Opinion

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.

Every day, rain or shine, farmers rise to do their jobs. Whether we’re tired or stressed, we press on. If we disagree with a family member, we find a way forward. We don’t stall on planting or harvesting or caring for our animals.

As American grocery buyers await a verdict on Kroger’s two-year-old bid to buy Albertsons, the European Commission took just 35 days to give its blessing to the merger between two of the world’s largest grain merchandisers.

Following a successful year at the Illinois State Fair with more than 70,000 people passing through the FFA Barnyard, the major state officers kept in “fair mode” as they traveled to the Du Quoin State Fair.

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

Sometimes, life is heavy. Trying to balance my career, household duties and helping on the farm quickly became overwhelming. To put it lightly, I was exhausted.

America’s farmers and ranchers are getting hit hard this year with low commodity prices and another record-setting agricultural trade deficit.

Few states put on a show like the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin, where 50,000 visitors from nearly 100 countries will see 1,800 owners exhibiting 2,500 or so of the best dairy cattle in the galaxy.

As a father and now a grandfather, one of the most bittersweet moments is watching your kids and grandkids climb onto the bus for the first day of school each year.

In our increasingly urgent quest to clean up our climate-altering, carbon-fueled culture, biodiesel and renewable diesel have become two new darlings of alternative fuel advocates.

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.

Rain makes grain, and two mid-August Department of Agriculture reports offered this year’s first in-the-field look at just how much corn, soybeans and wheat American farmers will grow this wet, grain-making year.

When it comes to your farm operation, what do you think about the idea of change or changes? Farm leaders might have very different reactions to this, depending partly on their personality.

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.

August is here, which means for Farm Bureau, our policy development process is heading into full swing.

Milton Friedman, the patron saint of free markets and a founder of the Nobel-adorned Chicago school of economics, took a very dim view of all tariffs — ours, theirs, anyone’s.

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

Trying to stem the flow of money in politics is like trying to hold back the Mississippi River. It’s dirty, dangerous work that is almost always washed away by a flood of even more money.

Nearly 45% of all agricultural workers in the United States today — 950,000 of an estimated 2.2 million farmworkers — are “unauthorized” migrants working illegally on American farms and ranches.

Time is running out for Congress to pass a modernized farm bill this year. Families — on and off the farm — cannot afford a delay.

Whom do you consider your farming business partners? Farms can have several different scenarios when it comes to who is part of the leadership team and how many people are involved.

One of the most fulfilling aspects of serving as Farm Bureau president is getting the chance to witness firsthand the remarkable things our members are doing within their communities.

The more we learn about H5N1, the more we understand that good biosecurity is a critically important path to containing the virus.

Members of Congress will return home for the traditional August recess. Then after a brief time back in Washington, they will once again be back home to campaign in October.

Like most southern Illinois farms of my youth, my family had a closet filled with guns.

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

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn the Chevron deference was a business-favoring decision to upend 40 years of legal precedent and redirect federal power from agencies like the USDA to the courts and Congress.

As a father, grandfather, farmer and man of faith, balance has become a cornerstone of my life. I have come to appreciate how crucial balance is in every aspect.

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.

This year, like last year, is a farm bill year — and this year, like last year, probably won’t deliver a farm bill. The reason is the oldest one in Washington, D.C.: politics.

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

If you have ever hung out with a farmer after planting is done and they are just waiting for the plants to grow, you have been asked the infamous question, “Want to go for a ride?”

When you think about a successful farm operation, what comes to mind? Maybe the operation itself looks a certain way. Maybe it’s doing extremely financially well as a business.

Farmers and ranchers are always looking to the future, whether that’s finding ways we can be more innovative and efficient or building up our local communities.

As an end-of-the-road farm boy growing up deep in southern Illinois, the Fourth of July was more of a shade-tree holiday from the alfalfa field than a noisy celebration of national independence.

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.

The Fourth of July is a highlight of the year on our family farm. Each summer, my family gets together for a traditional cookout, celebrating our nation with delicious food and the company of loved ones.

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.

I have a friend who lives in a big city and recently shared a story about how local students visiting a nature preserve were given shovels and allowed to dig holes. This was a novel experience for almost all of them.

While Americans still face a long season of political campaigning, more than 80 other nations have completed their federal elections this year or are about to go to the polls.

Picture this: a world without fresh strawberries, watermelon or apples. Pretty gloomy, right? Thankfully, we have bees and other pollinators who are responsible for the fertilization of many fruits, vegetables and nuts.

A longstanding complaint here is the utter incomprehensibility of federal milk pricing policy. For years we’ve joked that only four people in the world understand its complexity.

On the family farm, there’s a job for everyone, including our furry, four-legged friends. Farm dogs play an important role on the farm and hold a special place in our hearts.

The clothes we wore, like the crops we worked, marked the seasons on the dairy farm of my youth. Coveralls, for example, suggested winter while, ahem, “cover little” meant the hot, steamy southern Illinois summer.

The story of the newly married couple and their dream of continuing the family farming legacy is a tale of determination and resilience in the face of challenges.

I might never have fallen in love with kohlrabi had I not joined a CSA. Signing up for a Community-Supported Agriculture program means getting a box of produce from local farms every week or two.

Summer break is just around the corner, but learning is always in season. The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture is abuzz with resources, activities and literacy items for learners of all ages.

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

We in agriculture have a long tradition of marketing our bounty by more pleasant, if not less-than-truthful, names in hopes that less-informed eaters buy the sizzle rather than the fact.

The Biden administration’s trade agenda — mostly forgotten after three years of COVID, inflation, war in Ukraine, brutality in the Middle East and a cantankerous Congress — recently surfaced and, wow, is it a mess.