An artless deal made for trade
Sonny Perdue invoked a 2014 Farm Bill directive to create the undersecretary of trade by eliminating the undersecretary of rural development.
Agriculture’s greatest innovation
Human engineering and agricultural innovation have made farming safer over the years.
Pass the biscuits and the buck
Alan Guebert gives his view on Perdue’s decision to “slow down” implementation of the nutritional school lunch standards promoted by Michelle Obama.
Sonny Perdue’s big adventure
Sonny Perdue will have his hands full considering America’s slipping hold on the global farm trade and President Trump's clear anti-trade stances.
The numbers aren’t adding up
The top bosses at ag-centered commodity groups and federally-chartered checkoff agencies had far better recent years than the farmers they claim to serve.
Small-town writer challenges agriculture, gets Pulitzer Prize
Art Cullen of the Storm Lake Times won journalism’s highest honor for a series of 10 editorials on why Iowa “has the dirtiest surface water in America.”
There goes the neighborhood
Farm and ranch groups are now less social and more tribal. Many have a “we’re-right, you’re-wrong” view of farm and food tech, policy and their customers.
Memories of the auctioneer’s song
In the end, no amount of “stuff” could ever equal Alan Guebert's father's good health, abiding friends, deep faith and 89 years to enjoy it all.
Obamacare overhaul is a failure
Still, the goal now is the same as then: provide the best health care with the most choice to the largest number of Americans at the fairest price.
Farm Credit salaries, big loans should lead to big questions
Lenders will continue to grow, merge and make whale-sized loans unless the farm, ranch and rural owners of the Farm Credit System begin to question them.
