As “this month in history” goes, April is an amazing month. I am always a little in awe at how many major events in American history have taken place in the month of April. Other months have their memorable dates: January is the month of inaugurations, February is famous for president’s birthdays, the lunch counter sit-in that launched the Civil Rights movement, the launch of the first U.S. astronaut and the explosion of the space shuttle, Columbia. In March the…

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As a general rule, I like to think of myself as an optimistic person, working along the lines of Abraham Lincoln’s observation that most people are exactly as happy as they make up their minds to be. I have to admit, that in spite of the shenanigans coming out of Washington to avert a plunge off the “fiscal cliff” and extend the Farm Bill leave me less than excited about the prospects for the coming year. I don’t like feeling pessimistic but I’m finding my…

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I was pretty busy with Husker Harvest Days and final deadline for Kansas Farmer, so I was able to spend most of today without thinking too much about the date, 9/11. Ignoring the memories of that horrific date weren’t so easy when I got back to the hotel tonight, turned on the television and caught up on messages on Facebook. I was in a unique place 11 years ago – a World Trade conference in Wichita at the Hyatt Convention Center. A Japanese trade group was in town and companies…

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I had one of the world's most enlightening conversations today with ICM's CEO David Vander Griend. He was talking about why the auto industry is fighting E-15 and why it's reasonable that they are doing that. It is, Vander Griend said, not about the 10 percent or the 15 percent that the public widely understands is ethanol. It is about what the oil industry puts in the 90 percent or the 85 percent. What has happened, he said, is that refiners quickly figured out how to profit from the…

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Some help for young people brought here as children by their parents comes in this week's announcement of a temporary pause in any deportation proceedings against these innocent young people. But it is just a tiny signal of a start, not the action that needs to be taken on comprehensive immigration reform. It's hard to believe that some people are hard-hearted enough to want to punish these young people for the decisions that their parents made up to three decades ago. I have been…

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There is no farm value more appreciated than that of chipping in to help out the people that nature has whacked. Gov. Sam Brownback completed a tour of the Oaklawn neighborhood in south Wichita on Thursday and issued a plea to all Kansans to help those whose lives were torn apart by last Saturday night's tornadoes and related storms and to volunteer to help with clean-up. As always when storms affect a metropolitan area, the number of people in need is much greater in the urban area, but…

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When it comes to understanding how farm policy making trickles down to farmers, a trip to Washington, D.C. can be highly instructive. In a recent visit to the Capitol, I heard both minority and majority leaders in Congress talk about how work in committees on the Farm Bill is all about posturing and show and not about doing anything substantial. I heard people on both sides of the aisle say that votes that appear to affect the Farm Bill are irrelevant and shouldn't even be considered in…

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As a general rule, I make it to Easter before the urge to dig a hole and plant a seed somewhere becomes impossible to resist. Not this year. With 80 degree days hitting in early March, the trees blooming, the grass growing and the wheat beginning to wave in the wind, it's time. My kids always make fun of me at this time of year when they say the "farm kid" in Mom sure comes out. But my little grandson, Lewis, got right with the program Sunday when he saw Grandma with the shovel and the…

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Evidence of new money is all over southern Kansas farms and ranches. New fences, new and improved farm ponds, new outbuildings, new paint, new vehicles, new equipment. Money was certainly not made with farm crops last year. The drought wiped out much of the wheat crop and decimated most fall row crops. But that loss has been offset for many southern Kansas farmers with money from leasing their land for oil and gas drilling. It's all about the new oil and gas play in the Mississippi…

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It looks like the LightSquared battle is won. The controversial system that originally promised to bring cell phone service to every nook and cranny of America at the cost of overpowering GPS signals in areas around its towers, was effectively shut down when the FCC denied permission for its tower build-out and said it would rescind the conditional approval it granted a year ago. There will be public comment and there's a always a chance that things could change, but it is not likely. It…

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