Bryce Oates
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I write about #rural people, places, policy, politics. Freelance. Working Class. Policy Nerd. Smack Talk. Newsletter: dailyyonder.com/keep-it-rural/
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Articles by Bryce Oates
Senate Republicans Fast Track Budget Bill With Grave Consequences for Rural America
A version of this story first appeared in The Cocklebur. Senate Republican leaders spent their weekend cutting deals, buying votes and otherwise using legislative budget tricks to get their own GOP members to open full floor debate on their 940-page budget reconciliation package.
Can Democrats stop the GOP from taking a chainsaw to the Farm Bill?
— by Bryce Oates & Jake Davis, Barnraiser — The first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term have fundamentally shaken up U.S. politics and the federal agencies.
Can Democrats Stop the GOP From Taking a Chainsaw to the Farm Bill?
The first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second term have fundamentally shaken up U.S. politics and the federal agencies. Trump has issued numerous executive orders and proclamations designed to cancel and obstruct much of the Democrats’ agenda implemented during the Biden Administration, particularly the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act and anything related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) or climate.
‘Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way’: How a Young Virginian Kept the Farm in the Family
Dustin Watson looks over the pastures and woodlands he grew up on. Behind him is the farmhouse his great-grandfather built, not far from the chicken coops and tractor sheds his grandfather raised decades ago. Cattle graze near one of his favorite places on the farm, the tree he was recently married under. It’s a rare moment of rest for a man who doesn’t often sit still.
Why Democrats Lost in Rural America. Again.
Written by Bryce Oates and Jake Davis, Barn Raiser This story was originally published by Barn Raiser, your independent source for rural and small town news. There will be many stories about the 2024 election. Still, at its core, Donald Trump’s victory was built on expanding his margins and vote totals even further in rural counties across the country, particularly the swing states where campaigns invest hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly by Democrats.
Why Democrats Lost in Rural America. Again.
There will be many stories about the 2024 election. Still, at its core, Donald Trump’s victory was built on expanding his margins and vote totals even further in rural counties across the country, particularly in the swing states where campaigns, especially the Democrats, invested hundreds of millions of dollars.
Democrats are finally taking rural voters seriously
All too often, rural America is neglected by candidates at the top of the ticket. And when those candidates do the token farm stop, they often hit on a handful of tired messages about feeding the world, creating new markets for a few commodity crops and preventing taxes on farm wealth while standing in front of a million dollar combine. If you listen to the pundits and highly paid talking heads, former President Trump has farm support all locked up.
The Democrats Are Finally Taking Rural Voters Seriously
All too often, rural America is neglected by candidates at the top of the ticket. And when those candidates do the token farm stop, they often hit on a handful of tired messages about feeding the world, creating new markets for a few commodity crops and preventing taxes on farm wealth while standing in front of a million dollar combine. If you listen to the pundits and highly paid talking heads, former President Trump has farm support all locked up.
The 10 Rural Districts That Could Determine the House
Cook Political Report rates 11 seats of the 54 battleground races as “Democrat-incumbent tossups” and 12 as “lean Democrat.” Thirteen seats are considered “Republican-incumbent tossups” and 6 districts “lean Republican.” In 2022, Republicans picked up 10 additional seats to win the House majority. This year, Democrats are expected to win back 2 seats, Alabama’s 2nd and New York’s 22nd congressional districts, due to redistricting.
J.D. Vance’s Populist Charade
Donald Trump’s anointing of Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his nominee for Vice President has put the politics of small town, working class and rural places back in the political spotlight. Vance’s pick might surprise some, but we believe the 39-year-old political novice is the natural choice for Trump. Like the huckster from the big city (Trump), Vance is the “small town” shill who says the right things as he picks your pocket.
Will Senate Democrats Defend Child Labor Protections in the Farm Bill?
The farm bill debate has finally taken flight, with House Agriculture Committee Republicans breaking the Congressional logjam. The committee officially “marked up” and passed Chair Glenn “GT” Thompson’s (R-Pa.) draft “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024” (H.R. 8467) on May 23. Thompson’s draft was passed with few changes, as Republicans were able to hold their caucus together and fend off numerous amendments offered by Democrats.
SNAP advocates prefer Senate approach over House Farm Bill
The Farm Bill debate will be front-and-center in Congress this week, with the House Agriculture Committee holding their first official markup of draft legislative text Thursday, May 23. After numerous delays and missed deadlines, Congress began the work-intensive process of analyzing draft text of the Farm Bill.
SNAP Advocates Prefer Senate Approach over House Farm Bill.
