Let’s take a meeting at the USDA
On Dec. 20, 17 people from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, including Secretary Tom Vilsack, 10 from non-governmental organizations, 10 from seed and food...
Forecast for March: Very, very hot
After hiring into the market newsletter biz 30 years ago, my new bosses informed me that I'd sink or swim on how well I...
Motherhood, apple pie and ethanol
Rare is the person, topic or issue that finds the editorial boards of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal in unison....
Looking for the truth in food labeling
When the nearby link of a national grocery chain hosted a beef sale last summer, this carnivore grabbed his checkbook and motored to the...
Debate continues over beef checkoff
It wouldn’t be a new year without the big players in the $80 million-per-year beef checkoff — the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the Federation of...
Snow days and sledding miracles
Two fat sparrows sit in the trough of a bird feeder outside my office window and eat their way through today’s snowstorm. Six feet...
One plan, three men and 50 years
When Wes Jackson, Wendell Berry and Fred Kirschenmann get together, conversation, laughter and ideas flow. Other than a closeness in age, the three appear...
Let there be light in the pork markets
A Dec. 28, 2010, Wall Street Journal story laments the “near-halt” of pork belly trading at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Bellies were “once among...
Dear Mr. Apples and Oranges
Another final column of the year and, as is the custom, another year where readers will have the final word. Some of their words...
The ‘level playing field’ of trade
Some phrases just make the heart flutter. “Call the vet,” was one that always tripped my father’s ticker. “Level the playing field of trade,”...
