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Farm and Food: The ag politics of being agriculturally apolitical By Alan Guebert It’s a widely held belief that if you want to get ahead in farm group politics, you can’t be political. Well, not overtly political, anyway. Quietly, sure; loud and you’re outa’ here. For example, according to OpenSecrets.org, the best tracker of campaign cash in American politics, the nation’s largest, richest farm group, the American Farm Bureau Federation, contributed a stunningly puny $6,932 to all federal candidates in the 2020 general election. The year before, however, AFBF, spent a staggering ...

Guebert: Once again meatpackers are bellowing about how they must have less government oversight and more labor leeway to survive today’s pandemic-squeezed market.

Farm and Food File: China’s buying binge continues… until it doesn’t Alan Guebert China is even hungrier, richer, and — to the delight of almost every American farmer — more impatient in today’s global food market than anyone thought possible even a decade ago. In fact, according to the data crunchers at Agricultural Economic Insights (aei), China now imports “about 100 million acres worth of crop production, or roughly 25% of total crop consumption.” Think about that; one in four bushels of any grain like soybeans, rice, corn, wheat, and sorghum used in China today is not gro...

Farm and Food: China’s buying binge continues… until it doesn’t By Alan Guebert China is even hungrier, richer, and — to the delight of almost every American farmer — more impatient in today’s global food market than anyone thought possible even a decade ago. In fact, according to the data crunchers at Agricultural Economic Insights (aei), China now imports “about 100 million acres worth of crop production, or roughly 25% of total crop consumption.” Think about that; one in four bushels of any grain like soybeans, rice, corn, wheat, and sorghum used in China today is not grown...

Farm and Food: Organic farm rules need to be reviewed soon, not slowly rewritten By Alan Guebert Nearly everything about Francis and Susan Thicke’s southeastern Iowa, organic dairy farm whispers bucolic: a herd of Jersey cows and calves graze on rolling acres of green pastures amid fenced farm fields and acres and acres of tree-thick woods. Even the farm’s name, Radiance Dairy, relays an easy calm. But there’s nothing calm about the food fight the Thickes (pronounced tick-ee) and their organic colleagues have taken on since 2018 when they formed the Real Organic Program to challenge wha...