NOTE—This article was originally published by Daily Yonder. You can read this story online or share on social media by clicking THIS LINK. —Bryce, The Cocklebur After numerous delays and missed deadlines, Congress began the work-intensive process of analyzing draft text of the Farm Bill in their May 23rd “mark-up” business meeting. The draft is not likely to be brought to the full House floor before September.
Six Takeaways from the GOP’s Farm Bill Draft
This story first appeared in The Cocklebur The House Agriculture Committee officially “marked up” Chair Glenn Thompson’s (R-Pa.-15) draft “Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2024” (HR 8467) at the end of May, passing Thompson’s version of the next farm bill with few changes. Republicans were able to hold their caucus together and fend of numerous amendments offered by Democrats.
SNAP Advocates Prefer Senate Approach over House Farm Bill. | The Daily Yonder
The Farm Bill debate will be front-and-center in Congress this week, with the House Agriculture Committee holding their first official markup of draft legislative text Thursday, May 23rd. After numerous delays and missed deadlines, Congress began the work-intensive process of analyzing draft text of the Farm Bill.
How Oklahoma State University Plans to Boost Rural Journalism
The story, published in the McCurtain Gazette in McCurtain Countydrew global attention to the county of 31,000 people at Oklahoma’s southeastern border. The story reverberated throughout the nation, with Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt calling for the state attorney general to investigate the sheriff and for the county officials to resign. It also put a spotlight on the importance of local, rural journalism.
House Ag Committee Passes Farm Bill Draft Protecting Key Republican Priorities
Contentious debate focused on the following Democratic amendments, which all failed on party line votes: Commodity Credit Corporation Reform. Republicans successfully voted down an amendment by committee Democrats to keep the Secretary of Agriculture’s current discretionary spending authority under the Commodity Credit Corporation (CCC) Charter Act.
Partisan Clash or ‘Grand Bargain’? Dueling Proposals Set the Stage for the Farm Bill’s Uncertain Future
After failing to take significant action for more than a year, farm bill re-authorization negotiations in Congress have finally picked up speed in the last two weeks. Agriculture Committee leaders in the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-led Senate have released competing farm bill frameworks. The contrast between each party’s package is significant, but both continue in a relatively status quo direction.
Conservation Programs Are Popular with Farmers. Why Does the G.O.P. Want to Defund Them?
As gridlock and incompetence continue on Capitol Hill, Congress has made little progress on re-authorizing the 2018 Farm Bill. A September 30 expiration date looms and campaign season is ramping up. It is difficult to see how farm bill negotiators can get it done. With less than six months left, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have released anywhere close to a substantial draft.
How Rural Electric Co-ops and Democracy Go Hand In Hand
Erik Hatlestad, 33,works on rural energy issues with the Minnesota nonprofit CURE (Clean Up the River Environment) as their Energy Democracy Program Director. Founded in 1992, CURE describes itself as a rural-focused environmental group “rooted in the movement for rural social justice.” The group’s 12 employees are scattered in small towns across the state.
Practicing an ‘Insurgent Politics of Care’ in Rural America
After earning her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, Sangaramoorthy completed postdoctoral research at the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Democrats Are Missing a Key Moment to Back Farmworkers
Then, in a sign of the fiscal extremism taking over the right, Republicans took their attacks a step further. They went after hundreds of thousands of agricultural workers, many of whom, the Republicans say, are “overpaid.” Republican committee members attacked Vilsack and the Biden administration for their handling of farm labor and farmworker issues. Rep.
Farmers Face a Precarious Future. Is the Farm Bureau on Their Side?
More than 175 years after Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers settled the Salt Lake Valley, the conference’s theme, “New Frontiers,” offered a carefully-tailored message: there is a boundless future awaiting farmers—if only they have enough faith in organizations like the Farm Bureau to lead them there. In his opening speech, Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall reflected farmers’ lives through the prism of heroic struggle and conquest.
The Farm Safety Net Debate Is Simple. Solving It Isn't.
It’s not likely that the word “overproduction” will feature much in this year’s farm bill debate. But in many ways, the status quo of overproducing corn, soybeans, wheat, rice, cotton and a handful of other commodity crops will be the final result of the politically charged process.
On Caucus Day in Iowa, a Different Kind of Spin Cycle
Hear me out, it’s a serious question: What do laundromats tell us about what it means to build community and movements for justice? The thought hit me one day when in the middle of a recent cold snap, my family’s dryer stopped working, making me haul my family of five’s eight loads of laundry to the Laundromania up the street. Between loads, I noticed a woman arrive who, despite looking visibly exhausted, managed to carry two large clothing bins that engulfed her tiny frame.
Will Congress Do Its Job and Pass a Farm Bill This Year?
