agriculture | StateImpact Pennsylvania Skip Navigation

Energy. Environment. Economy.

A reporting project of  NPR member stations

TAG | agriculture
4 Stories
Maple Lawn Farms in York County on Sept. 20, 2022.
November 7, 2022 | 6:06 AM

Climate change prompts Pa. farmers to adapt crops and businesses

As the climate changes and brings more risks to the traditional farming schedule, farmers are looking for ways to make sure their crops survive.

By Rachel McDevitt
Sheep graze at a solar farm at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. As panels spread across the landscape, the grounds around them can be used for native grasses and flowers that attract pollinators such as bees and butterflies. Some solar farms are being used to graze sheep.
November 4, 2021 | 5:09 AM

Bees, sheep, crops: Solar developers tout multiple benefits

Solar is a renewable energy source that can help wean the world off fossil fuels that produce greenhouse gases.

By John Flesher/The Associated Press and Tammy Webber/The Associated Press
Dave McLaughlin's farm fields, seen here on January 13, 2021, are almost always green because of his use of cover crops.
February 23, 2021 | 7:06 AM

Climate change threatens Pa.’s farmers. How growers treat their soil could help them adapt — and benefit the rest of us, too

Some advocates look to so-called “regenerative agriculture” as a big part of mitigating the effects of climate change. For farmers, it might just be good business.

By Rachel McDevitt
FILE - In this Aug. 1, 2018, file photo, debris washed into the Chesapeake Bay from record rainfall accumulates around a sailboat in Annapolis, Md. An annual report on the Chesapeake Bay says pollution from unusually heavy rains in 2018 contributed to the first decline in a decade in the overall health of the nation's largest estuary.
May 1, 2020 | 5:16 AM

Report finds poultry farming sends more pollution to Chesapeake Bay than previously thought

The Environmental Integrity Project’s analysis estimates that about 1 million more pounds of nitrogen pollution are entering the Chesapeake Bay each year from the poultry industry than state and federal cleanup programs estimate.  

By Rachel McDevitt