Luke Runyon
Reporter
Luke Runyon is Harvest Public Media's reporter based at KUNC in northern Colorado.
Stories by Luke Runyon
Checkoff debate stirs clash within organic food industry
A battle is brewing in the organic food industry. The largest trade association for organic farmers, marketers and processors wants growers to help pay for promotional campaigns, using a decades-old funding model that paid for iconic ads like “Got Milk?” and “Beef: It’s What’s For Dinner.” But deciding how to spread the organic message is…
What the FAA’s new drone rules mean for farmers
A highly anticipated batch of federal laws governing the use of drones could change the regulatory landscape and lead to an explosion in drone use by farmers. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently proposed rules for commercial drone use, including use in agriculture. The rules, however, still must undergo public comment and revision, a process...
Without immigration fix, dairies struggle
America’s dairies rely on immigrant labor to milk cows and care for the herd. Many owners of the country’s largest dairies say that they’re unable to find employees. A comprehensive fix to the immigration system seems like a longshot in the new Congress, leaving some dairies struggling to keep up.
Is the local-food movement growing up?
After more than a decade of explosive growth in the local food economy, the most visible portion of food sales within that sector has seen a slowdown. A new report from the U.S. Department ofAgriculture shows the growth of sales of local food at farmers markets, farm stands and through CSA models has lost momentum....
Unlocking the potential of an under-researched crop: Hemp
Humans have been growing hemp for centuries. Hemp-based foods have taken off recently. So have lotions and soaps that use hemp oil. There’s evidence that different compounds in cannabis could be used as medicine and hope that its chemical compounds could hold keys to treatments for Parkinson’s disease and childhood epilepsy. Scientists studying industrial hemp...
Nuns on the ranch: Giving beef a Heavenly flavor
Many beer aficionados are familiar with the rare breweries run by Trappist monks. The beer is highly sought after, but it’s not the only food or drink made by a religious order. Many abbeys and convents have deep roots in agriculture, combining farm work with prayer. Just five miles south of the Colorado-Wyoming border you’ll...
Women have always been farmers, now they’re being counted
When farmer Sondra Pierce had her first child, she decided to forgo daycare. “Soon as I had my son, because I had my son very early, I would put his car seat in the tractor and he would ride with me,” Pierce says. During harvest on her sugar beet farm in rural Boulder County, Colo.,…
In the Midwest, yarn goes local
Northwestern Colorado has a rich heritage of raising sheep – either for their meat or for wool. But for decades the sheep herd has been slipping in numbers, both nationally and in Colorado, often outcompeted by countries like New Zealand and Australia. Where there’s been a resurgence, though, has been in local, niche markets. Some…
However Colorado votes, GMO labeling debate far from over
Voters in Colorado Tuesday will decide whether or not they want the state to require labels on foods containing genetically modified ingredients, or GMOs. The 2014 ballot measure highlights a much larger national conversation about the safety and prevalence of genetically modified foods.
Choices can cut school food waste
Lunch time at Harris Bilingual Elementary School in Fort Collins, Colo., displays all the usual trappings of a public school cafeteria: Star Wars lunch boxes, light up tennis shoes, hard plastic trays and chocolate milk cartons with little cartoon cows. It’s pizza day, the most popular of the week, and kids line up at a…
- « Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3