Omaha, NE — People with Green Bellevue and advocacy group GC Resolve say the local soil in Nebraska is in trouble. Sunday, the two groups came together to bring awareness to the problem and share solutions. The advocates are pushing for something called Regenerative Agriculture to put an end to bad soil. "I thought coming today I'd get a clear picture of some solutions that we need to do and I did! Very very very informative," says Alisha Shelton, who attended today's presentation. Continue reading

Graham Christensen has been an OCM member since 2016. He’s a fifth generation Nebraska family farmer. You might also know him from his passionate work with his consulting business GC Resolve and the grassroots collective of farmers, tribal members, food coops, and organizations that he co-founded, RegeNErate Nebraska. The “drive to build communities from the soil up” is at the center of all his organizing and advocacy efforts. Continue reading

Passing with a 7-2 vote the Burt County Planning Commission recommended proposed regulations to adjust the livestock feeding operation setbacks following a public hearing during its regular meeting Monday. This opens the county to the possibility of having more large animal feeding operations, including chicken operations. There have been chicken barns built in neighboring counties for Lincoln Premium Poultry, the Fremont facility processing chickens for Costco. Continue reading

This spring, Graham Christensen witnessed the worst flooding of his life. Hundreds of farmers in Nebraska saw their fields submerged in as much as four feet of water. Nebraska’s governor said the natural disaster caused the most extensive damage in the state’s 152-year history. All told, the state’s agriculture industry suffered an estimated $1 billion in losses.  Continue reading

FREMONT — Costco’s rotisserie chickens are so popular that fans of the roasted fowl started their own Facebook page, a page that now has more than 17,000 followers. The cooked birds, which cost $4.99 apiece, are such a draw for the warehouse retailer that it chose Nebraska to launch its first venture in growing and processing its own chickens for its stores. Continue reading

LINCOLN, Neb. – Agriculture is the fourth largest producer of climate pollution, and farmers and ranchers from across the U.S. have launched a campaign urging Congress to pass the Green New Deal, which supports regenerative family farm and ranching practices over industrial scale agribusiness.  Continue reading

At the back of Costco's stores, past the televisions, jewelry, jumbo-sized ketchup jugs and tubs of mixed nuts, is one of the retailer's most prized items: The rotisserie chicken that costs just $4.99.   Continue reading

As Nebraska’s brand-new Costco chicken processing plant begins sending birds down the line in Fremont, residents are escalating their protest against the company by pushing for a statewide moratorium on new concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Continue reading

Three years ago, Costco announced plans to create a vertically integrated chicken business that would supply 40 percent of the retailer’s chicken needs. The corporation is working to build a feed mill and processing plant in Fremont, Nebraska that will create up to 1,000 jobs and strike growing contracts with 70-100 farmers, introducing large-scale poultry production to the state. Continue reading

Farmers set a course for the future, by going back to the way it was.  For Clay Govier, that means raising crops beyond the ones he’s always grown. “It's tough to make a good living growing corn and soybeans anymore,” he said.  He'd like to grow peas, kidney beans, sunflowers, and other crops too.  “We really need to get back to growing food people eat,” the Broken Bow farmer said. At the same time, he wants to integrate livestock and manure instead of synthetic fertilizer, while capturing more carbon.   “Improving the soil. A lot of people talk about sustainability. I don't want to sustain what we have,” Govier said, saying sustainability falls short when farmers can be regenerative. Continue reading