Editorial / Opinions

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?

Recently, I went to an Electric Coop Directors Convention in San Francisco, Calif.  Through the years, I have met lots of folks who I renew my acquaintance with at these meetings and talk about agriculture in their country.  The lasting drought has not loosened its grip on the west, many like a director from Wyoming explained they count on winter snow – his report this year was that very little snow has fallen in his area.  

Throughout my lifetime, I’ve never given a lot of thought about my ancestry. I know that both my parents were born in Arkansas and their ancestors had settled to that state from Tennessee. I also know that there were several Native Americans sprinkled throughout my family tree, as well, but I have never researched the specifics. I was content to know that the vast majority of my ancestral relatives, according to oral records from living Crownovers, were farmers – with a few loggers and maybe a horse thief or two thrown in for good measure.

Are there wild horse herds in Missouri? This was a question discussed amongst two friends and me over the weekend.

I’ve always marveled at the fact that so many aspects of farming can be conducted in vastly different ways and yet achieve the same end result:  success for the individual farmer. I guess that is one of the reasons the business has interested me for a lifetime.

Are there wild horse herds in Missouri? This was a question asked amongst two friends and me over the weekend.