My meek and mild-mannered wife came up with a sure-fire solution for America’s "fiscal cliff". Her common sense answer would likely work even though our nation’s leaders still seem a few bricks short of a remedy. Back when she was a kid, she got into fights with her brothers. Most of us have been there, done that. Well, in her parents' home, she and her brothers were sent to their rooms, and couldn’t get out of their detention to play again until they…

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At a luncheon on Monday in Washington, D.C., U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack reaffirmed to our North American Ag Journalists group that American agriculture is very under-appreciated. And he urged us to help communicate the true story – particularly to “under-appreciators”. Vilsack rightfully noted that American agriculture is the most abundant, prolific raw product provider to the world. We produce food, fiber and fuel, even chemical and pharmaceutical ingredients. We also…

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 Some regulation seems to be a necessary evil to keep evil-doers in line. But I don’t run into too many evil-doers in agricultural circles – just hard-working folks striving to make a decent living from the land. My hunch is that there’s more evil-doing potential in the more lucrative political and financial circles – dominated by lawyers. But those folks always seem to discover loopholes for escaping. Unfortunately, our governments tend believe we all think and…

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