Latest News From Chris Bennett

Government officials claim power over entrance, searches, and surveillance on private land with no restrictions.

Jeremy Bennett was prosecuted for denying the state entry to his private business.

Roger Reaves forged the most astounding farm life of modern times. Row crops to moonshine to marijuana to cocaine, he was the highest paid narco-pilot in history.

Sold: Integrity for the price of 12 cedars and a single oak in farm country.

William Christman, 19, saved his family’s farm and paid with his life.

Lust or greed, trespassers are drawn to farmland by deer sheds. Private property is no barrier to a shed thief.

Crackle, whine, beep, and buzz, Andy Thaxton metal detects farmland, hunting coins, keys, bullets, bells—and one more holy grail.

The government seized control of John Yearwood’s ranchland in the name of a tiny bug. “There is no shame in Washington,” he says.

Tom Askjem disappears under farmland, descends to depths of 13’-plus, and returns to the surface with treasure—bottles and glassware from agriculture’s past.

“The public doesn’t realize what these animals are capable of,” says wildlife trapper James Dean. “Unfortunately, you’re going to see more and more reports of people getting hurt in wild pig encounters.”

When the IRS audited the Hajda farm, an agent arrived at the property, sat inside the farmhouse kitchen, and pored over the family’s finances.

An intrepid Kansas mother and her Johnny-on-the-spot son found one of the most stunning Indian artifacts of recent history. Welcome to the impossible tale of the Oehm Blade.

Richie Devillier is fighting back after the government twice flooded his 900-acre farm and home, killed his cattle, ran his family through emotional hell—and insisted he foot the entire bill.

When 14-year-old Dave Richmond’s monster buck was stolen, he searched 14 years for the pinched antlers, never giving up hope on a spectacular rack.

In the age of instant gratification, Wesley Crumpler is a throwback—a self-made farmer and rancher intent on paying the price for opportunity.

Jeff Pybus is farming’s invisible grim reaper, slaying rats in the dark as he shoots and films for an addicting, no-frills YouTube channel.

Welcome to a festering landowner-hunter conflict and a lawsuit launched by rural property owners against the state. If persistent hunting dog encroachment affects a farming operation, is compensation in order?

Arm mangled inside a hay baler, Doug Bichler fought a gruesome battle for life, determined to escape the machine at all costs.

How much power do game wardens possess without a warrant or probable cause? A hunting club lawsuit is heating up over the bounds of government access to private land.

Welcome to a nightmare—the Yazoo Backwater Project—a bureaucratic taffy pull of dysfunctional government, politics, science, farming, and the backdoor dealings of a federal agency.

Jon Stevens is an agriculture heretic: “Don’t argue with me about the awesome changes I’ve seen on my ground. You can argue with my logic and how I arrived there, but not the results.”

In just a few buck-wild months in 2015, a Texas grifter pulled off a swindle nearing $100M, and turned the cattle industry into his playground, stirring more cash than some of the largest beef companies in the U.S.

When hunter Michael Bennett bought eight pigs at a sale barn, the wheels began turning on one of the most bizarre feral hog stories on record, and unleashed questions over guilt, innocence, and state power.

On a harsh winter day in 2018, Robbie Polk chanced upon a dinosaur suspended in ice.

Cook Holliday, 77, is a legendary pole vaulting farmer and an American treasure hiding in plain sight.

In 2017, Bob Recker kicked open the door on 60” row corn, and exposed a ton of questions on sunlight capture, weed suppression, cover crops, and much more.

Is animal reproduction an activity deemed ineligible for a bank loan? Yes, in Rhoda Rein’s case, and her rejection raises a series of unanswered questions.

David Heidt is far more than a gravedigger—he is a minister of comfort. Beneath the ground of Heidt’s farmland, 2,500 meticulous horse burials testify to his care and service.

In four operations in Mississippi, Iowa and South Dakota, conservation agriculture and financial success are a wedded pair.

Shed hunting is a late winter and spring sport for millions of landowners and outdoorsmen in the United States, yet, few hunters can match Jimmy Cassell’s consistent totals or antler size. The search for sheds never gets old for Cassell, even after 30 years and over 1,500 specimens.

Shed hunting is a late winter and spring sport for millions of landowners and outdoorsmen in the United States, yet, few hunters can match Jimmy Cassell’s consistent totals or antler size. The search for sheds never gets old for Cassell, even after 30 years and over 1,500 specimens.

Eyes to the sky, farmers count costs of cattle losses

Eyes to the sky, farmers count costs of cattle losses

Eyes to the sky in search of black vultures, producer concerns are mounting over calf losses. Black vulture expansion is drawing attention in the Midwest as livestock owners note increasing accounts of depredation.

Eyes to the sky in search of black vultures, producer concerns are mounting over calf losses. Black vulture expansion is drawing attention in the Midwest as livestock owners note increasing accounts of depredation.

When Smirnoff touted its No. 21 vodka as free from GMO corn, a Kansas farming couple swept Smirnoff products from the shelves of their liquor store. The result? A wave of support from farm country and beyond.

Who slashes farmland acreage by three-quarters, jettisons a machinery fleet, and upends field practices, yet watches profits rise by 70 percent? Meet Del Ficke and a less-is-more farming approach.

Who slashes farmland acreage by three-quarters, jettisons a machinery fleet, and upends field practices, yet watches profits rise by 70 percent? Meet Del Ficke and a less-is-more farming approach.

Could a meatless revolution curb the cravings of a $900-billion-plus global real-meat market? New money shines brightest, but despite a stampede of investment, the future of fake meat is hardly settled.

A checkoff war has farmers and livestock producers caught in the crossfire, and the ramifications could significantly impact the foundation of the beef and soybean checkoff system.

On Mikey Taylor’s farmland, cover crops and livestock are the vehicle to building high-potential soils.

Wayne Springer is tired of paying $300 for a bag of traited corn seed. Unafraid to change horses in midstream, the 60-year-old producer is transitioning from a row crop farm to a ranching operation.

What can a farmer drop in the planter when prices are poor? Aaron Base’s planter has room for wine, wheat, weddings, Airbnb, grass fed beef and a 1928 schoolhouse. Revenue beyond the rows can be crucial to an operation, particularly in lean commodity years, and Base is bucking convention by tapping the vein of side-stream income.

Loss and risk are an assumption in farming; devastation is not. Crops in the Dakotas and Montana are baking on an anvil of severe drought and extreme heat, as growers and ranchers make difficult decisions regarding cattle, corn and wheat.

New proposal is big on complexity, short on clarity when it comes to redirecting funds 

Cattle return to row crop agriculture