The country can’t afford farm programs like before, or can it?
Since early spring, Republican aggies in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have warned their farm and ranch constituents that farm program spending will be cut $3 billion over five years, beginning with the 2006 federal budget.
U.S. energy policy never been decent
Of all the lessons beaten into America by crashing Katrina, one of the biggest is that the nation's energy policy, past as well as present, is an absolute scandal.
It’s time to restock the national pantry
More than most months, September delivers farmers key numbers - yield per acre, weaning weight, price per pound or bushel - they will live with for the coming months.
Katrina’s agricultural effects are secondary to summer drought’s
As Hurricane Katrina's smashing blows fell on the Gulf Coast, commodity traders did what they always do when uncertainty hits the pits: They sold.
Summer’s end is filled with yellow
The end of central Illinois' heat-stoked, rain-starved summer is being whispered in the yellow leaves rattling on my backyard's black walnut trees.
Court piles on meatpackers’ power
Killed the Packers and Stockyards Act of 1921. Largely gutted the U.S. Department of Agriculture's mandate to "promote fair and competitive trading practices for the overall benefit of consumers and American agriculture.
Einstein influences federal budget
While Albert Einstein proposed the theory of relativity nearly a century ago, today's Congress and White House have perfected its application.
What voters want in farm policy
Baseball has its winter hot-stove league when teams and players wheel and deal in hopes of improving their World Series chances.
D.C. sausage grinder running wild
In its rush to blow out of steamy Washington D.C. for a month of cooler temperatures and cooler tempers, Congress ran the legislative meat grinder hard in the final days of July to crank out enough fat-laden sausage to sate even the hungriest special interest.
Uncle Honey: dangerous, but sweet
The last week of July and first week of August were always the longest and hottest weeks of the year on the southern Illinois' farm of my youth.
