USDA begins 2026 down 20% in staff with plans to cut more
Opinion columnist Alan Guebert dicusses how more than 20,000 USDA employees left in 2025, sparking fears of a "brain drain" as the agency manages a $234B budget and new relocation plans for 2026.
Alan Guebert: Figures don’t lie, but we often lie to ourselves
Explore the true cost of 2025’s ag policy, from record export deficits and tariffs to billions in hidden subsidies that challenge fiscal integrity.
Alan Guebert: Bridge to where, exactly?
A fact check of White House claims on farm aid shows tariffs hurt U.S. agriculture, boosted bailouts and contradict rhetoric about a “war on farmers.”
White House beef tariffs make hash out of cattle markets
Alan Guebert: Political tariffs and policy shifts on Brazilian and Argentine beef have sent US cattle futures soaring, then plunging, creating chaos in the cattle market.
‘Twas the season of all our seasons — and for good reasons
A nostalgic look at Christmas traditions on a southern Illinois farm, where the magic of Western Auto shaped childhood memories.
Three strikes and you’re out
Congress extends the 2018 Farm Bill again, leaving farmers facing rising costs, lower prices and unstable markets despite billions in federal payments.
Farmers and ranchers are major SNAP beneficiaries, too
Examining the contrast between halted SNAP payments and rapid farm aid, and why farm groups stayed silent despite SNAP’s major impact on rural economies.
If you ever felt hunger, you’d never condemn the hungry
A mother’s memories of Dust Bowl hunger reveal how hardship leaves lasting scars — and how compassion endures through generations.
And you thought ‘business’ people knew economics
U.S. food policy is full of contradictions, as billions go to farmers for tariffs and SNAP funds run dry, showing politics, not people, drive the decisions.
US Labor Dept.: Less pay means more farm employees
A crackdown on undocumented workers and cuts to farm wages threaten U.S. food production. Labor shortages grow as Americans reject farm jobs.
