Half-baked USDA plan makes less sense even when it’s ‘95% baked’
Alan Guebert considers the Trump administration's sweeping USDA reorganization, warning that past agency relocations drained staff and sparked backlash.
August is one, long garden feast
Alan Guebert offers a look back at August farm life in Illinois: homegrown meals, garden harvests, canning marathons and the simple joy of family dinners.
Tea leaves are for tea, hard data is for hard choices
Volatile trade policies, slowing growth and a 79% drop in corn exports to China are sinking commodity prices — and economists see more cooling ahead.
We’re rich enough to support both our poor and our farmers
Alan Guebert breaks his golden rule not to respond to reader comments to answer a good question about SNAP and farm subsidies.
Big business vs. family farms
A new farm bill loophole favors legal entities over family farms, enabling massive payouts, while cutting food aid and burdening low-income households.
Rollins’ flash of ‘absurdity’ does not solve ag’s problems
According to Alan Guebert, automation won’t fix ag labor. America’s farms run on skilled, undocumented workers — and reform means recognizing their value.
Follow the money to the one-tenth of one percent
In 2024, the richest Americans made $1B/day—and just got tax cuts, while small farms, Medicaid, and SNAP lost out to mega-farms and billionaires.
Halfway through a thin slice of baloney
U.S. ag markets stay steady mid-2025, but rising debt, weak trade and a falling dollar raise concerns for the second half, according to Alan Guebert.
Sometimes you need to put lipstick on a pig — or an ag policy
Alan Guebert weighs in on the failures of current agriculture policies in the United States.
Erasing America’s ag trade deficit the easy way
Alan Guebert weighs in on erasing the United States' agricultural trade deficit.
