House Ag Committee chairman Frank Lucas, a fast talker by birth and trade, spared few superlatives when describing, in a telephone press conference Jan. 28, the finally finished, modestly named Agricultural Act of 2014. “Historic in many ways,” Lucas said of the pending law as he shared the call with his Senate counterpart, Debbie Stabenow,
New U.S. Farm Bill fails to tackle big issues
It’s not a near miracle, not amazing and not very reforming
Guebert: Why don’t farmers trust consumers?
Henry Ford heard the jeers for years before his horseless carriage remade culture forever. Orville and Wilbur Wright were called birdbrains before their dreams carried them over a North Carolina sand dune and mankind to distant galaxies. They had thousands of predecessors. Archimedes was thought to have a screw loose. The Vatican saw Galileo as
Guebert: Politics interfere with value investments
In a recent television interview, famed Wall Street investor Warren Buffett characterized the October federal government shutdown as “totally irresponsible” and said the failure of leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives to raise the nation’s debt ceiling until moments before possible default was “just plain stupid.” Unlike most stock market billionaires, Buffett wasn’t talking
Guebert: Reasons to smile over the Smithfield purchase
Here are 10 reasons for American farmers and ranchers to be thrilled by Shuanghui International Holding Inc.’s proposed $4.7-billion purchase of Smithfield Foods, Inc. No. 10: The U.S. gets back some of the dollars held by China. While $4.7 billion is chicken feed compared to the $1.2 trillion of U.S. debt (about 7.5 per cent
Neigh… I mean, nay, I say!
The coincidence was positively delicious. Shortly after Swedish furniture seller Ikea found itself, shall we say, saddle deep in a saucy mess that featured racier red meat in its Swedish meatballs than you’d normally get from the average European cow, the USDA announced changes to its controversial country-of-origin labelling, or COOL, law for American meat.
It’s August — take a nap
One part of every day on the southern Illinois dairy farm of my youth was inviolate: the noon nap; nearly everyone took one. We didn’t rest very long, just 30 minutes or so, because the farm work never rested long. The naps, however, were as integral a part of our farm routine as the big,
No way to duck crop insurance disaster
Many on Capitol Hill are quick to point out that “if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.” What they never add is that this little blinding glimpse of the obvious has never stopped legislative quackery in the past, and it’s not stopping it now. For example, as
Ticket to unparalleled heartburn
Since you speak English as well as anyone, perhaps you understand the working paragraph of a May 19 Washington Post column that explains the trading strategy employed by JP Morgan Chase & Co. to, ah, hedge its market risk. It reads: “It is this exemption that would allow (JP Morgan executive, Ina) Drew and her
Bigger and bigger and …
Two years ago March 12, trumpets blasted in Ankeny, Iowa, as America’s new gladiators for agricultural justice — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., his antitrust chief Christine Varney, U.S. Department of Agriculture boss Tom Vilsack and hundreds of farmers — gathered for a day-long discussion on “competitive dynamics of the seed industry; trends in
The lonely road to leadership
Few things have been more satisfying than the many hours of every day, the many days of every year and the many years across many decades I have spent in solitude. For almost 30 years I’ve worked alone, a full-time freelancer in an increasingly corporate, increasingly crowded field. Fortunately I had good training for this
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
