OPINION It is deeply troubling for the White House to endorse (the Make America Healthy Again Commission) report that sows seeds of doubt and fear about our food system and farming practices, (and) then attempts to celebrate farmers and the critical role they play in producing the safest fo…
OPINION In recent months there has been a lot of discussion surrounding electronic-identification devices, traceability and identification. From cattle-industry-associations policy positions to amendments of current federal rules and federal-funding discussions, there seems to be as much co…
OPINION The National Milk Producers Federation’s board of directors recently approved farm-bill-policy priorities covering commodities, conservation, trade and nutrition titles. It’s also working to enhance federal support for producers and expand access to dairy products for consumers at h…
OPINION Agriculture continues to grow and evolve. Sixteen and twenty-four-row corn planters have largely replaced the old four- and six-row planter. The majority of our state’s hay crop is no longer harvested with “kicker” balers. But though the way we farm has changed, agriculture’s signif…
This Wisconsin State Journal editorial ran Feb. 17, 1853.
OPINION New Year’s question – What do various organizations with membership comprised of Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals, urbanites and rural folks, and consumers and producers, all have in common?
OPINION Have you ever been called on the carpet? Let’s say you are on the job and you find yourself in a situation where you need to make a decision about serving the best interests of your customer. But it will mean breaking a company rule, or keeping the rule and leaving your customer out…
OPINION This time of the year leaves most of us dreading to see our heating bills. But this year we have new options to afford our bills and better incentives to make home improvements that will reduce our bills going forward.
OPINION When adults think back to our formative years, we can likely pick a teacher or two who fundamentally made a difference in our lives and influenced our future career paths. For many in the agricultural industry, that teacher was an agricultural teacher. Hundreds of agricultural instr…
OPINION In early October the news caught my eye that JBS, the world’s largest meat-processing company, was pulling out of the plant-based-protein market. The story, reported by The Denver Business News, noted that JBS started Planterra about two years ago. Planterra opened a processing faci…
OPINION I was on a conference call in August and one of the participants asked a question.
OPINION Sometimes the unexpected drops out of the sky. Well, from that general direction, at least.
OPINION Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative recently participated in an industry-wide effort to build consensus on milk-pricing reform. The cooperative was among the groups at a meeting hosted by the American Farm Bureau Federation to discuss meaningful changes to the U.S. dairy-pricing system.
OPINION The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently opened enrollment for the 2023 Dairy Margin Coverage program. FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative encourages all dairy farmers to participate in the important safety-net program that continues to provide for dairy farmers when margins become tight.
OPINION With increasing costs eroding dairy margins despite greater milk prices, the National Milk Producers Federation is urging farmers to enroll for maximum coverage in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Dairy Margin Coverage program. Despite record prices in 2022, accompanying record …
OPINION I recently finished doing paperwork for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Stewardship Program. The program has some of the typical USDA projects that I would expect – fencing that’s wildlife-friendly, water-pipeline and water-tank installation to entice cows out of t…
As African swine fever continues to spread throughout Asia and parts of Europe, we see firsthand the devastation it causes to swine populations. The United States remains free of African swine fever but in 2021 African swine fever was detected in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Those are t…
OPINION Fall is a glorious time of year in Wisconsin. From the leaves changing color to the plethora of local events and outdoor recreational activities that abound, there is something for everyone.
OPINION Around the globe people are feeling the pain of inflation. The main contributor is gas and diesel prices. In the current global economy goods are moved across America as well as around the world. The price increase in fuel has led to a spike in the cost of everything we produce and buy.
OPINION At this time of year, you don’t need to drive far in Wisconsin to see combines running in the fields, tractors moving equipment and trucks hauling grain. Wisconsin farmers are working from sunrise to long past sunset to harvest their crops and prepare their farms for winter. During …
OPINION Wis. Gov. Tony Evers in 2019 declared the second Monday of October to be commemorated as Indigenous Peoples Day in Wisconsin. We should on this day reflect on all we owe to the Indigenous communities that contribute so much to the state of Wisconsin.
Today I’m recognizing and celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day with a message honoring Wisconsin’s Native Nations, reaffirming the state’s commitment to respecting Tribal Sovereignty and utilizing government-to-government relationships to build a stronger future for the state.
OPINION Tesla has sold more than 3 million cars worldwide. There’s no doubt automotive manufacturers are shifting research and development dollars toward making more electric vehicles to capture some of Tesla’s growing market dominance in the space. If you – like me – love cars, trucks and o…
OPINION Like most people with a smartphone, Google displays stories on my phone that may interest me. I tend to look at lots of agricultural stories. One particularly random story showed up recently. It involved James Cromwell, the actor from the movie “Babe.”
OPINION At this time each year, with rare exceptions, I make the trek to my family’s cemetery, located in a no-stop-light town deep in the heart of Kansas. Three generations have their final resting place there and all of them share an agrarian heritage.
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