Dan Charles

Water restrictions hit home in California

Dan Charles

In California's greatest farming region, there's a water crisis from overpumping groundwater. The state passed a law in 2014 to restrict overdrawing the aquifers, and the limits are going into effect.

The San Luis Canal flows alongside farmland in Huron, Calif. Some farmers in the region are leaving land fallow because water is increasingly scarce.

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Why farmers in California are backing a giant solar farm

Dan Charles

Many farmers have had to fallow land as a state law comes into effect limiting their access to water. There's now a push to develop some of that land … into solar farms.

Country's biggest solar project moving ahead in California

Dan Charles

An enormous solar project is moving forward in California, on land that farmers have had to keep fallow as the state restricts over-pumping the aquifers they previously used to irrigate crops.

The 'Oscar' of food prizes goes to a Brazilian who harnessed the power of bacteria

Dan Charles

This year's $500,000 World Food Prize, for advances in agriculture and nutrition, goes to a Brazilian who boosted the country's farming revolution, turning it into a soybean superpower.

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The 'Oscar' of food prizes goes to a Brazilian who harnessed the power of bacteria

Dan Charles

This year's $500,000 World Food Prize, for advances in agriculture and nutrition, goes to Mariangela Hungria, who boosted Brazil's farming revolution, turning the country into a soybean superpower.

An abandoned home in Tyurkmen, Bulgaria.

NPR Headlines

Farmers are abandoning their land. Is that good for nature?

Dan Charles

Traditional farmers around the world are walking away from millions of acres of land where they once grew crops or grazed animals. It's provoking mixed reactions.

Abandoned farmland is having a profound impact on ecosystems in Europe

Dan Charles

Farmland is being abandoned across Europe as it's difficult to make a living. Some ecologist fear that some plant and species will lose ground but some hope that other species may fill in the gaps.