Editorial / Opinions

It’s the first week in May and you know some guy in your neighborhood tries to beat all the rest by getting a field of hay rolled up. The hay most of us have has gone to seed. Fescue does that about the third week in April. But it sure isn’t going to make many pounds of hay in the fields I’ve seen. Even farmers that fertilize have short forage. Is that due to three years of drought? Did the past dry weather kill lots of the forage?

There are certain words or phrases that, if we hear them come out of one mouth, they seem perfectly normal or expected. But, if we hear those same words spoken by another person in another situation, they seem so oddly out of place that we have to take pause and rerun the statement through our brains just to comprehend what we have heard.

A few weeks back I was asked to help judge the District FFA Speaking Contest. I was honored that the Darr School of Agriculture, in Springfield, Mo., asked me to help and I appreciate the opportunity to help out my alma mater whenever possible.

There are certain words or phrases that, if we hear them come out of one mouth, they seem perfectly normal or expected. But, if we hear those same words spoken by another person in another situation, they seem so oddly out of place that we have to take pause and rerun the statement through our brains just to comprehend what we have heard.

A few weeks back I was asked to help judge the District FFA Speaking Contest. I was honored that the Darr School of Agriculture, in Springfield, Mo., asked me to help and I appreciate the opportunity to help out my alma mater whenever possible.

I learned something that I didn’t know or even think was that big a problem. Prescription drugs are big business for crooks. I’m talking about the prescription you take on a doctor’s orders. This officer from the Oklahoma Drug Control told Electric Coop directors that ordinary pain pills sell for $10 to $20 on the street.

I was recently asked to speak at a fundraiser down in the south-central part of the state. Since it was for a good cause and just a few miles from where I started my teaching career some 40 years ago, I was happy to do it. The function allowed me to meet up with several former students and rekindle old friendships with a few old farmers I’ve known for a lifetime.

Are we advocating for agriculture to the best of our ability? As an industry are we conveying our stories to the consumer so they can make positive buying decisions?

I was recently asked to speak at a fundraiser down in the south-central part of the state. Since it was for a good cause and just a few miles from where I started my teaching career some 40 years ago, I was happy to do it. The function allowed me to meet up with several former students and rekindle old friendships with a few old farmers I’ve known for a lifetime.

Are we advocating for agriculture to the best of our ability? As an industry are we conveying our stories to the consumer so they can make positive buying decisions?