For rural America, the most consequential legislation Congress will pass in the coming year is the farm bill, which is set to expire on September 30, 2024. That is, unless Congress is unable to come to an agreement, and, as it did last year, grants another extension to the 2018 Farm Bill, also known as the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018. This inaugural column of “Inside the Farm Bill” helps launch Barn Raiser’s coverage of this vital legislation.
The $8 Billion Plan to Solve America's Groundwater Crisis
“It’s been in place for most of my life,” said Ted Whitford, the director of the tribe’s water resources department. “And if we get a water main break on our main line, what happens is it drains the tanks, and pretty much puts everyone that’s on that system out of water.” When the tribe reached a deal to obtain water rights for the reservation in 1997, the federal government agreed to pipe in water from a reservoir on the Marias River, almost 60 miles away, replacing the aquifer water.
A Narrowed Clean Water Act Threatens the St. Croix River
With its visible byssal threads—the strong fibers that bivalves like mussels and oysters use to attach to objects—Karns’s zebra mussel tattoo looks like it’s affixed itself to his right calf, a symbol of the invasive species’ relentless hold on the river as much as Karns’s own resolve to preserve its native mussel population.
Without a 2023 Farm Bill, Rural America Hangs in the Balance
With tens of billions in critical federal funds up for negotiation—from nutrition benefits to farm programs, rural internet access to drinking water infrastructure, clean energy initiatives to soil conservation—there is little guarantee that federal investments will continue to flow. Farm conservation programs expanded through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are already under Republican attack.
Conserving Public Forests Supports Sustainable Logging Economy
Years ago I helped families in the Ozarks and Southern Appalachian Mountains make money from their forests by harvesting timber in sustainable ways and increasing the amount of carbon those forests could pull out of the atmosphere. Currently, the Biden administration is looking at ways the federal government can conserve and restore public forests in light of climate change.
Agriculture greenhouse gas pollution has risen steadily in the last 30 years, in spite of misinformation peddled by the Industrial Agriculture lobby.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its annual report documenting trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, finding a 6% increase in 2021 from the pandemic-haunted 2020. The U.S. economy rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, causing an increase in fossil fuel combustion. Agriculture GHG pollution continued its steady long-term contribution, making up 9.3% of overall U.S. emissions, according to EPA.
"Country. Not Stupid. That’s what people get wrong about rural voters."
Dani Cook is a Certified Life Coach, spoken word artist, and organizer in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. Cook led a months-long peaceful protest for better health care in her region over problems at the “state-sanctioned medical monopoly,” Ballad Health. For more on Cook’s health care work, read Scalawag’s “Profit over people: Inside an Appalachian struggle to save rural healthcare,” and Rally for the Valley on Facebook.
Farming practices are exempt from the Clean Water Act--The Cocklebur #1
The U. S. Senate voted 53-43 this week to repeal the Biden Administration’s “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS) rule issued in January. The revised WOTUS rule clarifies the business activities that would require Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permits for operation in specific rivers, streams, and wetlands under the federal Clean Water Act.
Commentary: The Right Ideas and the Wrong Policy
Skip to content Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack laid out his vision for defending the Biden Administration’s farm and food system policy record last week, leaning hard on his agency’s “more, new, and better markets” sales pitch. Vilsack’s comments come in the early stages of this year’s federal Farm Bill reauthorization debate and outline a communications strategy that he says will help make the case for additional local food, climate change, and conservation investments.
Cultivate an Ecological Conscience
The following is an excerpt from “The Ecological Conscience,” an article published in the the June 1947 issue of Bulletin of the Garden Club of America.
The Lesson from the Wisconsin Midterm Elections: Face to Face Makes a Difference
Some say the wrong candidate was nominated, that Barnes, a black man with many ties to social justice groups, provided fodder for racially tinged dark money propaganda; others that they know what magic television ad the campaign should have run or that the national Democrats should have bankrolled even more television on top of an already massive investment in the race.
The Politics of Loving Your Neighbor in Rural America
A second lowered her eyes and spoke quietly, “Sometimes I’m afraid everything will come crashing down. I just hope they take care of our country.” Another said, “I just want them to take care of the schools. I want my school to be good.” The kids started talking about different political commercials they had seen. It was clear that they believed most of what they heard. They decided they could be friends with someone with different politics but maybe it would be best not to talk about it.
"Baptism in Nature's Warm Heart": John Muir's Arrival in Wisconsin
Just as we arrived at the shanty, before we had time to look at it or the scenery about it, David and I jumped down in a hurry off the load of household goods, for we had discovered a blue jay’s nest, and in a minute or so we were up the tree beside it, feasting our eyes on the beautiful green eggs and beautiful birds,—our first memorable discovery.
