Books, plans and farm ‘Congress’
A week or two into every new year, most folks review, often regretfully, their list of resolutions already bent, broken or buried. That never...
Congress wraps up its least productive year ever
Every year ends on Dec. 31.
Every baseball season ends with the World Series. Growing seasons end with a hard freeze and the opera season...
Another satisfied customer
There are two file folders in the lower, right drawer of my desk. One is labeled “Mail,” the other “Another Satisfied Customer.”
The former is...
Cooperatives keep farmers competitive
The weekly hometown newspaper recently brought news of a family friend’s death. The friend, a dairy farmer, had lived a long, good life and...
Big Ag, big data and big money
Big Ag — John Deere, Dow, Monsanto, Pioneer, and Syngenta — are “on the verge of going ‘all in’" on big data collection, analysis and operational planning.
Fifty years of never forgetting
Like most Americans of 1955 or so vintage, the lovely Catherine and I will spend time this week recalling our personal whos, whats, whens...
Is Big Ag acting overly confident?
What is it about American agriculture that inspires farm and ranch groups to not trust American consumers? What do we fear?
The federal government shutdown: Just plain irresponsible and stupid
In a recent television interview, famed Wall Street investor Warren Buffett characterized the October federal government shut-down as “totally irresponsible” and said the failure...
Could Congress learn a lesson from its history?
Some things never change: In 1981, the White House and Congress were locked in a farm bill fight the likes of which no one...
On the road: California, a land all of its own
From the baking but breezy rest stop in the middle of California’s Mojave Desert, Interstate 15 disappears into the low mountains southwest toward Los...
