Food and farms

Electrification

Electric boats splash down in rural Maine’s coastal waters

Battery-powered vessels are catching on in the U.S. and globally as the tech improves. In Maine’s Casco Bay, early adopters are using e-boats on oyster farms.

By Julia Tilton, Maria Gallucci . 15 September 2025

Willy Leathers, an oyster farmer, navigates his all-electric workboat in Maine's Casco Bay. (Julia Tilton/The Daily Yonder)

Solar

Illinois farmers find that sheep and solar arrays go well together

The agrivoltaics practice of raising sheep under solar panels is a win-win for Illinois farmers — but first the market for lamb meat needs to grow.

By Kari Lydersen . 11 September 2025
Solar

Trump admin blocks funds for farmers who want solar

For two decades, thousands of farmers have installed money-saving solar panels with help from the federal REAP program. Trump’s USDA is choking off that resource.

By Kari Lydersen . 22 August 2025
Electrification

Meet Minnesota’s electric coffee roasting pioneers

Minneapolis-based Coffeewomple is one of the first U.S. roasters to use a commercial-scale electric coffee roaster, navigating higher costs for climate benefits.

By Dan Haugen . 5 August 2025
Food and farms

We know how to decarbonize energy. The food sector should take notes.

Climate-friendly agriculture is two decades behind clean energy. Here are lessons food and farming can learn from the rise of renewables and cleantech.

By Michael Grunwald . 31 July 2025
Clean energy

Trump’s rural energy freeze hits Midwest, GOP districts hardest

More than three-quarters of federal Rural Energy for America Program grants over the last decade have gone to Republican congressional districts.

By Kari Lydersen . 17 July 2025
Clean energy

USDA abruptly cancels rural energy grant application window

It’s the latest setback for the longstanding REAP program, casting uncertainty over the future of a resource that helps farmers save on energy and install solar.

By Kari Lydersen . 15 July 2025
Food and farms

Biden’s climate-smart ag program was better than nothing. Trump killed it.

In a climate-dumb move, the Trump administration ended a flawed but necessary program aiming to lower agricultural emissions. We can still draw useful lessons from it.

By Michael Grunwald . 4 June 2025
Solar

Farmers are making bank harvesting a new crop: Solar energy

In California's water-stressed Central Valley, farmers are fallowing land and installing solar, providing financial stability and saving water.

By Matt Simon . 5 May 2025
Food and farms

NYC hospitals are nudging patients toward plant-based meals. It's working.

New York City is cutting emissions and saving money by making vegetarian meals the default in public hospitals. It's successful because most people go with the flow.

By Michael Grunwald . 16 April 2025
Clean energy

Trump moves goalposts for farmers counting on clean energy grants

The USDA is demanding grant rewrites favoring fossil fuels over renewables, leaving some rural recipients doubtful they’ll ever see the money they were promised.

By Mario Alejandro Ariza, Ames Alexander, Joe Engleman . 31 March 2025