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, “merchants and manufacturers were ‘an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public.’ ” Few groups know […] Read more
Stories by Alan Guebert
American agriculture industry excels in playing word games
We in agriculture have a long tradition of marketing our bounty by more pleasant, if not less-than-truthful, names in hopes that less-informed eaters buy the sizzle rather than the fact. For example, the beef checkoff has spent millions urging people to purchase something called flat-iron steak that isn’t steak at all but just a plain […] Read more
Rationale behind U.S. trade policy not always easy to follow
The Biden administration’s trade agenda — mostly forgotten after three years of COVID-19, inflation, war in Ukraine, brutality in the Middle East and a cantankerous Congress — recently surfaced, and wow, is it a mess. For example, both presumptive presidential candidates —Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump — recently argued over how high U.S. […] Read more
Here comes the 2024 farm bill, there goes any 2024 reforms
The slowest dance on Capitol Hill, the writing of a new farm bill, gained tempo May 1 when both the House and Senate agriculture committees released versions of their bills. The House bill was a broadly worded, five-page “outline,” while the Senate’s was a detailed 94-page report. Noting the differences in both heft and direction, […] Read more
Critics question U.S. gov’t focus on sustainable aviation fuel
Federal policymakers and their Big Ag friends have a problem: their hope to make corn and soybeans the feedstock for sustainable aviation fuel hit a wall when the aviation industry ruled that biofuel from either crop did not meet its “sustainable” guidelines. As such, there would be no corn- or soy-based SAF. That’s not the […] Read more
U.S. rigs the game to allow sustainable aviation fuel to play
The easiest way to win any game is to rig the rules. That’s what Big Ag and its loyal boosters at the U.S. Department of Agriculture appear to be doing to make sure their new project, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), flies despite market gravity and basic science. Proponents hope the jet biofuel market will reach […] Read more
USDA runs world’s most expensive manure-making program
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. This is Happ’s third detailed look at EQIP, USDA’s nearly 30-year old Environmental Quality Incentive Program, in […] Read more
Another $1 billion to refinance status quo won’t stop ag pandemics
When word came out of Texas on April 1 that avian flu had made another unwelcome hop — this one from a dairy cow to a human — the news seemed like an April Fool’s joke. It wasn’t. In fact, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI or bird flu), the quick-killing disease that has led to […] Read more
Republican House hardliners again threaten U.S. farm bill
Even when speaker of the House Mike Johnson finds enough baling wire to lash together the votes needed to pass the almost six-months-late 2023 federal budget, it’s little more than a signal to some of his Republican colleagues to heat up the tar and gather the feathers to embarrass the Lousianan at the moment of […] Read more
WTO slides into a vacuum, while EU slides into nationalism
On March 2, the 13th World Trade Organization ministerial meeting 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 a steeper price than previous gassy gatherings; this one […] Read more