The Election was a Relief, but We’re Not Out of the Woods Yet
I cannot remember a time when my general level of anxiety was higher than it was this past election season. Like the rest of the country, so much was at stake in our heavily gerrymandered state, and things were looking bleak. I was not able to knock on many doors this election, so to alleviate my rising dread I donated to several state and national campaigns, only to be bombarded by desperate calls, texts, and emails requesting more money. As a result, my stress level worsened.
Elect Working People For Everything
The 2022 midterms were full of surprises to many political pundits, analysts, and consultants. A popular narrative predicting a massive Republican wave election turned out to be wrong, with Democrats retaining the U.S. Senate and performing stronger than expected in many states despite serious inflation and low favorability ratings for national party leaders.
Analysis: Democrats have issues that rural voters love. Maybe they should talk about them
Most mainstream media prognosticators continue to portray election results in an oversimplified box of geographical destiny. Rural people vote Republican, we’re told, while urban people vote Democratic. Under this model of high-stakes electoral politics and post-election-punditry, the suburbs must be the true “battleground” where territory can be lost or gained.As rural working-class voters, we see these results differently. There is some truth to the stereotype.
Analysis: Democrats have issues that rural voters love. Maybe they should talk about them – Daily Montanan Original
Most mainstream media prognosticators continue to portray election results in an oversimplified box of geographical destiny. Rural people vote Republican, we’re told, while urban people vote Democratic. Under this model of high-stakes electoral politics and post-election-punditry, the suburbs must be the true “battleground” where territory can be lost or gained. As rural working-class voters, we see these results differently. There is some truth to the stereotype.
Analysis: Democrats Have Issues that Rural Voters Love. Maybe They Should Talk about Them.
With a number of votes still being counted in the 2022 midterms, most mainstream media prognosticators continue to portray election results in an oversimplified box of geographical destiny. Rural people vote Republican, we’re told, while urban people vote Democratic. Under this model of high-stakes electoral politics and post-election-punditry, the suburbs must be the true “battleground” where territory can be lost or gained. As rural working-class voters, we see these results differently.
Keep It Rural: Folks, We're Back!
Changes Afoot at Keep It Rural HQ Welcome, welcome, welcome . . . to this long-awaited next edition of the Keep It Rural newsletter. Thank you for your patience during our break (like I said, everyone needs — and deserves! — one). During that time we put our heads together, and we’ve got some news about how this here newsletter is going to move forward for a while. First and foremost, know that we are committed to keeping things rural even though some changes are coming your way.
Keep It Rural: That One Time I Was Wrong
New Budget Deal Delivers Billions for Rural. (And I’m Glad to Be Wrong.) There’s a thing that happens on rare occasions when you cover federal rural policy and budgets. Let’s call it “competence.” Generally, I would describe the Beltway process of federal budgets and legislating as a messy disaster at best; and a shameful shirking of responsibility and empty promises/ethics/morality when I’m really on a roll. But sometimes, sometimes they actually get their act together and do a thing.
Keep It Rural: The Double Bind of Outdoor Recreation
Do Rural Outdoor Recreation Counties Really Reduce Poverty? (Because sometimes it seems like they just move it down the road.) For the past five years, I have regularly covered trends and issues in rural counties dependent on outdoor recreation as an economic engine. I also live in a rural outdoor recreation county (Transylvania County, North Carolina), where the visiting mountain bikers, waterfall watchers, and various other nature enthusiasts help to keep our local economy humming.
A New Bill Aims to Ban Mergers in Ag and Food Sectors
The “Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2022,” is an attempt by policymakers in Washington, D.C. to halt growing corporate concentration in the sector. “Corporate profiteering and out-of-control consolidation by big agricultural firms have led to increased prices at every point on the food chain, from the farm to the grocery store,” said Representative Mark Pocan (D., WI—2nd) in a statement announcing the legislation.
New Bill Wants to Ban Mergers in Ag and Food Sectors
Amidst rising food prices and record profit reports by many agribusiness corporations this year, a group of Democratic Senators and Representatives announced new legislation last week that would place an indefinite moratorium on acquisitions and mergers within agriculture and food industries. The “Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2022,” is an attempt by policymakers in Washington, D.C. to halt growing corporate concentration in the sector.
Keep It Rural: When USDA Can't Stop Saying 'Transformation'...
Is ‘Transformation’ the next USDA Buzzword?
Rural Iowans Rebuke Republican School Voucher Bill
A high-profile school voucher bill that would have siphoned millions of public dollars into private schools failed this week in Iowa. Pressure against the bill from rural parts of the state, where voters helped to elect the pro-voucher governor and a large Republican majority in the state Legislature, was the key to defeating the proposal.
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