January 2, 1988 - MPR's Mainstreet Radio team presents a documentary entitled Against the Grain, which collects conversations with rural Minnesotans about how they are adapting to the forces of economic change.
May 16, 1988 - On this Midday call-in program, MPR’s Dan Olson interviews Jim Nichols, Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture, about the drought and current farm issues in Minnesota. Nichols also answers listener questions.
June 7, 1988 - MPR’s Tom Meersman reports on the troubling conditions facing farmers as drought conditions set in across many areas of the state. Meersman interviews farmers and officials about the potential impact.
August 20, 1988 - MPR’s Mark Heistad interviews author Thomas Vennum about his book "Wild Rice and the Ojibway People." Vennum discusses the experience of harvesting wild rice and its importance to the Ojibwe People.
November 29, 1988 - MPR’s Stephen Smith profiles those in Meeker County as they endure the extreme drought conditions. This part of the state was one hit hardest by the dry weather in 1988.
December 17, 1988 - MPR’s Kate Smith looks back at the extreme drought that enveloped Minnesota in 1988. Smith speaks with a farmer and climatologist to get their stark take of the weather event.
December 30, 1988 - Wes Jackson, co-director of The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, speaking at Mankato State University. Jackson’s address was on the topic “The Problem of Agriculture vs Problems in Agriculture: Life in a Fallen World.” Jackson is author of "New Roots for Agriculture" and editor of "Man and the Environment" and "Meeting the Expectations of the Land". In his writing, Jackson has called for "an agriculture that will not destroy human or biological communities, that will minimize soil erosion and reliance on chemicals and fossil fuels, that will preserve the information contained in the genetic codes of plants and animals now threatened with extinction."
February 24, 1989 - MPR's Mark Heistad and Tom Meersman present "Poisoned Waters," a documentary about groundwater contamination problems in Minnesota. Documentary contains reports from Lakeland, Northern Township in Beltrami County, New Brighton, and agricultural land in the southeast of state.
May 15, 1989 - Mainstreet Radio’s Rachel Reabe interviews Milton Raske, a resident of Pillager, Minnesota, on his astrological gardening system. He has been planting vegetables for decades based on astrological signs. Agricultural officials do not support moon planting as it is not supported by science, but that doesn’t stop Raske.
June 3, 1989 - MPR’s Mark Heistad reports on Hmong farmers in the Twin Cities area. Farming is a natural transition for Hmong immigrants settling in Minnesota. It is also an important factor towards independance and bonding of family.