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Covering the agriculture beat: An introduction
Photo by iStock Agriculture may seem like a simple job. Prepare the soil, apply chemicals, plant, harvest, repeat. Right? In fact, it’s a complicated endeavor in the best of circumstance. Farming is...
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Corn or soybeans? Stories for spring planting season
Photo by iStock What do the prices of potash, nitrogen and phosphates have to do with your readers’ pocketbooks? The zooming cost of these fertilizer components are just one part of the complex mix...
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Dig into these Earth Day business angles
This spectacular “blue marble” is the most detailed true-color image of the Earth. Credit: NASA Sunday is Earth Day 2012, and while the four-decades old observance isn’t getting the attention it did on...
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Tracking the economic impact of severe weather
By Flickr user Mark Turner The tornado alerts have waned for the time being after last weekend’s deadly storms. But given the track record so far this year, and severe spring weather outlooks from...
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The financial impact of food safety and shifting demand
By Flickr user Jennifer Dickert Food safety issues are rearing their … microbes, lately, prompting a new set of related business story possibilities. The headline-grabber is the California case of “mad...
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Pending transportation bill affects more industries than road-repair
Photo by iStock People sometimes ask me why I listen to the truckers’ network on satellite radio. Mainly, I do it because tuning in to those news segments and call-in programs — with participants with...
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From helium to heartworm meds, what shortages plague businesses?
The national helium shortage is a fruitful area to explore for fresh story ideas. Photo by Liline sur Flickr What does a replica Civil War balloon have to do with business journalism? Well, the plight...
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Find local angles in the soft-drink debate
There are multiple local stories to track down as the soft-drink debate takes national stage. By Flickr user Dennis Yang With all of the ongoing woes and wonders of the universe, it was astounding to...
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Monday’s global crop report suggests loads of federal farm bill stories
What with Monday being National Corn on the Cob Day and the USDA about to release its big global crop report on Monday, agriculture is in the zeitgeist. And with Congress about to start debating a big...
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Mine inflation reports for fresh story angles
Monthly inflation reports offer a myriad of story ideas to pursue at the local level. Photo by iStock. The big monthly inflation reports are due out this week, and while inflation risk presently is low...
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Timely story ideas: The impact of immigration laws on businesses
Find stories in how the changes in immigration laws and patterns affect businesses. Photo by Ryan Beiler. With the Supreme Court expected to rule soon on Arizona’s controversial SB1070 law and...
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Health, retail, econ: Farmers markets offer a bounty of biz angles
We’re in the thick of that fun, farmers-market time of year when produce, plants, baked goods and handmade items like soap and sewn goods are available at roadside stands, organized markets and other...
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Magazine editor thinks of freelancers as searching for a ‘nugget of gold’
Business North Carolina contributor Edward Martin was among the winners of this year’s Alliance of Area Business Publications awards for his feature on a large, atypical farm in the area. Custom...
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From crops to car washes: A drought’s impact on the economy
Farmers face struggles growing crops due to drought conditions. Photo by iStock It’s amazing how many 21st century economy stories still originate from that most elemental of sources: Weather. And the...
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Lettuce, lobsters and spicy sauces: Food stories you can localize
This year’s devastating, drought-withered corn harvest is an economic powerhouse on fronts from fuel to livestock feed, but other alimentary angles are cropping up for financial journalists to...
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Nation’s drought prompts a look what business is doing to conserve, re-use
“Is it supposed to rain this week?” “What happened to that rain we were going to get?” “It’s dry as a bone around here.” “Will it ever rain??” Thus goes the conversational refrain this summer among...
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Tips from Lexington on launching, maintaining a yearlong industry series
Each month in 2012, the Herald-Leader visited a different Central Kentucky farm. Photo: Charles Bertram/Herald-Leader Janet Patton of the Lexington Herald-Leader recently published the eighth story in...
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Where to go next with stories on organic foods and businesses impacted?
Photo: Flickr user WithoutWings11 The new report this week suggesting that organic foods aren’t any more nutritious than those grown using conventional methods must have sent a chill down the spine of...
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On the road: How one reporter covered the drought story up close
Photo by Dreamstime Ann Belser of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette trekked across the country to give readers an in-depth look at the drought. In one week in August, she logged 3,455 miles driving for 50...
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Craving a BLT? Bacon biz stories from bartering to marketing
Oscar Mayer's bacon barter. Photo by Oscar Mayer Here comes one of those talkers that just begs to be localized: Oscar Mayer has sent a man on a two-week cross-country trip with no cash or credit...
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