In recent years, hops have sprouted on farms across the U.S. There were high hopes that the hops would feed a booming craft beer market that’s now leveled out.

Despite a wet February in our part of Illinois, it’s been a dry winter for most of the U.S. That’s raising concerns about a repeat of 2012’s drought, the worst since the Dust Bowl that cost farmers, ranchers and governments $30 billion.

Highlights from a Colorado camping trip that included encounters with trout, elk, and a songbird that swims.

The story was produced for Harvest Public Media, a collaboration of public broadcasting stations in the Midwest covering food and agriculture issues.