Farm & Food File
A syndicated column by Alan Guebert
From the Column
Meet the ‘Barons’ Who ‘Corrupt’ Your Dinner Table
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, March 24, 2024
The first economist, Scotland’s Adam Smith, had it right almost 250 years ago when, as writer Eric Schlosser notes in the foreword of an important new book by Iowan Austin Frerick, that “…merchants and manufacturers were ‘an order of men, whose interest is never […]
On the Road: New Zealand’s South Island
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, March 17, 2024
If an important part of your business is flying between the U.S. and New Zealand–like it is for Air New Zealand–you get pretty skilled at making the tedious, 13-hour flight from Los Angeles to Auckland go smoothly.
Part of it is the late night departure […]
WTO Slides Into a Vacuum, EU Slides Into Nationalism
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, March 10, 2024
On March 2, the 13th World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial ended like most previous ministerials. After its 164 member-ministers discussed the burning need to change two, key international trade rules, everyone went home without changing any key international trade rules.
This actionless talkfest, however, carried […]
The Growing Disconnect Between Numbers and Soft Policy
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, March 3, 2024
Like much of the news anymore, the initial numbers from the 2022 Census of Agriculture were accurately reported, quickly downplayed–or even worse, ignored–by most Big Ag groups, and then just pushed aside by the rush of the next day’s news.
That’s a mistake because the […]
‘And The Lord Said to Peter…’
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, February 25, 2024
While my father milked cows and farmed for almost 50 years, I never heard him say he loved–or, for that matter, even liked–either cows or farming.
I did know he loved to fish and it may have been that great passion that gave him the […]
From Ink to Electrons: The Retirement of Print Journalism
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, February 18, 2024
Recently, a retired friend asked if I planned to retire anytime soon. It was the right question. While I have considered retirement, I explained, I have no real plans–soon or otherwise–to do so.
But, I added, “The choice may not be up to me because […]
At What Level of ‘Do Something’ Should Agriculture Begin to Clean Up Nitrates?
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, February 11, 2024
For at least the past decade, reported The New Lede (TNL) last September, “a growing number of peer-reviewed medical studies have linked exposure to nitrates in drinking water to elevated incidences of cancer.”
As the environmental news service clearly states, this news isn’t exactly news.
For […]
U.S. Ag’s Love/Hate Relationship with Our Biggest Trading Partner
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, February 4, 2024
There’s a joke about my fellow Baby Boomers making the rounds that goes something like this: In the 1960s, Boomers didn’t trust anyone over 30 but as soon as they reached their 60s, they didn’t trust anyone under 30.
American farmers and ranchers have nearly […]
New Year, Not-So-New Start
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, January 28, 2024
While January left the old year behind, it didn’t leave behind any of the baggage 2023 saddled American farmers and ranchers with.
The chief worry carried forward was last year’s slumping grain markets, especially soybeans. August 2024 soybean futures skidded from near $14 per bushel […]
Elect Me Because I’ll Send You More Federal Money Than the Other Guy
Posted on April 10, 2024
Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, January 21, 2024
Like some character in Alice in Wonderland, we’re well beyond the looking glass when the presumptive presidential candidate of the political party that prides itself as being fiscally conservative asks farmers, “Look, did I get you $28 billion… ?”
Yes, that was Donald Trump on […]