NAIS should be fixed or forgotten
Four days before the seventh and final "listening session" June 1 to gather producer comments on NAIS, the National Animal Identification System, U.S. Secretary...
Rain makes grain — if grain’s planted
When I was drawing a paycheck as a cocksure marketing advisor and newsletter writer nearly 30 years ago, my colleagues and I often explained...
Take free trade — please
When the international trade portion of your resume is as thin as Ron Kirk's -- you do remember that Kirk, the former mayor of...
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...
