Where will ag spend Obama billions?
The new president wants Congress to approve upwards of $800 billion in cash and tax credits by mid-February to, hopefully, stem the worst economic...
Average Crop Revenue Election awaits
On Jan. 8, 2008, an investment banker at Goldman Sachs predicted crude oil prices would top $200 a barrel by summer, then slip lower...
A new secretary; another governor
If conventional leadership and bureaucratic competency had a face, it would look exactly like Thomas J. Vilsack: round as an apple pie, chin disappearing...
Is ‘sucker’ written on our foreheads?
It's the end of the year, but columnist Alan Guebert still has unanswered questions.
A life of simple living and giving
(Author's note: The following column was first published the week of Christmas 1998. Now, by tradition, it returns. Merry Christmas. --Alan) The Christmas tree...
Credit crunch crunching markets
If recent conversations with elevator managers and farmers are even slightly predictive, it's gonna be a long, cold winter in corn and soybean country...
‘Twas the bailout before Christmas
Before ya'll go gettin' cheery-cheeked and weepy-eyed for Christmas, Old Scrooge here has some sour facts that will be waitin' for you on the...
Rural Americans way ahead of leaders
In a brief presentation to some 250 or so farm and small town members of Iowa mutual insurance companies Nov. 17, I asked for...
Elections do matter to everyone
Whoever said elections don't matter was either a royalist or a royal idiot. Of course elections matter. For proof, ask Robin Hayes, Marilyn Musgrave,...
Time to re-examine, re-invent
One of the more astute observations on the role of government in farm policy ever uttered was offered by then-congressman, later (from 1991-93) secretary...
