Native freshwater mussels do important work filtering the water in Midwest rivers. These animals are in trouble, but Kansas has a plan to help them. Plus: We'll hear from farmers around the central U.S. about what made this such a tough year, and what may come in 2026.

Native fish and mussels are signs that a river is healthy. But some of them are vanishing from Midwest waterways. Now Kansas has a plan to help 21 species, including a rare mussel called the Neosho mucket. From the Kansas News Service podcast Up From Dust, Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports.

Across the U.S., 2025 was a hard year to be a farmer. The shakeup of markets and federal programs this year made an already fragile farm economy even more uncertain. As Harvest Public Media's Hope Kirwan reports, producers are still feeling the fallout of these changes and trying to figure out what they mean for 2026.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Madeline Fox. This episode was produced by Gabe Rosenberg and KCUR Studios, and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Madeline Fox.

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