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![President Trump delivered remarks on the Farmers to Families Food Box Program at Flavor First Growers and Packers last week in Mills River, N.C.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ap_20237733500669-1-8edd4fce1ab3754d370b59dc3eeaa8fe93db583d-scaled-e1599153148393-900x422.jpg)
How The USDA’s Food Box Initiative Overpaid And Underdelivered
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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The Trump Administration has been buying food from farmers and getting it to food banks. Food banks, however, say the program was not set up to deliver food efficiently.
![Rich Showalter bought this land in 1975. He sold it earlier this year to Ray Williams, who hasn't yet had a chance to look at his new asset.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/landuse-f80e3a2bd3bcfcd5974014920771b36156b3db41-e1596130061452-900x422.jpg)
Big-Money Investors Gear Up For A Trillion-Dollar Bet On Farmland
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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A trillion dollars worth of American farmland will change hands in the coming years. Wealthy investors are likely to buy more of it with the power to shape rural communities and the environment.
![A farmer operates a combine to harvest soybeans in Wyanet, Ill. Farmers got more than $22 billion in government payments in 2019. It's the highest level of farm subsidies in 14 years.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/gettyimages-1177447126-1-bf0927ea28e63ea005839b3404096f3643c76458-scaled-e1577987541632-900x422.jpg)
Farmers Got Billions From Taxpayers In 2019, And Hardly Anyone Objected
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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Farmers got more than $22 billion in government payments in 2019 — and most of the money came through a program that Congress never approved. It’s the highest level of farm subsidies in 14 years.
![Companies are increasingly concerned about how Earth's changing climate might impact their businesses, such as crop failures from drought, heat and storms.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/corndrought-aa8704cc3baecc627d0d3557abe3a24b9ccdb124-e1571225796493-900x422.jpg)
As The Climate Warms, Companies Are Scrambling To Calculate The Risk To Their Profits
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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Companies are trying to figure out the risks to their profits from a warming planet. Some of them are turning to high-tech tools of climate science.
![Cattle graze in pasture formed by cleared rainforest land in Pará, Brazil. A new online tool makes it easier for food companies to detect this kind of land-clearing by their suppliers.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/gettyimages-184252072-3787f12eb39516b672c9c73fd257b84f428496d1-e1564675517218-900x422.jpg)
Don’t Cut Those Trees — Big Food Might Be Watching
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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Dozens of food companies have promised to stop their suppliers from clearing forests in order to grow crops or graze cattle. Now the companies have a tool to monitor those farmers from space.
![A worker at the port in Nantong, in China's eastern Jiangsu province, displays soybeans imported from Ukraine. Imports of soybeans from the U.S., once China's biggest supplier, have dropped massively since a trade war between the U.S. and China began in 2018.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/gettyimages-1142701429-9b5db8380bcdd250dc92cc6853c26d57bb1201a1-e1564411529725-900x422.jpg)
Economists Say Trump Administration Is Overpaying Farmers For Trade Losses
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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The Trump administration has released details of a $16 billion plan to compensate farmers who’ve lost money as a result of the trade dispute with China. Some economists say it’s too generous.
![Cottonseed is full of protein but toxic to humans and most animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture this week approved a genetically engineered cotton with edible seeds. They could eventually feed chickens, fish — or even people.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/cotton31-6f1665902f293b1911d3f7d7ba91e60a2b51595a-e1539818378668-900x422.jpg)
Not Just For Cows Anymore: New Cottonseed Is Safe For People To Eat
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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Cottonseed is full of protein but toxic to humans and most animals. The USDA has approved a genetically engineered cotton with edible seeds. They could eventually feed chickens, fish — or even people.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/global-fishing-activity-dark-bcbb4a0346a850e459bb6723b1b4824e77ae267b-e1519410544602-900x422.jpg)
New Maps Reveal Global Fishing’s ‘Vast Scope Of Exploitation Of The Ocean’
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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Researchers have used radio transmissions to track the movement of fishing vessels and create stunning maps of fishing activity. The maps show that fishing covers most of the globe’s oceans.
![](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/mg_9947-bdb16a932a9fa8fa69c309f2d7cf6a26fb6a29c7-e1514910165417-900x422.jpg)
Why Is Venison On Expensive Plates And Food Pantry Shelves?
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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Venison, a luxury meat sold in high-end stores also shows up on the winter menus of expensive restaurants. But venison from deer killed by hunters can’t be sold, so much of it is given away for free.
![Soybean plants, with pods ready for harvest, in Boonsboro, Maryland.](https://woub.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/soybeans-31-72fbd6c2f72b0680e42f78f811b7c53472d42539-e1512167214681-900x422.jpg)
The Soybean Is King, Yet Remains Invisible
By: Dan Charles | NPR
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For the first time in history, soybeans are about to become America’s most widely grown crop. Yet compared to corn or wheat, they remain curiously invisible in American culture.