Pouts, preachers and persimmons
It's been eight long, commentary-filled months since readers who've dropped letters, e-mails and napalm on me have had their say. Sorry, but time screams...
Watchdog bites the hands that fed it
Despite over-promised and underpaid by millions of dollars, the 100 or so producer-members of Meadowbrook Farms Cooperative said little during a recent public meeting...
Let’s go on rural broadband
One the biggest drawbacks of living in rural America is the high cost and low quality of connectivity: antiquated dial-up Internet speeds, costly satellite...
Old guard still reigns at USDA, even under Obama
Although Barack Obama has been president but a few days we can already say with certainty -- unlike before his inauguration -- he cannot...
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...
