Opinion pieces for Shaw Local
While policy discussions often focus on replacing American jobs or exploiting vulnerable migrant populations, few have considered the impacts these jobs have on workers and their families.
Long before it became a cliché, there were many heroes who never wore capes. I met one: the rail-thin, then-86-year-old Theodore W. Schultz, in his sun-filled, University of Chicago office on a cold, January day in 1989.
May is Mental Health Month. This time is a great reminder for each of us to make sure we are consistently checking in with ourselves, with our friends and family, and beyond our fencerows with our neighbors and community members.
It is springtime in the Midwest and farmers are farming to beat the band. Many farmers and farm families will spend long days in tractor cabs and in the direct sun getting the crop in the ground. When it is finally time for a break, it will more than likely be outdoors.
When I first joined Farm Bureau as a young farmer, my goal was simple: to make a positive impact and uplift the lives of my fellow farmers.
I think farm leaders are the masters of getting things done. On any given day, farmers wear any number of different hats and roles requiring many skills, ranging from agronomist to HR manager to operations manager to marketer.
Federal policymakers have a problem: Their hope to make corn and soybeans the feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel hit a wall when the aviation industry ruled biofuel from either crop did not meet its “sustainable” guidelines.
Several times over the past few weeks I’ve been approached by a friendly stranger. They wanted to know if I would comment on an issue and sign my name in support or opposition.
It has become customary this time of year for me to offer up some advice in this column with soon-to-be-newly-minted high school and college graduates.
When the alarm goes off at 3 o’clock in the morning, volunteer firefighters and emergency medical technicians answer the call. They roll out of bed, pull on their clothes and speed to the fire station.
We’ve had a cold winter across a lot of our state, and I am enjoying spring and all the opportunities the new season brings for family fun and good food.
Did the reaction to COVID-19 change the way you communicate? I have asked that question several times since March 2020, when the world as we knew it rocked on its axis for a bit.
From iron plows to driverless tractors, new ideas and innovative businesses have continually pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in farming.
Have you seen the movie “Field of Dreams”? In the movie, Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella is inspired by a voice to build a “totally illogical” baseball field where his cornfield used to be.
If the third time is a charm, Michael Happ might finally make an impression on federal lawmakers and administrators with his fact-filled, 24-page report on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s continued financing of Big Ag’s big manure habit.