State Treasurer Don Stenberg came in a distant third with 18.8% of votes counted.

On the Democratic side, former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey won by a predictably large margin with over 80% of the vote. He faced little opposition, making a late entrance to the race and buoyed by national name recognition and a network of well-connected supporters.

At a reception at the downtown Hilton Hotel in Omaha, Kerrey drew a sharp contrast to his potential Republican challenger, later that night officially listed as Fischer. He stressed the need for bipartisanship, and his supporters gave him loud applause when he spoke about social justice through reforming tax codes and protecting healthcare.

Former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey will face Fischer in November. (Photo by Lindsey Peterson)

In Lincoln, Fischer addressed her supporters, saying she had won the race with a grassroots campaign. “We are Nebraskans and that’s how you campaign in Nebraska,” she said. “That’s how you get elected in Nebraska. And that’s how you better represent Nebraska.”

With a dig at Kerrey’s decade-long residency in New York, Fischer added, “We don’t need the same type of person who’s supposedly going to represent us in Washington. We need somebody different, somebody’s who’s tough, somebody who’s effective, somebody who is a Nebraskan.”

The race for Nebraska’s Senate seat has become a nationally-watched contest, as Democrats in the Senate pin their hopes on Kerrey in their quest to hold on to majority control. Political action committees on both sides of the aisle have poured money into the race, which is likely to heat up now that the candidates have been decided.

For full election results, click here.

Fred Knapp of NET News, Robyn Wisch and Lindsey Peterson contributed to this report.

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Election officials were prepared for a confusing day. In February, the Douglas County Election Commission made a controversial decision to shut down a significant number of polling places in an effort to trim the budget. (The Commission reduced the number of voter precincts by almost half: from 352 to 185, which translates to a reduction in polling places of 85: from 265 to 180)

A quiet polling site near downtown Benson. (Photo by Robyn Wisch)

The poll closures have come under heavy criticism. U.S. Senator Ben Nelson called for a federal investigation, and the Department of Justice is monitoring the election. Nelson, a Democrat, called the closures politically motivated, saying they were an attempt to suppress minority voter turnout in a presidential election year. Dave Phipps, the Douglas County Election Commissioner who was appointed by Republican Gov. Dave Heineman, says he made the decision purely to save taxpayer funds, approximately $115,000.

Tuesday afternoon, Phipps said his office has received calls from confused or upset voters, but not as many as he expected. “Nothing unusual,” he said. “Obviously there’s some people who just didn’t like the change, or some people who just couldn’t find their polling place or didn’t know where it was. But that’s typical. We get that every single election.”

“All in all, it’s just been a normal primary election for us,” Phipps said.

However, Preston Love, Jr. had a different take. He heads the North Omaha Voter Coalition, a nonpartisan group that encourages voter participation, and said there has been “mass confusion” from voters in North Omaha, where a majority of the poll closures occurred.

“Voters are very confused about where to go,” Love said. “Voters have been turned away from the polling place that they thought they should go to.” Love said many of the voters who were turned away ended up not casting their ballots.

Love added voters are not aware of their ability to cast a provisional ballot, and that his organization needs to do more to educate voters on that option. But the rules of provisional ballots have also caused confusion. Dave Phipps said provisional ballots are not an option if a voter is casting a ballot in the wrong location. “Voters must vote in the right place,” he said, adding if voters insist on a provisional ballot, they can be provided with one, but it won’t be counted.

John Ewing, who’s running for the Democratic nomination in the 2nd Congressional District race, released a statement Tuesday afternoon, saying there have been “numerous reports of voter confusion at several polling locations.” Ewing said residents of Omaha Housing Authority’s Benson Tower had expected to cast their ballots in their own building, which is a polling location, but were turned away as the apartment tower is not the assigned voting location. The statement said transportation was being sent to Benson Tower to shuttle voters to their correct polling site.

Love added he’s seen lower-than-expected turnout, which he blames on the poll confusion. He said demand for rides to the polls, which his organization provides, has been low. “I feel the reason for the low request for rides is because people have either voted early or just said I don’t want to go through all of that and decided not to vote,” he said. “And that’s a bad thing.”

Phipps says his office is expecting approximately 21% of registered voters to turn up. That’s up from 12 percent in 2010 and 16.6 percent in the presidential primary of 2008.

