Putting the ‘con’ in econometric
While American farmers and ranchers were eyeball-deep in spring planting and first-cutting hay, their commodity groups and federal government were knee-deep in narrowly-focused studies.
Chemical giants putting on quite the dance act
Chemical companies are making a lot of noise as they consider mergers.
Trade deals going nowhere
As the politics of this election year heat up, the chances of Congress debating — let alone passing — either of the White House’s marque trade deals continue to melt away.
We should talk, we need answers
Where will CRISPR take us? Answers to this question and others shouldn't solely come from government regulators like USDA, according to columnist Alan Guebert.
Trying to silence checkoff foes
Big Ag’s control of commodity checkoffs reached new heights April 19 when the House Appropriations Committee approved the USDA's $21.3 billion 2017 budget.
Spring seemed to be in slow-mo
Hints of spring arrived early this year, but the season itself seemed to be in the slow lane because rare was the week when back-to-back sunny days warmed the tired winter soul.
They never stopped making it
Forty-five years ago, anyone hoping to be someone in American agriculture was offered the same, free advice: "Buy land; they're not making it anymore."
Lobbying and money and the Hill
In Washington, D.C. the week of April 10, ag-related and ag-dependent groups overran Congressional offices and government agencies in waves of annual “fly-ins.”
Ethanol has agriculture in a trap
It looks like we're heading toward another corn surplus.
Free markets work, when we let ’em
There is a certain poetry in U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-KS, failure to convince the U.S. Senate to squash state and local food labeling laws.
