For over a month now, nearly anyone who can lift a fork has asked what the “new normal” in agriculture will be. Six weeks later, we now have a pretty good idea that ag’s new normal will look like ag’s old normal. That should give everyone deep concern. If no food supply chain is strong
Comment: Don’t chain me down
Food chains are too unreliable, the coronavirus reveals
Comment: We have to start somewhere
Another huge farm bailout is needed due to COVID-19
Before we take the next unsteady step into a very different future, let’s make sure it’s not a step off the plank. How? We can start with disciplined decision-making: Use proven facts, lean on practical experience, and focus on what is safe and smart. That latter part is especially important because if you farm or
Comment: Prepare for the worst, pray for the best
One thing is certain, the pain from COVID-19 will be very real
Despite overwhelming evidence from literally every corner of the world, a farmer friend recently related to me that three rural acquaintances had assured him that “this whole virus thing is just a big hoax to bring down Trump.” If so, there’s now 100,000-plus graves, more than a half-million hospital patients, and trillions of dollars of
Comment: ‘Behold the fowls of the air… ’
We can plan all we want but luck will weigh in too
My father wasn’t a stoic. Instead, his temperament was one of acceptance. He simply accepted the fact that he wasn’t in complete control of most things on the farm. Sure, he was boss over everything in sight: hundreds of acres, 100 dairy cows, five farmhand sons, three hired men, and his unpredictable, iron-bending Uncle Honey.
Comment: February was a paradox. March delivered a pandemic
Coronavirus is taking the spring out of spring
February is a paradox. Leap year or not, it’s the shortest month of the year yet it always feels like the longest month of winter. Then March appears with its light, colour, and hope. That’s what is needed this March as political leaders, markets, and the world economy tumble into a virus-choked mudhole. Worse, this
Comment: The end of coronavirus is nowhere in sight
COVID-19's economic impact is hitting hard
In just one, unwelcome week, the coronavirus drained US$3.6 trillion from the U.S. stock market, clipped Apple shareholders for US$220 billion, and sent millions of Americans to stores to buy every face mask, surgical glove, and gallon of bleach they could get their now-sanitized hands on. It’s what we do; we panic first and ask
Comment: Homesick? Try Mom or Grandma’s cure-all
Frequently the cures were worse than the illnesses
The onset of a deep chest cold recently pushed me to wander the aisles of the drugstore for any cure that might halt the hacking. Three days and three placebos later, my hack weakened to a wheeze. Time, and the lovely Catherine’s chicken soup, did the trick. Had I been on the southern Illinois dairy
Comment: Brexit, Boris, and boxing in U.K. farmers
When U.K. farmers voted heavily for Brexit it was an act of either faith or foolishness
Events, like stars, can at times align just enough for you to glimpse your destiny. If you’re lucky, that sneak peek is the critical break you need for success; if you’re unlucky, the starry view spins off into the universe unseen. Farmers in the United Kingdom got that peek after the June 2016 vote that
Comment: What we know about corn and soy estimates
This year could shape up to be at least as challenging as 2019 was
The best way to begin a new year is to start with what we know. For example, we know the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) December World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimate shows that about 14 per cent of the 2019 U.S. corn and soybean crops will be unsold when the 2020 harvest begins next
Comment: U.S. trade policy hits the Great Wall
China plays the long game; United States keeps getting played
Several years ago, when Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Tom Friedman was asked to choose which rising Asian nation, China or India, he’d bet the farm on, Friedman didn’t hesitate to pick India. The reason, he explained, was that while both nations were on an expressway to the future, India, the world’s largest democracy, had an open
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
