Rural Issues

We are down to the short rows of 2024. Winter is upon us. Christmas is days away. The older I get, the more quickly the days, weeks, months and years pass by.

Even amidst the ever-present challenges that are part of farming, we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

Activist-driven ballot measures were shot down by voters in Colorado and California on Nov. 5.

As we head into the holiday season, please support those who support your community. There are many reasons to shop in your local, rural communities.

There are winners and losers in every election. It is our collective responsibility to find a way forward, regardless of whether our candidate comes out on top.

There is much to consider this election season as several critical issues that will impact the citizenry are on the table. Many of those issues will impact us near term, but they will also set the stage for the future of our country.

As stewards of farms and ranches, we know the benefits of each season for growing crops and raising livestock. Those four distinct seasons help us learn to live in the moment. Every year, we only get a few months of each one.

4-H has a greater reach than any other youth development organization — and young people need it now as much as ever before.

A late-summer drought across much of the Midwest certainly altered the landscape. The cows are moving slowly, single file as they often do, coming from a pasture to get a drink from the automatic waterers.

You are so much more important than any crop you will ever harvest. Don’t get in a mad rush. Don’t cut corners.

Thirty-five trillion seconds is about 1.1 million years. To put it another way, if you started counting at the beginning of the Stone Age, you’d still be counting.

Many farmers quietly struggle with mental health and are reluctant to ask for help. If you or someone you know needs help, reach out to the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.

Sometimes, you just need to let the rest of the world go and enjoy those moments that bring you joy.

We, the citizenry of these United States of America, are subject to too many regulations at the federal, state and local level.

I have heard that you should not discuss politics, religion or money with friends and family. Apparently, some people are incapable of discussing these topics without fighting. I am not one of those people.

As farmers, we know that healthy soil is an important foundation for everything we grow. It is critical to productivity.

This month we celebrate the birth of our great nation. It was July 4, 1776, that the Declaration of Independence, calling for the 13 American colonies to secede from Great Britain, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

Most of you probably think that meth is only used in the shadows of your community. Sadly, its use is much more mainstream than you might think.

Beginning with Memorial Day and ending shortly after Independence Day, we see more American flags flying than at any other time of the year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently finalized its Standards and Guidelines for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants.

It is springtime in the Midwest and farmers are farming to beat the band. Many farmers and farm families will spend long days in tractor cabs and in the direct sun getting the crop in the ground. When it is finally time for a break, it will more than likely be outdoors.

Several times over the past few weeks I’ve been approached by a friendly stranger. They wanted to know if I would comment on an issue and sign my name in support or opposition.

It has become customary this time of year for me to offer up some advice in this column with soon-to-be-newly-minted high school and college graduates.

Did the reaction to COVID-19 change the way you communicate? I have asked that question several times since March 2020, when the world as we knew it rocked on its axis for a bit.

Each year, the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri and its collaborators put together a baseline projection for the U.S. and world ag sectors for the major grains, oilseeds, biofuels, livestock and dairy commodities.

This is my favorite time of the year. It is the time when new life is created.

"As I flip the page on the calendar from March to April, I find myself just one year away from my fourth decade in the radio business," Cyndi Young-Puyear writes in her latest column.

The official start of spring is today and Easter is right around the corner. Days are longer, hyacinths and narcissus are blooming and the grass is greening up in pastures and yards. It is my favorite time of the year.

Like many of you, I was a member of FFA in high school and then a member of collegiate FFA. The heart and soul of National FFA is the local chapter. That is where it all begins.

Election Day is less than nine months away. Media coverage of the campaigning and polling leading up to the Nov. 5 presidential election ranges from entertaining to appalling.

One of the best jobs I ever had was at Scott County Nursing Center when I was a senior at Winchester High School. Through the co-op class, I went to school the first half of the day and worked in the office at the nursing center the second half.

AI is all the buzz these days. But artificial insemination is not the AI getting all the attention these days. The AI most are talking about and experimenting with is artificial intelligence.

The Endangered Species Act turned 50 years old late last month. Signed by President Richard Nixon in 1973, the legislation was expansive and controversial.

Another year has passed with an outcry for improved sustainability on our planet. If you ask 10 people to define sustainability, you will get 10 different answers.

It has been a blessed Christmas season. The halls are decked, presents have been wrapped and you can hear Faron Young singing Christmas carols when you step in the backdoor of our house.

Twenty years ago, on Dec. 23, I received a call from the Office of Communications at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C.

Looking back through past columns, I came across one that hits home 10 years after it was penned. I began: “You can tell a lot about a person by the way they handle four things: a rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

I hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving with family and friends. I hope you had the opportunity to take some time to relax and reenergize your mind and body. I hope you allowed yourself some time to rest.

Thank you for your service. Those five words mean so much to men and women serving or who have served in the military. Each year on Nov. 11, rural and urban communities across the country host parades and ceremonies to honor those who served.

On my way to Kansas City a couple of weeks ago, I stopped at a Dollar General store to pick up some Halloween candy for the kids that come by our stalls at the American Royal cattle show.

I love history. I love learning about who came before us and what they experienced. I love knowing the stories that brought us to the place we are today as individuals, as family, as a church, as a community, a workplace, a country and as a world.

I have attended many leadership conventions and courses in my lifetime and usually walk away with a nugget or two of information and ideas that I am able to put to good use.

It seems that the agriculture industry has spent a whole lot of time for a whole lot of years reminding our customers how little they pay for food instead of promoting its quality and how diverse and abundant and safe it is.

It has been a challenging year for many farmers, making harvest for many more stressful than usual across much of the Midwest. More farm accidents happen when those crops are coming out of the fields than at any other time of the year.

I managed to avoid COVID for almost four years, but it finally tagged me. I had a cold and wanted to get ahead of a sinus infection, so I went to urgent care in hopes of a steroid shot or Z-Pak.

I sit down to pen this column having just finished packing my suitcase for the days I will spend at the Farm Progress Show. When you read my words, I will be headed home from this annual farm show.

Food insecurity is on the rise. New data on global food security and nutrition indicate a significant increase in the number of people on this planet lacking access, at times, to enough food for an active and healthy life.

Thank you. How much effort does it take to write or say those two little words? Apparently quite a bit, as it happens too infrequently.

It has been an extraordinarily dry summer in my neck of the woods. Our farm lies in an area designated by “exceptional drought.”

Fairs, jackpot livestock shows and cattle breed association junior regional and national events are underway in America’s heartland.