Editorial / Opinions

It’s official – I have retired.

After our June 16 issue was published, I received an anonymous letter in response to one of the articles we ran on raising and marketing naturally raised meat. Typically, we do not publish anonymous or unsigned letters to the editor. However, I’ve been really thinking about this letter and wanted to share parts of it with our readers and provide my response.

Everybody knows someone like him. It may be an uncle or a grandfather or even your own father for which phrases such as, “he’s so tight, he squeaks when he walks” or “he’s still got 9 cents of the first dime he ever made” are used to describe him. In my case, he’s a neighbor and good friend that I will call ‘Don.’

The agriculture industry and farm organizations around the country give special recognition to dairy farmers through the month of June. Some celebrate by hosting dairy farm tours, others with ice cream socials. In joining in on that effort we are dedicating our June Issue to National Dairy Month.  

The world is a different place. I recently attended a conference about electricity and natural gas. By now the EPA has issued its regulations for coal-fired powered plants. Some plants will stay some will go. The thing that worries many industry leaders is last winter when we had every plant running wide open and still barely missed have rolling blackouts in the U.S. Many of these power units are huge and to replace them will take lots of natural gas. At that same period the U.S. strained to get enough natural gas to the plants that needed it. The U.S. has plenty of natural gas but the pipelines are not big enough to become the main choice in many cases. They can build pipelines but not overnight and the pressure on the supply makes it cost much more than coal. Plus, you simply can’t store gas like coal.

Everybody knows someone like him. It may be an uncle or a grandfather or even your own father for which phrases such as, “he’s so tight, he squeaks when he walks” or “he’s still got 9 cents of the first dime he ever made” are used to describe him. In my case, he’s a neighbor and good friend that I will call ‘Don.’

The agriculture industry and farm organizations around the country give special recognition to dairy farmers through the month of June. Some celebrate by hosting dairy farm tours, others with ice cream socials. In joining in on that effort we are dedicating our June Issue to National Dairy Month.

We are all products of our raising, in that our interpretation of words or phrases are more often shaped by our upbringing than by the intended meaning of the speaker or writer. Because of this phenomenon, nothing has caused me more confusion throughout my lifetime, than the peculiarity of movie titles.

It’s no surprise to most of us that only 1 percent of the U.S. population claim farming as an occupation. So it’s probably safe to assume that majority of Americans have never stepped foot on a farm or have an immediate relationship with a farmer or a rancher. A recent documentary set out to educate the general public about the next generation of American farmers and ranchers. This documentary is a must-see, in my opinion, not because you, as a farmer, will learn something profound but as a way to support the efforts of this documentary.

One of the projects I have worked on is the Rodeo of the Ozarks in Springdale, Ark. I have been on the board since 1976 and I am the senior member in time served. This year the rodeo is to be held on July 2-5, in Springdale. We kick things off at 7:30 p.m., each evening and if you ride your horse in the grand entry they still give you a free ticket. The parades are at 3 p.m., on June 2, and 10 a.m. on June 5.