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On a hot afternoon Monday, Gwen Howard stood waving to oncoming traffic at the University of Nebraska Omaha overpass. The 2nd Congressional District Democratic candidate is in the last throes of a final push.

“We’re out here every morning at 7 in the morning until about 9 o’clock waving at the cars as they come out of District 9, and as they come in from West Omaha,” she said. Howard has been campaigning with her daughter, Sara Howard, who is running for a seat in the Nebraska Legislature.

Gwen Howard, a state senator and social worker, will be squaring off against Douglas County Treasurer and former Omaha Police Chief John Ewing for the Democratic nomination. Both candidates have made a last ditch effort for votes before today’s primary, with Ewing making several appearances at rallies and restaurants around town.

“This one’s still pretty much up for grabs,” said Dr. Randall Adkins, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Adkins said despite Ewing being the clear frontrunner in campaign financing, it’s still anyone’s game.

“That’s actually pretty common in primaries and Congressional primaries around the country,” Adkins said. “Honestly, we don’t have much of a sense of exactly how close this is.”

Adkins said not much independent polling has been conducted, a common factor in Congressional races. “If there is polling that’s done, it’s released by the campaigns and usually only to show that their candidate has an advantage over the other candidate,” he said.

On the Republican side, the 2nd Congressional District race is littered with potential nominees, although 13-year incumbent Lee Terry has a clear advantage.

Terry is challenged by University of Nebraska Omaha math professor Jack Heidel, local financial advisor and former Nebraska football player Brett Lindstrom, former Douglas County GOP Chairman Glenn Freeman, and railroad mechanic Paul Anderson.

The 2nd Congressional District primaries are equally met in candidate volume by the Nebraska Senatorial primaries. On the Republican side, a three-way battle has emerged between Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, State Senator Deb Fischer, and State Treasurer Don Stenberg. Lesser known GOP candidates Pat Flynn, Sharyn Elander, and Spencer Zimmerman have also thrown their hats into the ring.

In what appears to be a less contested race, former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey faces little opposition in Omaha attorney Steve Lustgarten. Kerrey is already making post-primary plans, and has scheduled a number of appearances throughout the day Wednesday.

Polls are open until 8pm tonight. To find your polling place, click here.

Check back with KVNONEWS.COM as election results come in tonight.

Des Moines, IA – While some of the rural Midwest is hollowing out, regions like Sioux County, Iowa, are actually growing, thanks largely to immigrant populations moving in to take jobs that employers otherwise cannot fill. Melding cultures is never easy, but in places like Sioux County members of the Latino community are slowly making Iowa their home.

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Sioux County, in northwest Iowa, is known for its Dutch pastries. The landscape is dotted with Lutheran and reform churches. But today, Catholic churches and tortillerias are creeping into the landscape signs of the new residents joining this vibrant community.

The Natural Food Holdings plant in Sioux Center relies on its large number of Hispanic employees. (Photo by Kathleen Masterson, Harvest Public Media)

In Sioux County, as in a scattering of communities across the Midwest, Hispanic immigrants are working in meat processing plants, dairies, egg-laying facilities and hog barns. In fact, the majority of U.S. farm laborers today were born outside the U.S.

And while some of parts of the rural Midwest are hollowing out, areas like Sioux County, and its biggest city Sioux Center, are actually growing as immigrant populations move in to take jobs that otherwise employers cannot fill.

Sioux Center’s population has grown 17 percent, and the county is up 7 percent over the last decade. Meanwhile, government figures indicate 91 of Iowa’s 99 counties have declined by about 9 percent over the last three decades.

So no surprise, Sioux Center looks very different than many other rural communities in Iowa. But although this area may well offer a glimpse of the farming community of the future, the melding of cultures is not always easy.

Terry van Maanen bought Winding Meadows Dairy from his father in the '80s and has grown it to about 600 cows. He sells milk to Land O Lakes. (Photo by Kathleen Masterson, Harvest Public Media)

About two-thirds of the 15 workers at the 600-cow Winding Meadows Dairy, in nearby Rock Valley, Iowa, are Latino. Owner Terry van Maanen attributes that to the job demands of an operation that runs 24 hours a day, every day of the week — even on Christmas.

“You get people apply for a job here, and ‘Oh, weekends and nights?’ — oh, no, not interested,” Van Maanen said.

Some of the staff have been with him more than 10 years.

