Blog Posts & Stories

Open enrollment for the federal Health Insurance Marketplace begins in just three weeks – on Nov. 1 – and Nebraskans looking for health coverage are encouraged to prepare now.

The Center for Rural Affairs is among 210 farm, rural, worker, and consumer advocacy organizations calling on Congress to adopt policies that address unfair contracts for farmers, increase market...

​​​​​​​Rural America, and the nation as a whole, has entered a phase of significant demographic change.

Along a gravel road on the Omaha Reservation is a white house surrounded by gardens and fruit trees. On one side of the property is an aging outhouse – the namesake of the small operation, Outhouse...

This week, the American Prairie Conservation Act was introduced by Sens. John Thune (R-SD), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), and Mike Rounds (R-SD), and Reps. Kristi Noem (R-SD) and Tim...

Congress is in the process of writing another farm bill. Political distractions are running high in Washington. But distracted or not – the current farm bill expires in September 2018. If Congress...

The Iowa legislature created the Iowa Solar Energy System Tax Credit in 2012. Designed to encourage local investment, the credit offsets up to 15 percent of the cost of a new installation. Legislators included limits of $5,000 per home or $20,000 per business to ensure accessibility.

Property tax relief and adequate funding for schools and local governments was the topic of a recent community conversation in Nebraska City, hosted by the Center for Rural Affairs.

October is National Farm to School Month, a time to recognize the importance of improving child nutrition, supporting local economies, and educating communities about the origins of their food.

The latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Graham-Cassidy Health Care Repeal Plan, is a prescription for harm to rural America.

Do you care about soil health, clean water, and farmers’ ability to make a living and steward their land? Time to tune in. Congress has started work on the next farm bill, and now is when they need to...

This week, the Center for Rural Affairs joins more than 320 child and youth advocacy organizations in a letter to Congress expressing our support for the bipartisan Dream Act of 2017. The bill would...

The Center for Rural Affairs farm bill team has been working hard to make sure you have up-to-date and important farm bill information. Over the past few weeks we have sent out information regarding our farm bill priorities.

“Creating and marketing value-added products has the potential to significantly enhance our farm's profitability, but this is no easy task. Our value-added funds will help pay for processing...

Barns. They stand proudly against blue skies along the interstate, a highway, or even a lonely gravel road. Some are the centerpiece of a family farm, often as big or bigger than the old farmhouse...

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has provided hard-working young people and their families with a measure of stability. This policy protects individuals who came to this country as children from deportation and allows them to apply for employment authorization.

​​​​​​​The Center for Rural Affairs wants to work with you to advocate for conservation in the upcoming 2018 farm bill!

Dustin Farnsworth flew to Washington D.C. this spring to speak with his lawmakers about the importance of conservation programs. The farmer took part in a National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition...

An alternative to traditional farm insurance is catching the attention of the agricultural community in Iowa and throughout the Midwest.

The Volkswagen diesel emission settlement fund represents an opportunity to make investments that will lead to significant emission reductions in the transportation sector. The $11.5 million allocated to Nebraska also provides major opportunities for economic benefit for Nebraskans as well as benefits for the state and local governments.