Who is J. Dudley Butler and why are meat packers and their allies saying nasty things about the courtly, 61-year-old from Yazoo County, Missouri? Butler is the new administrator of the U. S. Department of Agriculture’s Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA). That makes him the watchdog over Big Meat and their apologists –
GIPSA Watchdog Better Bite
Dairy’s Sour Times
Maybe this is what Willie and Waylon were thinking when they warned American “mommas” to not let their “babies to grow up to be cowboys.” Anyone with a dairy cow this year will lose, on average, $70 per month feeding and milking it; more if the cow is also packin’ debt. That means, in the
Ag’s Two Faces In Global Warming Debate
Ionce asked a well-informed acquaintance what the consequences were if he was wrong in his insistence that global warming was simply Al Gore’s revenge for the 2000 presidential election. “Well,” he replied, “if I’m wrong my grandchildren will curse my name.” That introspective reply come to mind after the narrow, 219 to 212 U. S.
Take Free Trade — Please
When the international trade portion of your resume is as thin as the new U. S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk’s, it’s likely you’d stress personal ideals over professional accomplishments when talking about your new job. Kirk did just that in a May 22 speech to the U. S. Meat Export Federation. As Barack Obama’s trade
Too Small To Save Or 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 the local bank. A bank’s collective fairness and wisdom can be seen from Main Street to surrounding farms. Not so with the money centre and Wall Street banks. Citibank, Bank of
Farming To Feed The World – for Apr. 23, 2009
If you had a nickel for every magazine story that detailed the best ideas to pass your farm or ranch on to your children and grandchildren, you’d have one wealthy farm or ranch to pass on. If, however, you had a nickel for every magazine story that detailed what economic, environmental and political actions are
The Oligarchs Of Ag
Former General Motors boss Rick Wagoner evidently did not understand the meaning of the biblical admonition of those who live by the sword often die by it. It’s easy to see why. Detroit has owned Washington, D. C. for, well, forever: no increase in car mileage standards since the Pinto; no new fuel technologies since
Big Oil Invests In Ethanol
If it’s even partly true that you’re known by the company you keep, then the farmer-loved ethanol business got a lot less lovable Feb. 8 when Valero Energy Corp., the largest crude oil refiner in North America, announced its intent to purchase five of the choicest plants owned by mega-biofuel maker, mega-bankrupt VeraSun Energy. Should
Aggies To Obama: No!
“…if your local butcher put his greasy thumb on the scale in such a clumsy manner, you’d slap him with your chequebook. Congress does it, however, and you hand it your chequebook.” Of the many talents Americans– and especially American politicians – have acquired in the last 25 years, coupling fact with fiction to create
U. S. Checkoff Shenanigans, Again
When Benjamin Franklin noted in a 1789 letter to a friend that “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes,” Franklin did not foresee the incestuous, billion-dollar-per-year commodity checkoff industry. If you farm or ranch in America, not even taxes are more certain than the beef checkoff, the pork
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
