Natural birth centers that aren’t affiliated with hospitals are becoming more popular, but patients across the Kansas City area are left with few options after a local center closed. Plus: Kernza is a relatively new grain with a budding future as a sustainable crop, but it's struggling to find a market.

Women in Kansas and Missouri have fewer options on where to give birth, especially if they’re looking to give birth holistically, after a natural birthing center in Overland Park, Kansas, closed. As Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga of the Kansas News Service reports, the closure worsens the existing shortage of birth care.

The grain Kernza is championed by many researchers as climate-friendly. It’s a perennial crop, meaning it stays in the ground year-round, unlike corn or soybeans. But there’s not much of a market for Kernza, at least not yet. As the Ag & Water Desk’s Eric Schmid reports, small breweries are one outlet for Kernza in the Midwest.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Olivia Hewitt, Byron Love and KCUR Studios, and edited by Lisa Rodriguez and Gabe Rosenberg.

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