The 1980s Farm Crisis: Will We Go Back to the Future? Ushered in by the USA Olympic hockey team’s “Miracle on Ice” and the flight of the space shuttle, Americana was running wild. The decade of excess featured a soaring stock market, booming GNP, and iconic movies and fashion. This was the era of Yuppies… the age of video players… when MTV actually played videos. The 1980s were totally awesome, for nearly everyone but farmers.
This Week In Ag #104 Here’s an inconvenient truth about farming: many farmers live off their equity. When land is your biggest asset and land prices remain strong, so does your balance sheet. This offers lending power. Depending on your situation, it’s very possible to break even, or even lose
“There’s got to be a better way.” Those words were expressed to me last week at the World Ag Expo. I had just completed my presentation, “Breathe New Life into Your Soil”, when a nice lady and her husband approached me. She introduced herself as a multi-generational rancher who grows alfalfa
All four faces on Mount Rushmore are farmers. Along with being the father of our country, George Washington was a father of regenerative agriculture, implementing intense crop rotation (he grew 60 different crops), cover crop practices, manure management, and grazing from multiple livestock species on his 8,000-acre Mt. Vernon farm. Thomas
Ask yourself this. Would you really want to be on the other side of a trade dispute with the USA? With all the hysteria over tariffs, that’s a question few seem to be asking. In the global economy, the good ole USA remains the 700-pound gorilla. Boasting a GDP over $25 trillion,
Centuries before Saint Valentine was marrying couples in ancient Rome, legend says the red rose sprouted from the ground, watered by Aphrodite’s tears and her lover Adonis’ blood. Throughout the ages, the quintessential red rose has been a symbol of love, but have you wondered where it comes from? Most
Farmers grow food. That’s a simple and straight-forward premise. Or is it? We continue to shake our heads at survey results that reveal many consumers think their food comes from the grocery store. But what about the industry itself? If we’re being totally honest, we should ask: are we largely focused on
Shopping with a farmer can be quite the experience. It’s one my mother refused to partake in during her entire 40-year marriage. This weekend, I went with my wife to exchange a pair of blue jeans that Santa brought me. As we were looking for my size, a clerk at
Oilseeds are now a lightning rod. America’s top ag export, accounting for over $40 billion, is at the center of a heated debate on the state of America’s health. The appointment of RFK Jr. to head Health and Human Services will do nothing to ground the conversation. He’s been outspoken in his
The greatest event in history took place at a farm setting, in a stable. The first to bear its witness were farmers, the shepherds. Merely coincidences? I think not. Here’s wishing you a Very Merry Christmas!
STAY IN TOUCH
