Graduation season isn’t just about diplomas and tassels. It’s about what comes next and the people who help get you there.

Local livestock auction yards have been around since about the time cattle were first introduced as a commercialized American food source and they are the epitome of a robustly competitive market.

Farmers are entering the critical spring planting season under a cloud of uncertainty as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran disrupts global trade, causing fertilizer and diesel costs to spike.

Global disruptions have tightened fertilizer supplies and driven up costs. At the same time, fuel prices continue to rise, further tightening balance sheets.

For decades, farmers and ranchers have been begging antitrust officials for probes into concentrated industries like meatpacking, seed, fertilizer, machinery and grain merchandising.

Farmers and ranchers can capture more of the food dollar through value-added production, direct marketing and partnerships that move them deeper into supply chain activities.

Farm Bureau has long advocated for reforms to the H-2A guest worker program to ensure workers are treated fairly and that farmers can afford to fill their labor needs.

For our U.S. cattle and sheep industries, do you want free markets or competitive markets? That’s not a trick question as there’s presently significant political tension between these two goals.

Like other farmers across the nation, my work is not a job, but a calling.