In 2005 I traveled to New Zealand as a participant in the Illinois Farm Bureau’s market study Program. New Zealand agriculture had previously become heavily subsidized. In the 1980’s they transitioned away from government support. Earlier today I found a small notebook with my notes from the trip. Here are Read more
I bet most of us our enjoying this burst of warm weather. My weekly weather email stated that for our meteorological district to date for the month of April, it is the 14th warmest out of the last 135 years. It is also a bit wet still. Planting will take Read more
At 9:15 P.M. on March 21, my wife and I boarded the Amtrak train, City of New Orleans, in Kankakee. Upon entering the train, we went to the dining car and had a late dinner. We learned quickly that the train made some serious wobbles upon the tracks; it wasn’t Read more
Happy Easter everyone. Do you do anything special for Easter? Easter means it is the anniversary of a little experiment that I started in 2012. After a brief visit with Nick Reiher about his new role for the Farmers Weekly Review, I decided I would punish myself each Wednesday by Read more
Are you a fan of Charles Darwin? I am a fan of what most people refer to as Darwinism. I must also admit that I have spring fever with all the recent warm weather. Throughout most of this winter, I got excited when I could wake up and get out Read more
We are well into the new year. That means that 1/3rd of the farmers in the state of Illinois had their pesticide license expire on 12/31/25, and they must renew their 3-year license to apply certain restricted use pesticides, (RUP). This is not my year for renewal, but with too Read more
Recently the federal government, through the USDA, started the process to disseminate 12 billion dollars of financial aid to farmers to offset the perceived financial ramifications of ongoing trade wars/disputes. To avoid any debate about whether it is necessary or the right thing to do, I am going to make Read more
Boy did it finally get cold. Did your tire pressure warning light come on when the temps dropped below 0? To prepare for this article I did some research and found out that a simple rule of thumb is that you lose 1 PSI of air pressure for every 10-degree Read more
About 20 years ago I was digging with a shovel to turn over the soil in a flowerbed in front of some people and a woman named Barb asked me where I bought that shovel. Which brings me to today. Either technology is moving too fast, I am living too Read more
It is the end of the year, and I suppose I should wrap up my writing with an end of year review. By now almost everyone is suffering from a cold, flu/norovirus, credit card shock, electric or gas bill fatigue or a hangover from the New Year holiday. But first, Read more