Random stuff I find interesting and you may not.
A well-known and very much-admired Catholic farmer in Northern Virginia is Jesse Straight. Owner of Whiffletree Farm in Warrenton, Virginia, Straight has embraced both his farming and his Catholic life, and with his wife and children, has created something of a rural paradise on their 80 acres. There he raises herds of pigs and cattle … Read more
The bare winter fields, endless piney woods, leafless orchards, and hardwood bottoms pass in a blur under the grey winter skies. Each year, the lead-up to the growing season finds my colleagues and I in a truck along the backroads of Georgia for what will be the first of many days over a two-month stretch … Read more
For nearly 30 years, Amos Miller has owned and operated Miller’s Organic Farm, an all-natural Amish farm located in Bird-in-Hand Pennsylvania. Like many Amish farmers, Miller likes to do things the old-fashioned way. He doesn’t use electricity, fertilizer, or gasoline, and he also stays away from modern preservatives. The farm’s reputation has grown over the … Read more
Everywhere, farmers are saying ‘Enough’. In the Netherlands farmers have been revolting for weeks against their government’s perverse demands that they slash their use of nitrogen compounds. The Dutch government, under pressure from the EU, has committed itself to cutting its nitrogen emissions in half by 2030. This would entail farmers getting rid of vast … Read more
Food riot risks continue to soar worldwide as the head of the food-aid branch of the United Nations halved meal rations for refugees. On Monday, David Beasley, director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), released a statement detailing “the heartbreaking decision to cut food rations for refugees who rely on us for their survival.” … Read more
The current state of American family farming mirrors that of our energy industry: a system of highly efficient production and abundance that has now been driven to crisis and shortage by misguided government policies. Farmers are masters at adaptation and managing weather and price fluctuations. But the extreme cost inflation of diesel fuel and fertilizer … Read more
HARRISBURG — When a snowstorm was threatening to hit Pennsylvania last weekend, Berks County dairy farmer Lolly Lesher said she didn’t have the luxury of staying home from the office when storms paralyze the roads. “I still have to get up well before dawn, no matter what Mother Nature decides she is going to do … Read more
Bad policy and unpredictable nature are sending food prices through the roof. Famine is one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse for good reason; hunger was an unwelcome companion for most of human history. The threat it poses declined in recent decades because of innovations in agriculture and increasing prosperity. But the largely policy-inflicted … Read more
Federal agricultural policy has been permeated by political racketeering since President Franklin Roosevelt appointed America’s first farm dictator in 1933. On Tuesday, the Washington Post revealed that Trump’s Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, purchased a South Carolina grain plant from Archer-Daniels Midland (ADM) for a fire sale price shortly after it became clear that Trump … Read more
The 2020 Census is expected to say yes—but it depends on what “rural” really means. There are few scenarios going forward where rural America doesn’t shrink. This is quite evident for people who spend any amount of time outside of America’s more urban areas. That isn’t, however, to say that there isn’t any growth in … Read more
A modern combine resembles a monstrous contraption assembled in children’s dreams. This oversize roaring box wobbles out of machine sheds in September when Iowa corn and soybean fields are ripe and ready. A corn head latched onto the front of our red machine thrusts dinosaur-size, jagged scissor-teeth out from a prominent chin to chew up … Read more
I recently found myself with the free time to do some simple math. One of the larger farmers markets I participate in has about 100 vendors. I’m one of the mid-sized operations that sells there, and I’m paying about $1,000 a year in fees to participate in the market. I’m also devoting about 250 hours … Read more
With farm-to-table restaurants takeout-only and many farmers markets closed, locavores are concerned that the pandemic could undo the progress of their movement. Others believe the crisis only highlights how vital local supply chains are. . . . America’s globalized food supply chain is groaning under the weight of a national emergency. As the baskets overflowed … Read more
Joel Salatin: Breaking Free From Factory Farms Contrary to common belief, Senator Cory Booker’s best idea wasn’t dropping out of the 2020 presidential race. That was his second-best idea. His best idea was introducing the Farm System Reform Bill of 2019 to the U.S. Senate. This legislation would curtail concentrated animal-feeding operations (CAFOs), … Read more
The nasty little virus that is upending our lives bears much of the blame, but misguided policies are making a bad situation worse. Grocery stores could take up more of the slack if they were free to price and sell milk according to consumer demand. But, laws against “price gouging” keep the retail prices of … Read more
Like all the best con artists, Randy Constant was a charmer, hard not to like. Big hearted. Good listener. You’d never have guessed that the father of three, grandfather of five was a liar, cheat and serial philanderer who masterminded one of the biggest and longest-running frauds in the history of American agriculture. “He was … Read more
Trump’s New $12 Billion Farm Subsidies and My Thoughts Farmers are getting billions of dollars in bailout money to compensate for the trade war with China. If big banks or big business were being bailed out there would be an uproar but big farmer bailouts seem immune to opposition as Dan Charles points … Read more
Tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s are some of the hottest items in farm auctions across the Midwest these days — and it’s not because they’re antiques. Cost-conscious farmers are looking for bargains, and tractors from that era are well-built and totally functional, and aren’t as complicated or expensive to repair as more … Read more