Farmers and ranchers typically reside a mile or two from their nearest neighbor, but that distance has gotten increasingly vast.
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Chuck Hassebrook, the Center for Rural Affair’s executive director in the 1980s.
Submitted photo
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Attendees of the Center for Rural Affairs anniversary celebration listen to Tim Nissen speak at his family’s winery Sept. 9. Nissen Family Vineyards in Hartington, Neb., which used a business planning program at the center when it got its start.
Submitted photo
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Mid-September soybeans turn from yellow to brown and drop leaves in a field north of Humboldt, S.D.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo
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Longtime rural advocate Charlie Johnson says encouraging diverse farms rather than big ag is a way to preserve small towns. “People make up a community, not bushels. Children fuel the future, not large machinery,” he said.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo
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Charlie Johnson feeds a group of heifers at his Madison, S.D., farm Sept. 15. Johnson worked as a small farm advocate at the Center for Rural Affairs in the 1980s.
Tri-State Neighbor photo by Janelle Atyeo
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Janelle Atyeo is a small town South Dakota girl enjoying her work as regional editor of the Midwest Messenger and Tri-State Neighbor while raising kids and no-till vegetables in central Sioux Falls. Reach her at janelle.atyeo@lee.net .
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