The great Civil War historian, Shelby Foote, once said that Americans pride themselves in being independent, self-reliant and unyielding. Yet, in Foote’s opinion, the country’s greatest genius has always been in our ability to compromise. His point was that when compromise failed, bad things happened. Partisanship is useful in government, but only when the partisans eventually come together and hammer out something that is best for our country. What is happening in…

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At Nebraska Farmer, and in our sister publications with Farm Progress around the country, we write every day about farmers and ranchers who truly care about the earth, about the soil and water, about their home communities and their children. Contrary to what some activists might believe, we know that farmers are using high tech tools and every method possible to produce more food, more efficiently, using fewer resources than ever before. We know this because we know you. We are on your…

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I heard IANR Harlan Vice Chancellor, Ronnie Green, speak at the Nebraska Agriculture Technology Association conference in Grand Island last week. I agree with Green’s optimism and enthusiasm about the future of agriculture in our state, and the role UNL is sure to play in that success. In his presentation, Green referenced a series of monumental laws, passed in 1862 and signed by President Lincoln, that really changed the landscape for agriculture in our nation and shaped the future…

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I don’t know of very many people who deny that the Earth’s climate is changing. But, if you listen to some alarmists, it is changing so rapidly, solely because human activity has caused large releases of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. So, apparently, only Hollywood and the government can save us now. On the U.S. EPA website on the topic, the headlines are clear. Climate Change is Happening. Humans are Largely Responsible. Climate Change Affects…

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  On Election Day, I wanted to share the time I was honored to visit with Nebraska’s native born President. Over a decade ago, when I was farming full-time and freelance writing for several regional magazines, I had the unique opportunity to interview Gerald Ford. Gerald Ford was born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. in a home along Woolworth Avenue in Omaha on a hot July day in 1913. His spoiled and violent father, Leslie King, Sr., married his mother, Dorothy, in 1912. After their…

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George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were well known gentlemen farmers. John Adams lived on a farm. Abe Lincoln and a host of our U.S. Presidents who came before and after him, grew up on farms. Then Vice-President, Calvin Coolidge, was working on his father’s farm when he heard the news of President Warren Harding’s death. Coolidge took the oath of office in the front room of his father’s farm home. Our last real farmer to occupy the White House was Jimmy Carter, but he…

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Time sure flies when you are having fun. When the new century turned back in 2000, the tiny northern Cedar County village of St. James took a blow. Saints Philip and James Catholic Parish, a mainstay of the community, was closed because there weren’t enough parish priests to go around. The closing of the parish and church devastated the families of St. James in a profound way. Drought and poor farm prices were also hounding the family farmers around the area in those years. Folks were…

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“Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your government can do for you.” Wait a minute. Those weren’t John F. Kennedy’s words. In his inaugural address, he asked Americans to serve their nation by serving others, not the other way around. He said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” The sentiment in that address helped spawn a generation that looked to do just that. They really believed in those…

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I’m a Country music fan. From my days cultivating corn, listening to the radio from fender speakers on our old Farmall 706 tractor, I have always been able to relate to those tunes. Jason Aldean’s new hit song, “Fly Over States,” talks about the virtues of rural folks, the farmers who plant the seed. He talks about a couple of urbanites flying from New York to Los Angeles, chatting during their flight about the square corn fields and country roads below. They wonder…

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I have never won a “best lawn” contest. I’m a tree guy. I like cottonwood, hackberry, oak, maple and walnut. I like the leaves above my head. My lawn is an afterthought. My wife mentions in dismay something about being thankful we live on a farm where we are the only ones that have to look at our lawn. It is neglected, by most suburban standards. My brother, who has spent a good share of his professional life in the lawn care business, gratefully keeps to himself when he…

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