Rotten Egg Farming

The vast Iowa egg recall is terrifying. So far, half a billion eggs are involved. Who knows how many we have already eaten? Our health authorities say about 1,300 Americans have gotten salmonella from them so far. I spend a lot of time cooking for my two preschoolers...
Shut Up and Eat Your Sugar

Shut Up and Eat Your Sugar

OK, children, homework time. Let’s see if we can handle this little lesson in logic. One, America has a rather huge child obesity problem. Two, major food corporations constantly pitch ads to children for such stuff as sugar-saturated breakfast cereals and...

The Problem with Genetically Engineered Alfalfa

Close observers agree that the Supreme Court’s Monsanto Company v. Geertson Seed Farms decision is a big deal, but many of us disagree about what it actually means. As a farmer and advocate, I view the ruling as a major victory because it helps determine who...
A Bitter Taste of Racial Discrimination

A Bitter Taste of Racial Discrimination

I don’t know how the corn is doing this year, but Washington is producing a bumper crop of irony for America’s black farmers. In the same week that Shirley Sherrod, a black Department of Agriculture official, was falsely accused of anti-white racism by a...

Last Call for Ethanol

Like a sailor on a late night bender, corn ethanol boosters are trying to cajole another drink from the subsidy tap before the lights come on. Some members of Congress seem all too ready to give in, costing taxpayers billions in the process. But in light of the...