In addition to bad hairdos, Woodstock, and butterfly collars, the ‘70s also brought with it groundbreaking technologies that propelled many U.S. businesses into a new era. Farming was no exception. But the new technologies that improved efficiency and boosted yields came with a hefty price tag. The cost of farming skyrocketed during the decade, and…
opponents tell it, you’d think most farmers are raking in the big bucks. But anyone who’s been around the business knows that’s never been the case. The margins in farming are as thin today-maybe thinner-as when TIME magazine had this to say in a 1978 cover story “The New American Farmer“: To succeed in this…
Giving Thanks to an Extraordinary Example for Us All I met many wonderful people on my journey through the West Texas farmlands, but few as remarkable as Beth Clanton. Eleven years ago, Clanton was a second grade school teacher in Seminole, Texas. Her husband was a peanut and cotton farmer, and together, they had two…
Nowadays, it’s pretty difficult to get a mainstream news organization to pay much attention to the business of farming or the importance of the profession to the country. Big-city reporters today tend to focus on the sensational and the conflicts created by a handful of over-zealous farm opponents. Apparently, it hasn’t always been this way.…
The Boston Globe’s May 26 editorial against farmers and farm policy was nothing new—it included the arguments opponents of agriculture have been using for years. What was new was the speed with which the agricultural community responded to these attacks to point out the misinformation, and in some places, completely erroneous claims. Former Agriculture Committee…
An elected official, Terry Wanzek is well known and well liked around North Dakota. In fact, the state senator from Jamestown has represented the people of the 29th district since 1995—except for one interrupted term in 2005. That’s when a political opponent went on the attack and demonized Terry for his full-time career, riding a…
WASHINGTON (Apr 02, 2009)—A national poll conducted by Harris Interactive two weeks ago found that nine out of 10 Americans felt it was important to grow food at home instead of relying on imports. These results were not surprising to Larry Combest, the former Chairman of both the House Intelligence Committee and the House Agriculture…
Often times you’re told to play the hand you’re dealt, and after the 2008 farm bill was signed into law, Chuck Coley had planned to do just that. A cotton and peanut grower in west Georgia, Coley is no stranger to the notion that in this business, you need to adapt. As an active member…
WASHINGTON (Mar 26, 2009)—The government is on a spending spree, funneling billions to big business and “toxic assets.” Amazingly, one minute expense—America’s farmers—briefly found their way into the cost-cutting crosshairs when President Obama released his budget proposal. The outcry over proposed cuts to the farm safety net was fierce. Powerful lawmakers from both parties and the…
WASHINGTON (March 23, 2009)—Prompted by President Obama’s proposed budget—which would gut the farm safety net and exclude many full-time farmers from federal assistance—lawmakers and farm groups sent a unified, bipartisan message today to anyone eying farm policy for future budget cuts. 17 Senators, 52 House members, and 40 farm organizations sent separate letters to Congressional…
By: National Cotton Council MEMPHIS (February 26, 2009)— The National Cotton Council said today that the proposed program changes included in President Obama’s FY10 budget for USDA fail to recognize the work recently completed by Congress on the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008. The NCC emphasized that after a lengthy and arduous debate,…
WASHINGTON (Feb 27, 2009)—While big businesses ranging from insurance giants to banks, car companies, investment houses, and construction firms are raking in hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars, the men and women who feed and clothe the country received some unwelcome news yesterday from President Barack Obama. In the President’s proposed budget, farmers with more…