Named to honor a beloved family pet, an adopted black Lab-Border Collie mix, Black Dog Farm originally started with four chickens and a dream and has since grown into a successful woman-owned rural small business on a 35-acre homestead in the hills near Livingston, Montana.     

Gary and Debra Norris are your typical retirees. They spent almost 15 years renting houses in a local single family housing development so they could enjoy the amenities available in the Crossville, Tenn. area. After renting several houses over the years, they decided it was time to settle down and purchase their own home. They talked to a friend of theirs, whom all of their children had purchased homes with USDA Rural Development loans, so they thought they would give it a try. Initially, the obstacle was credit.

If you’ve picked up a program at a major sporting event, subscribed to an agriculture magazine, or used a workbook while studying, chances are good that Midstates Group printed it right here in north central South Dakota. This business has clients that reach coast-to-coast and span everything from professional sports to catalogs, agriculture parts books to alternative health publications. When we say ‘read all about it,’ you probably already have.

Nutrient management is a major concern for America’s dairy farmers, but they can’t always have a serious conversation about it with people who aren’t in the industry. In fact, one Connecticut farm has found the path to producing a new product from composted cow manure to be liberally paved with “poo puns.”

With three months until the business was closing, the employees at Bemis Manufacturing were up against the clock. The owner of the wood manufacturing business was reaching retirement and needed to sell, a move that would close a 100-year-old operation and threaten the workforce of the largest employer in the rural community of Crandon in northern Wisconsin.

Sloughhouse NOA
NOA Publication

The drive up to Unionville Vineyards in Ringoes, New Jersey can be a tricky one. Patches of forest and sprawling farmland bound winding roads that lead to a natural, inclined driveway up to a rustic tasting room. In the summer, it’s hard to find a more picturesque setting. In the winter, however, the roughly two feet of annual snowfall can make things a little more difficult.

On those frigid, precipitous days, Unionville General Manager John Cifelli has some bad news: You might have to stay home.

Thomas Beckett and his team are passionate about what they do. Beckett’s resilience and persistence broke ground in North Carolina in 2012 when they opened Carolina Common Enterprise. Opening the center was a culmination of Beckett’s work as an attorney which exposed him to people in dire situations – oftentimes working excessive hours to barely make ends meet. Through outreach and organizing, one model emerged as a possible solution to give workers collective economic power: the Worker-Owner Cooperative Model.

Built in 1910, the rodeo arena at Chief Joseph Park in Harlowton, Montana, stands as an enduring monument to agricultural life and is a frequent gathering spot for residents of this small town nestled on the plains near central Montana’s Judith Mountains. From rodeos to funerals to church services, the arena has seen it all, welcoming residents, and out-of-town guests to this centerpiece of rural Americana.