Sarah Mock 

Rural life was a passion of mine long before it became my career. I grew up milking goats on a farm in Wyoming, studied economic development at Georgetown, and since then have worked alongside farmers and communities struggling to remain relevant in a changing world; from California’s Central Valley, to the Midwest, and around the globe. By the time I was asked to cover ag and rural issues in Washington for RFD-TV (the country’s only dedicated rural TV network), I had learned these issues from the perspective of a business liaison, academic researcher, and community member.

While reporting on everything from the 2018 Farm Bill to the rural healthcare crisis to disaster recovery efforts across the country, I’ve worked to find meaningful, human stories that relate the critical facts to a rural audience, while also creating a window through which urban and suburban viewers and readers could understand a bit more about the paradoxes that define so many spaces beyond the city limits. It’s a fascinating challenge– one that my sprawling network of rural family, friends, and colleagues have helped me take on and learn to love.

“I was raised by rural people; I’ve experienced their virtues and their violence, and I believe they are exceptional. Rural communities are petri dishes of democracy, each one an experiment that could help us discover new, better ways for us to live together. I have no choice but to keep telling the stories of these communities, to add depth to misunderstandings and challenge misrepresentations, because America’s rural story is my own.”