Blog Posts & Stories

Yvette Arellano is an example of how lived experience and perspective in one’s work can increase its impact. Prior to founding Fenceline Watch, Yvette was a dedicated environmental justice advocate for several years.

As a teenager, Corinne Kolm wanted to live in a big city and have nothing to do with her family’s farming legacy. With time, her strong agricultural roots took her back to the land, and she’s glad it...

Los emprendedores de pequeñas empresas trabajan arduamente para crear proyectos desde cero, a menudo sacrificando tiempo con la familia para construir bases sólidas para las futuras generaciones. Mujeres y hombres, líderes comunitarios, dueños de negocios y profesionales de diversas industrias del noreste de Nebraska se reunieron en Fremont para la cuarta Conferencia Anual de Negocios de Mujeres Latinas, organizada por el Center.

Small business entrepreneurs work hard to create ventures from the ground up, often sacrificing time with family to build strong foundations for future generations. Women and men, community leaders, business owners, and professionals from industries throughout northeast Nebraska met in Fremont Oct. 8 for the fourth annual Latina Women's Business Conference, hosted by the Center for Rural Affairs Women's Business Center and conducted in Spanish.

Farm to School is a win for students, a win for farmers, and a win for communities. It strengthens our food system and our local economies, and it provides opportunities for students to develop new...

Combining row crops and solar energy has been relatively uncommon, but in Olivia, Minnesota, forward-thinking farmers, John Baumgartner and Rolly and Larry Rauenhorst, are demonstrating how solar...

Growing up, Teresa Otte didn’t always enjoy working on her family’s farm near David City, Nebraska. But as the farm evolved, so did her interest and dedication. What started as an 80-acre farm in 1980...

Visitors to Red Oak, Iowa’s, historic downtown district are in for a treat. Impressive buildings, many built before 1900, line all four sides of Fountain Square Park. Other historical monuments can be...

As demand for reliable electricity grows, improving the resilience and adaptability of energy systems becomes increasingly crucial. In Nebraska, an increase in frequent severe weather events...

Gus and Stephanie Leigh moved their family from Las Vegas to northeast Nebraska to create something new while giving back to their loved ones and nurturing the land. After Gus, an Army veteran...

Over the past decade, Sandra Renner has been an integral part of the Center for Rural Affairs team. From farm to school projects to grant writing, and from project associate to director, she’s been...

Public school administrators and board of education members across the country face tough decisions when it comes to addressing how to pay for the repair or replacement of aging equipment, vehicles, and infrastructure.

In the process of rebuilding the Malvern, Iowa, grocery store bearing his family’s name, the “cons” for Tom Mulholland have at times outweighed the “pros.” The locally owned Mulholland Grocery store had been a fixture on Malvern’s Main Street for nearly 150 years before a fire on Dec. 13, 2021, inflicted severe building damage, including a collapsed roof.

Cuando se le ocurre una gran idea, protegerla es tan importante como implementarla. Proteger su propiedad intelectual puede ser la diferencia entre que su arduo trabajo dé frutos o se pierda en el mercado. En el Center for Rural Affairs, nos encanta ver que los pequeños negocios prosperen en las zonas rurales de Nebraska. Aquí hay algunas cosas que debe saber sobre cómo proteger su idea.

When you’ve come up with a great new idea, protecting it is as important as implementing it. Safeguarding your intellectual property can be the difference between your hard work paying off or getting lost in the marketplace. At the Center for Rural Affairs, we love to see small businesses thrive in rural Nebraska. Here are a few things you should know about protecting your idea.

With fewer than four months of 2024 remaining, the window of opportunity for Congress to pass a new farm bill is narrowing. Partisan divides on key issues, as well as November’s general election, are...

As a home gardener, lover of fresh produce, and frequent visitor of farmers markets, Kathy Dirks found it strange that there wasn’t a market in her area. She couldn’t get the idea out of her head that...

Communities interested in identifying strategies to grow their outdoor recreation economy and revitalize their Main Streets can apply for assistance from the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities...

Food businesses in six states can now apply for Business Builder Grants, reimbursable funds that could promote business expansion, job creation, business capacity building, and increase local products...

Specialty producers have often been underserved by federal crop insurance programs. Recognizing the discrepancy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Risk Management Agency (RMA), which administers federal crop insurance, recently announced the expansion of the Enhanced Coverage Option (ECO) to better serve producers.