Opinion

Just a couple weeks ago at the American Farm Bureau Convention in San Antonio, Texas, I reminded Farm Bureau members that it’s going to take all of us stepping up in 2025 to drive agriculture forward.

Sharing our agricultural journey is not only rewarding, but also serves as an opportunity to educate and inspire others about the importance of farming in our daily lives.

When you push markets one way with tariffs, you should expect an equal and opposite reaction from those same markets.

During National FFA Week, many of us recall those years we spent wearing blue and gold jackets with the FFA logo emblazoned on the back. I still have mine, a hand-me-down from my sister, hanging in a closet somewhere in this old house.

The groundhog saw its shadow on the second day of February, so we are all supposed to buckle up and get ready for six more weeks of winter. Have you ever wondered why so many people trust a rodent’s shadow as the portent of winter weather?

We have officially wrapped up the 106th American Farm Bureau Convention in San Antonio, Texas, and I’m so thankful for another incredible week with our Farm Bureau family as we looked for ways to step up and drive forward.

Just weeks into the Republican takeover of Congress and the White House, Project 2025 is the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s governing plans.

I love living in a part of the country where we get four seasons every year. However, I would be willing to trade in a few of the colder days of winter for some extra days in spring, the season of new beginnings.

The Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, platform is generating a lot of interest in how our food is produced. Farmers and ranchers welcome a healthy discussion — we always have.

With a new Congress and administration sworn in, it’s time to get back to work in Washington. Just like there’s never a shortage of work to be done on the farm, there’s a full list of issues that our lawmakers need to tackle.

My father began retiring long before the sale of our farm’s dairy cows in 1989. Began is the appropriate word because his exit from dairy farming was “slower than molasses in January,” as he liked to say. Years slow, in fact.

The day after Congress certified Donald Trump’s election as president, the U.S. Border Patrol conducted unannounced raids throughout Bakersfield, California, descending on businesses where day laborers and field workers gather. The impact was immediate.

I have said it many times: farming is not an easy life’s work and certainly not for the faint of heart. Farming can push you to your physical and emotional limits. It can nearly kill you. It can save your life.

The new year always feels like a fresh start, a time to plan for the months ahead and think about what needs to get done.

A report on sustainable aviation fuel issued by Canada’s National Farmers Union makes a CO2-tight case that this largely crop-based, “renewable” alternative to today’s carbon-heavy jet fuel should never be produced.

Flipping the calendar year to 2025 led to the transition of our team goals to include planning for Illinois FFA State Convention.

This past year marked my second full year serving as executive vice president at the American Farm Bureau Federation and it has been inspiring to see our organization flourish as we serve farmers and ranchers.

By far the biggest lender to U.S. farmers, ranchers and rural businesses is the Farm Credit System whose four banks and 56 associations hold nearly 50% of all debt in rural America.

When we talk about water issues in Indiana, you might think we’re concerned with water quality rather than quantity.

Why the results surprised anyone is itself a surprise. After the state of California began testing dairy herds for highly pathogenic avian influenza, known also as bird flu or H5N1, in August, it found the pathogen on 645 dairy farms.

Criminal activity is on the rise in many rural areas. Vandalism to crops, buildings, machinery, fencing and vehicles occurs more frequently than we would like to believe.

America’s farmers and ranchers have such a great story to share, and it’s critical for the public to better understand what goes into growing the food, fiber and renewable fuel that drives our nation.

Many of us set goals that are too ambitious or unattainable. Simply put, we set ourselves up for failure when we set unrealistic goals. We also fail if our goals lack specificity and are hard to measure and track.

Before 2024 slides into history, some noteworthy farm and food updates, please, to ensure these stories go with it.

As a farmer and rancher, I’ve learned to count on the seasons. They don’t wait. The crops don’t hold off until it’s convenient, and the livestock don’t adjust their needs to fit my schedule.

As I nurture my poinsettia and other green companions, I’m constantly reminded of the growth happening within our family.

We are down to the short rows of 2024. Winter is upon us. Christmas is days away. The older I get, the more quickly the days, weeks, months and years pass by.

The Christmas tree was a scrub cedar hacked from the edge of the woods that bordered the farm. Big-bulbed lights, strung in barber pole fashion, generated almost as much heat as the nearby wood stove.

While the president-elect continues to nominate prospective members of his incoming administration, the outgoing Congress faces a hectic sprint to complete a long list of unmet legislative duties before their pre-Christmas adjournment.

The policies that impact our daily lives are often shaped at the local level. Yes, state and national policies are very important, but I cannot help but notice that sometimes we lose sight of what’s right in front of us in our communities.

If you believe in striking while the iron is hot, you got to love Summit Carbon Solutions’ swift, decisive action on its multibillion-dollar, CO2 pipeline just weeks after Donald Trump was reelected.

Nearly every autopsy of Vice President Kamala Harris’s stinging White House defeat begins with some variation of the phrase, “Voters pointed to the rising price of food as their chief concern.”

I’ve spent a lot of time in the cabs of tractors recently as we continue our marathon of fall harvest.

This is a time for Americans to honor the men and women who have selflessly protected the freedoms and values that shape our country, both during their service and long after.

Even amidst the ever-present challenges that are part of farming, we have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

As Thanksgiving approaches, families across America are getting ready to gather with loved ones, share favorite dishes and reflect on the past year.

Activist-driven ballot measures were shot down by voters in Colorado and California on Nov. 5.

It’s a new day. No more campaign text messages. No more political ads. We open a new chapter and prepare for a new dialogue with a new Congress and new president come January.

As we head into the holiday season, please support those who support your community. There are many reasons to shop in your local, rural communities.

Calls for $20 billion in “emergency” farm program payments won’t go away now that the proposal’s principal audience, voters, have done their duty.

Every preelection poll for the U.S. presidential race saw it as a too-close-to-call nail-biter. Not one predicted the sweeping victory posted by former, now President-elect Donald Trump.

As farmers and ranchers, our work is never just about getting the job done, but looking for the best practices and embracing innovation for whatever challenges may lie ahead.

There are winners and losers in every election. It is our collective responsibility to find a way forward, regardless of whether our candidate comes out on top.

There is much to consider this election season as several critical issues that will impact the citizenry are on the table. Many of those issues will impact us near term, but they will also set the stage for the future of our country.

Election Day, Nov. 5, will end the costliest, dirtiest American political campaign season in memory and it will likely also mark Opening Day for what could be the costliest, dirtiest post-election fight in American history.

Let’s pause to consider the-above headline. First, it’s a quote; I didn’t write it. That’s important because the third rail of today’s ag journalism — the deadly, high-voltage topic that can burn your career — is Donald Trump.

Farmers and ranchers are leading the way in climate-smart practices that reduce emissions, enrich the soil and protect our water and air, all while producing more food, fiber and renewable fuel than ever before.

As stewards of farms and ranches, we know the benefits of each season for growing crops and raising livestock. Those four distinct seasons help us learn to live in the moment. Every year, we only get a few months of each one.

If you buy nearly two billion pounds of beef a year — an on-the-hoof equivalent of seven million cattle — you’d think you’d get the best deal ever from your suppliers. Think again, says McDonald’s.

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture is on a mission to spark students’ curiosity about where their food comes from, but we cannot do it alone.