Peggy Lowe

In Missouri, Days Of Drought Send Caretakers To One 'Big Tree'

Peggy Lowe — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 19:43:00 +0000

The devastating drought in the Midwest last summer is a story often told by the numbers, with statistics on large crop failures, days without rain and thousands of parched acres.

This story is also about a tree — a bur oak in rural Columbia, Mo., that everyone calls "The Big Tree." Although it's survived all kinds of punishments during its 350 years on the prairie, last year's record drought was especially tough.

It doesn't feel like spring as John Sam Williamson meets up with Chris Starbuck, a retired plant science professor, at The Big Tree.

Farmers And Their Cooperative Settle Lawsuit On Fixing The Price Of Milk

Peggy Lowe — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:33:00 +0000

Farmers who had hoped to get some answers on why prices for their raw milk went into free fall a decade ago were disappointed Tuesday by the settlement of a case accusing Dairy Farmers of America Inc. of creating a milk monopoly in the Southeast.

Dairy farmers and industry observers had hoped for their day in court after years of delays in the large class-action suit.

Unlike Chicken And Pork, Beef Still Begins With Small Family Ranches

Peggy Lowe — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 07:25:00 +0000

In the chicken and pork industries, nearly every aspect of the animals' raising has long been controlled by just a handful of agriculture conglomerates. But the cattle industry is still populated by mom-and-pop operations, at least at the calf-raising level.

Barbara McIntire Roux likes to say that she was born into the cattle business.

How One Hospital Entices Doctors To Work In Rural America

Peggy Lowe — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Recruiting doctors to live and work in rural America is a chronic problem. Most health centers try to attract workers with big salaries and expensive homes.

Shots previously reported that one center in Maine was trying to lure medical students to the countryside for their final two years with the hope that they stick around.

The Ashland Health Clinic, a tiny hospital in southwest Kansas, is trying a different tack — a reverse-recruitment model.