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Nancy Caywood’s Pinal County farm should have a full field of alfalfa, but since the irrigation district shut off her water because of drought, her fields are empty and dry.

Researchers from institutes in the U.S. and U.K., including at Colorado State University, are taking action to improve soil health and land management strategies in order to build more profitable business for ranchers and farmers.

Smaller county populations are shrinking as bigger counties’ are growing. 2020 census data show that is as true in Colorado as it is nationally. Rural birth rates are dropping, death rates are rising and young people are moving away. Some leave behind multi-generational farming legacies and the land that comes with it. Others are coming back.

Today on Colorado Edition, we hear why some Coloradans are returning to the small farming communities they planned to leave behind. And, we learn about a new initiative to increase the hiring rates for formerly incarcerated individuals.

Heat waves induced by climate change will threaten future agricultural crops at a faster rate than gradual global warming, according to a new study.

Between the pandemic, wildfires and a record-breaking drought, it's been a long and difficult year for many of Colorado's farmers and ranchers. Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg spoke with KUNC's Erin O'Toole about how the state is working to help support Colorado’s producers through the pandemic and beyond.

The sugar beet harvest is underway across the Mountain West. It’s a big industry that depends on accurate weather forecasts and a reliable workforce – both impacted by COVID-19.

Larimer County commissioners voted to approve a controversial water supply project Wednesday night. In a 2-1 vote, commissioners paved the way for the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) to be fully permitted.

Colorado’s top three commodity crops are wheat, beans and corn. But there’s a new kid on the block: hemp — and its confusing sex life and relationship to marijuana is complicating matters.

The Colorado hemp harvest began last week. After 80 years of prohibition, building an industry from the ground up is anything but the American Dream for hemp farmers, and last year it came to a disastrous crash. It turns out supply and demand rely on a supply chain – which doesn’t exist yet for hemp. And demand? No one knew the demand of a product that had been illegal for decades.