Farm bill is a wobbly effort at best
When longtime Texas congressman "Cotton" Charlie Stenholm got bushwhacked for re-election by colleague Tom DeLay's infamous Texas redistricting plan in 2004, most ag policy hands lamented that much of the House Agriculture Committee's farm bill experience went down with him.
Millions of reasons for lobbying reform
By Capitol Hill standards, $95.5 million is chicken feed; but even chicken feed has a purpose: fatter broilers, happier hens, more eggs.
Too many cooks in farm bill kitchen
If urban sprawl consumes two acres of America's finite farmland every minute, should Congress, through the 2007 farm bill, address farmland protection? If one out of three Americans is either overweight or obese, should the $57 billion the U.
The great acreage race of 2007 is on
As the roaring combine sawed through 30 feet of soybeans at a fast-walk pace last October, a farming friend, through the convenience of his cell phone, sold 160 acres of still-standing corn for a couple or three nickels over $3 per bushel upon harvest.
The missing word rule applies here
A college friend once noted that everyone is missing one word from their personal vocabulary. "My missing word is modesty," he pronounced.
Jungle of food safety may consolidate
One hundred years ago this week, the nation's first extensive food safety laws went into effect. Inspired by Upton Sinclair's stomach-churning novel The Jungle, President Theodore Roosevelt bullied Congress into passing the Food and Drug Act.
Ethanol’s long tail to wag 2007’s dog
In 2006, ethanol was the strong tail wagging the farm dog. In 2007, ethanol will be the big, well-muscled dog whose price-pumping tail will stir every farm market and nearly every public policy debate.
Deleting 2006, one e-mail at a time
The move from the big house to the smaller home a year ago brought a pint-sized office, three dozen banker boxes to replace nine, overfilled filing cabinets and a new, tiny-by-comparison work desk.
Easy as hitting a bull in the backside
In late July, this space highlighted recent investigative stories by reporters at the Washington Post.
’07 farm bill: Seeing the light of day
The big wins Senate and House Democrats enjoyed Nov. 7 will deliver them bigger titles, bigger offices, bigger staffs, bigger responsibilities and bigger expectations when the 110th Congress convenes in early January.