“I honestly think I could not run my business if all these, the guys that are working for me, were to leave and I had to fill them with non-Hispanic help,” he said. “I think I’d have to close the door.”

Van Maanen said everyone gets along well in the workplace, even though not all employees speak English. But outside of work, the Anglo and Latino cultures have been slower to come together, he said.

“The schools, I think, kind of bring everybody together, when their families have kids that go to the community school, I think it gives us a common entity to circle around,” he said.

Luis Campos, the parlor manager at Winding Meadows, said it took him a while to adjust to Iowa.

Luis Campos came to the U.S. illegally but eventually became a legal resident. Campos is now the parlor manager at Winding Meadow Dairy in Rock Valley, Iowa. (Photo by Kathleen Masterson, Harvest Public Media)

“At first, yeah it’s too hard for me. Especially when I was single,” he said. “But now I got a kids — my kids now, they like here.”

Campos came to the U.S. illegally but he married a U.S. citizen and got his papers. He is involved in the Latino community, leading Mexican totonaca dancing at a local Catholic church and teaching Sunday school to kindergarteners.

Enrique Luevano also really likes living in Iowa. Originally from Mexico, he’s lived here for 15 years now, and worked his way up to a supervisor at the pork processing plant Natural Food Holdings. He said Latino and Anglo cultures are still fairly separate.

“We respect each other, that’s what is nice about here, you don’t hear about people fighting because of the color of their skin. Here everybody minds their own business, and away we go,” he said.

Luevano is now a legal resident. But many others live in constant fear, community advocates say. They’ve established families and lives here, but if they’re pulled over coming back from the grocery store, they could be deported within days.

Still, there are signs Hispanics are making a home here. There are bilingual churches, local volunteers teach English night classes, and law enforcement has had training on working in a diverse community.

And these new residents are an important part of the community — and its future, said Gary Malenke, the president of the Natural Food Holdings pork processing plant.

“I think people believe that, Oh, these immigrants are stealing all these jobs,’ ” he said. “We don’t see that here.”

Malenke said there’s a real need for laborers in dairies, hog confinements, poultry farms and general construction, too.

Not only are immigrants helping buoy the farm economy, but their children are American citizens — they’re part of church communities and schools and sports teams.

“There’s a lot of progress in these communities, I mean in Sioux Center they’re going to build a hospital, a $48 million hospital. And that’s the kind of things that are happening in these communities, which tells you that businesses are doing well,” he said.

And when communities do well, it gives everybody options. The kids of these immigrant workers, just like other rural kids in the Midwest, are not all going into farm work. Some want to be doctors, teachers and business owners. And just like generations before, because of their parents’ hard work, they’ll have that opportunity.

Editorial note: You can’t feed the growing world population without farmers. But there are serious questions today about who will take on the job a few decades from now. Farmers are getting older, and technological, cultural and political forces are bringing immense changes to those who build their lives around the land.

In this weeklong special report on “The Farmer of the Future,” Harvest Public Media and NET News look at how some of those forces may play out over the next few years. Tune in every day this week for radio reports, culminating Friday, May 18th with the NET News documentary “Hispanic Farmers on Broken Ground,” airing on NET1/HD at 7 p.m. CT.

Harvest Public Media, funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, reports on issues of food, fuel and field across the Midwest.

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Nebraska’s ethnic minority population increased by 17 percent between 2000 and 2010, according to the 2012 Women’s Health Equity Report. But while that population has continued to grow, so have disparities in health care access, preventative care, disease and even death between white and minority women across the state.

Liliana Bronner is assistant director for rural health education at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. (Photo by Ben Bohall, NET News)

“All of these are issues of importance with minority women, but with Nebraska in particular,” said Liliana Bronner, assistant director for rural health education at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha. She’s a member of the Nebraska Women’s Health Advisory Council, a group heavily involved in the report.

“I think (the report) reinforced what we already know about racial and socioeconomic inequalities when it comes to health,” she said. “The socioeconomic data for Nebraska was really striking in that these included disparities in non-completion of high school and poverty in black, American Indian and Hispanic women in Nebraska.”

Bronner said those socioeconomic inequalities strongly influence health and well-being. For example, black women are far less likely to receive mammograms, and Hispanic women are less likely to receive as many cholesterol screenings as whites.

“And also, Hispanic and American Indian women were less likely to have personal doctors, and minority women were less likely to have doctor visits in the past year because of the cost,” Bronner continued. “That was really the most striking finding.”

