Category: Prairie Farmer

Hope has been dismissed as a management strategy. That’s understandable; as a producer, you need to do more than hope things work out. You need to take action to make sure they do. Like the saying goes, God helps those who help themselves.

Photo credit: istock.com

Americans aren’t feeling the love for the media these days. And while that reality hasn’t much affected farmers until now, going forward might be a different story.
Here’s why. Gallup polls show trust in U.S. media is at a record low. Just when you think it’s bottomed out, it gets worse. (Interestingly, trust in media is at the same low level as trust in Congress.)

Photo credit: studyiq.com

I don’t like the stories going around about agriculture right now — especially the ones about farmers poisoning America. I suspect you don’t, either. But the reality is that political opportunists with antifarming agendas have turned up the jets on their rhetoric like never before.

Photo credit: Ontario Federation of Agriculture, ofa.on.ca

In this era of misinformation and mistrust, it’s easy to understand why modern foundations like government, the media and science are viewed with skepticism. Many people on the receiving end of information don’t know what to believe and whom to trust (other than farmers — more on that later), so they side with whomever makes them feel the safest, facts aside.

The most compelling stories to come from your farm this fall and winter will not be how you’re getting walloped by external forces, but rather, how you’re fighting back.

You’re facing a real Hydra, a multiheaded monster that has its eyes on your operation. The anticipated drop in farm income, the stalled farm bill, astronomical input costs, record trade deficits and wrong-headed, misguided politicians trying to convince America that the crops you raise are poisoning them and their kids are but a few of the issues beating down your door.

Photo credit: Canadiangeographic.ca

Running ahead of the crowded pack vying for public attention will be tough over the coming months. With every vote expected to be crucial in the race to the White House, Americans will be consumed by people telling what they consider to be important stories.

Photo credit: Farm Journal

We normally talk here about stories from American farms, and rightly so.
But this month, with some help from our European colleagues, we’re flipping the switch to find the story inside the troubled, complex European Union farm scene. Europe is a significant trading partner, and the drama surrounding farming that’s unfolded recently across the entire continent is alarming.
Photo credit: lovelygreens.com

The gap between food, agriculture and the public has widened, and a new University of Illinois entity plans to bring balanced information about ag and food to the table.

Photo credit: University of Illinois

Number crunchers have finally finished counting heads and tails on farms, and the new U.S. Census of Agriculture is ready for release. If recent trends hold true, expect to see even more women counted as farm operators.

Photo credit: Holly Spangler

What’s Your Story? Farmers struggle with their mental health and with high levels of stress across the U.S. No surprise, it’s happening in Europe, too. Here’s why and what to do about it.
The agricultural export story coming out of Ireland these days is upbeat. Irish food, drink and horticulture exports were up 22% last year, reaching a record high of 16.7 billion euros ($417.8 billion).

That’s good news.

Photo credit: Canadian Mental Health Association

No farmer wants to leave money on the table. But if you’re not somehow putting your signature on commodities leaving your farm, you may be missing an opportunity.

Photo credit: watchusgrow.org

Musicians struggled in the early 1980s — but not because of sex, drugs, or rock and roll, the usual causes.

Instead, for many of them, their nemesis was video.

And it’s all because of MTV. When the music channel debuted in 1981, musicians had to become actors overnight. Video support for new releases was a key to success, and performers went from fronting a band to following a script.
Photo credit: Etsy

What’s Your Story: Livestock conservation is a winning tale for farmers. It’s said a rising tide lifts all boats. And in farming, it’s no different.
Photo credit: The Livestock Conservancy

Summertime’s easygoing vibe has a way of alleviating tension, or at least postponing it.

Because why else aren’t people wringing their hands about Russia’s game-changing exit from the Black Sea grain movement deal?

Photo credit: Mashed.com