Health care reform a winner for rural America
If you want to see just how badly broken America's health care system is come to the country. Be careful during your visit, however,...
Silencing the circus we call television
A month or so ago, the manager of this one-dog farmette clipped the coaxial cable that linked our rural home to the yellers at...
Cutting a fat hog on the taxpayers’ tab
The year isn't five months old and hog farmers already have had a year to forget: a sick global economy sickening pork demand, costlier...
No bank should be too big to fail
The biggest maker or breaker of business in rural America is not Washington rulemakers, state environmental agencies or local taxing bodies. Instead, it's usually...
Big biz and the big university
When David Chicoine explains his new, part-time job -- one of 11 members of the board of directors at seed giant Monsanto Co. --...
Report on global agriculture’s future
If you had a nickel for every magazine story that detailed the best ideas to pass your farm or ranch on to your children...
How to hide 8 million acres in plain sight
American farmers and global food makers have had more than a decade to get comfortable with wild, year-to-year swings in crop acres brought by...
To fix this mess, just fire them all
Only Wall Street bankers and Capitol Hill lawmakers can sport such a sorry record and still keep their jobs.
Maybe AIG ain’t great after all
More than 40 years ago, my father and his good friend, C. John, had a three-letter code they often tossed back and forth when...
Meadowbrook Farms collapses
A sudden surge of spring-like warmth put a hint of green in my backyard just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Whether the lovely...