One of the most glaring differences lies in causes of death: The top causes of death for all Nebraska women are stroke, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. But the study showed American Indian women were more likely to die from diabetes than white women, while black women were far more likely to die from all of these chronic diseases than whites.

Dr. Renaisa Anthony is interim director and deputy director for UNMC's Center for Reducing Health Disparities. (Photo by Ben Bohall, NET News)

The infant mortality rate for babies of black women was higher than for all other groups.

Dr. Renaisa Anthony, interim director and deputy director for UNMC’s Center for Reducing Health Disparities, said the issue is more complex than people – especially from outside the state – may have thought.

“On a national level, when you’re presenting from Nebraska, people have this glazed look over their face, like Nebraska? You must be talking about rural health and American Indians or Native Americans,’” she said. “No, it’s much more complex than that. In this state, any type of health disparity you’re looking for, you can find it. This state is very unique in that we have these urban epicenters and then it’s surrounded by a rural state. Within that you have these tribal communities, as well.”

Now that groups like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Center for Health Disparities and the Women’s Health Advisory Council have identified the problem, the next step is to find a solution.

“Whatever you’re doing in the health care sector, you’re either perpetuating health disparities or you’re helping to reduce them,” Anthony said. “I think through curriculum development, through the grants that we’ll be able to bring in to look at this particular issue, we hopefully will be able to see some changes in the data in the next ten years.”

Bronner agreed, saying the study needed to be followed by action.

“It’s there to empower people, in order to improve their health. And hopefully address policy issues, to be able to change some of the policy,” she said. “At the state level the hope is that some (policies change) in order to change some of these outcomes for people.”

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Detailed maps of TransCanada’s latest route for its proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline were spread out on tables. The old route stirred controversy last year for fear the pipeline would threaten the fragile ecology of the Sandhills. This time it is supposed to avoid the Sandhills with a path farther east – still crossing the Ogallala aquifer but in generally less sandy, hilly terrain. But the new route involves a whole new set of landowners with questions.

“This has been such a topic for so long, but these folks haven’t been involved directly. So they’re just kind of waiting to see what it’s going to look like,” said state Senator Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids, who represents the area.

The revised Keystone XL pipeline route will skirt the Nebraska Sandhills, although it will still cross parts of the Ogallala Aquifer. (Photo courtesy Wikimedia)

The Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is supposed to review the proposed route, and make a recommendation to Governor Dave Heineman about whether or not to approve it. His decision will then be passed along to the federal government which has the final say. DEQ Director, Mike Linder, says public meetings like the one in Neligh are designed not only to give people an overview of the proposal, but also to dig into details on the map.

Robert Wood, who farms outside Orchard, looked at the map and quizzed a representative of the engineering firm, HDR, hired to help DEQ evaluate the route.

“When you go putting the pipeline in, right here is a creek that drops off three-fourths the height of your wall here. How are they going to get that back the way it was,” asked Wood.

TransCanada's Preferred Alternative Corridor submitted to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality April 19th. Click image to enlarge.

There were also questions about who would ultimately answer questions. Albion area farmer Pat Schmitz asked whether topsoil would be put back on top after excavation.

Wood, from Orchard, expressed frustration with the process.

“I run three-hundred cows by myself, basically,” Wood said. “And you work getting things set up so they work and someone wants to come and blow part of it away. It kind of frustrates you.”

Not everyone was as frustrated. Greg Walmer, a Royal-area farmer has talked to TransCanada representatives.

“I had some concerns about the easement process, basically. I’m concerned about who’s responsible about damages,” Walmer said. “And they answered my questions the best they could at this point.”

Walmer has not yet decided whether to sell an easement through his land to the company. TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said dealing with landowners’ questions and concerns is what it’s all about.

“That’s how this process is designed, to ensure that Nebrsakans have an opportunity to take part, share information with the DEQ, which will come back to us to help us refine our route and have something that will hopefully be approved by the governor and allow us to get a Presidential permit by the State Department,” said Cunha.

Two more informational meetings will be held next week: Wednesday, May 16 in Albion, and Thursday, May 17 in Central City. The Department of Environmental Quality’s recommendation is supposed to be ready sometime between mid-October and mid-January. But a lawsuit challenging the agency’s authority to evaluate the route may be filed as soon as next week.