Hog farmers worry that they will pay a hefty price if there's a trade war with China. Red Cedicol/EyeEm/Getty Images hide caption

Kansas farmer Derek Klingenberg is using satellite images to capture cow art from space. YouTube hide caption

In 2012, record heat throughout the U.S. farm belt curtailed crop production like this rotting corn on a farm in Bruceville, Ind. Farmers are now worried that the lack of rainfall this year could start the cycle over again. Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

The Theewaterskloof Dam is at just 13 percent capacity and is full of sand and dried tree trunks. About 85 miles north of Cape Town, the dam supplies both city and local farmers. Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

A head of poor-quality malt barley taken directly from a field in Power, Mont. Heat and a lack of water resulted in small and light kernels. Grain rejected for malt barley often ends up as animal feed. Tony Bynum/Food & Environment Reporting Network hide caption

President Trump speaks at the American Farm Bureau Federation's annual convention in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

Sale Tambaya, a cattle herder in central Nigeria, grazes his cows. After his home state criminalized open grazing on Nov. 1, he and his family fled with their livestock to a neighboring state where grazing is allowed. Two of his sons died on the journey. Tim McDonnell for NPR hide caption

Jonathan Bethony bakes his whole grain breads in a wood-fired oven, heated to about 500 degrees, to help the weighty loaves rise. Whitney Pipkin for NPR hide caption

Hops internodes growing in a Petri dish in the SUNY Cobleskill biotech lab. Lela Nargi/For NPR hide caption

Damage to soybean plants and other crops has led to arguments and strain between neighbors. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption

Migrant Justice activists gather to celebrate the signing of an agreement with Ben & Jerry's that took two years to negotiate. Kathleen Masterson/Vermont Public Radio hide caption

The destructive diamondback moth has spread across the world and mutated to become immune to each new chemical pesticide designed to slay it. Jonathan Lewis/Getty Images hide caption

Hervé Zarka uses a tool called a simoussi to rake up salt in his marshland on the island of Noirmoutier in France. He says there are many minerals in natural sea salt, such as magnesium and potassium, that aren't in industrial salt. Eleanor Beardsley/NPR hide caption

Farmer Wendy Johnson markets hogs, chickens, eggs and seasonal turkeys. She also grows organic row crops at Joia Food Farm near Charles City, Iowa. Amy Mayer/Harvest Public Media hide caption

Ladi Adaikwu, right, and her business partner, Musa Ogbeba, run one of the few high-quality seed yam shops in central Nigeria. Tim McDonnell for NPR hide caption

Mueller plans to build his chicken barns in this cornfield just south of his home. His barns would house "breeders," the hens that lay the eggs that will hatch to be raised for meat. Grant Gerlock/Harvest Public Media hide caption

The Agriculture Department established research centers in 2014 to translate climate science into real-world ideas to help farmers and ranchers adapt to a hotter climate. But a tone of skepticism about climate change from the Trump administration has some farmers worried that this research they rely on may now be in jeopardy. Luke Runyon/Harvest Public Media hide caption

Girindra Nath Jha returned to his boyhood village of Chanka. Now he's teaching farming and English — and he's started a writer's retreat. Courtesy Shivalkar Jha hide caption

Most people in the world have never experienced the taste of the kind of tortillas Hilda Pastor makes using heirloom corn. That's because of the rise of mass-produced instant corn flour. Marisa Peñaloza/NPR hide caption

Farmers are lobbying for the ability to buy software to fix their equipment, and some are hacking their way around the problem. Seth Perlman/AP hide caption

Darvin Bentlage is a fourth-generation farmer from Golden City, Mo. He was uninsured before the ACA and featured in a video from the Department of Health and Human Services supporting the law. Screenshot/Department of Health and Human Services hide caption

Taylor Hutchinson says having subsidized health care costs has been critical to being able to start a farm with her partner, Jake Mendell. Kathleen Masterson/Vermont Public Radio hide caption