News from rural America.

Rural voters weigh competing visions about agriculture's future ahead of the Presidential election, counties where economic growth has lagged in rural America are booming post-pandemic and farmers get financial help to protect their land's natural habitat.

TRANSCRIPT

- For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

The election's coming fast, but renewal of the farm bill seems stalled indefinitely.

This makes it hard for rural voters to know where ag policy is going, and that frustrates Joe Maxwell with Farm Action Fund.

The fact they can't get a 2023 farm bill done shows the tremendous dysfunction and the unwillingness to come to the negotiation table.

Both sides just get entrenched.

A second term for former President Donald Trump would probably reignite trade battles with China, which made it much harder to export soybeans and pork during his administration.

He'd also likely boost subsidies for big farmers.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack says in the last few decades, subsidies have increasingly gone to the largest, wealthiest farms, but he wants more support for smaller farms.

One out of every six farms that was in existence in 1981 is no longer in existence.

We've also lost farm land, 151 million acres of it, land that wasn't farming that's not being farmed today.

If elected, Vice President Kamala Harris looks likely to continue President Biden's climate investments and expanded crop insurance policies.

Rural counties that historically lagged behind the national growth rate are booming post-pandemic, but Julia Tilton reports that might not change how they vote.

The Economic Innovation Group found rural counties with recent economic gains under the Democratic administration are unlikely to shift their politics.

Group researcher August Benzow says a quarter century of job and population loss have solidified many rural counties as Republican strongholds.

If the Democrats buy the ticket, was able to even get up to winning a quarter of these counties, it would be quite surprising.

Despite recent growth in rural employment, there's still nearly 2 million fewer jobs than 25 years ago.

Benzow says big parts of the rural US missed out on broad economic gains before the pandemic.

Decade of growth that we had in the 2010s is one of the less inclusive periods of economic growth.

I'm Julia Tilton.

A farmer-led nonprofit is seeking landowners who want to help restore the natural habitats on their land.

Practical Farmers of Iowa offers financial help for planting prairie strips to help reduce soil erosion and restore native species.

Habitat Viability Coordinator Grace Yee says such practices provide multiple benefits.

They're going to be good for soil health, good for water quality improvement, and also provide habitat for wildlife.

Yee says for some farmers, the end goal is less soil erosion and runoff into nearby waterways.

For others, it might be finding a productive way to use a low-yield corner of the farm.

It's difficult to farm with because it's maybe steep and slope or it's just weird turnaround, so they can easily round out the field.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com. you