Category: Prairie Farmer

Running ahead of the crowded pack vying for public attention will be tough over the coming months. With every vote expected to be crucial in the race to the White House, Americans will be consumed by people telling what they consider to be important stories.

Photo credit: Farm Journal

We normally talk here about stories from American farms, and rightly so.
But this month, with some help from our European colleagues, we’re flipping the switch to find the story inside the troubled, complex European Union farm scene. Europe is a significant trading partner, and the drama surrounding farming that’s unfolded recently across the entire continent is alarming.
Photo credit: lovelygreens.com

The gap between food, agriculture and the public has widened, and a new University of Illinois entity plans to bring balanced information about ag and food to the table.

Photo credit: University of Illinois

Number crunchers have finally finished counting heads and tails on farms, and the new U.S. Census of Agriculture is ready for release. If recent trends hold true, expect to see even more women counted as farm operators.

Photo credit: Holly Spangler

What’s Your Story? Farmers struggle with their mental health and with high levels of stress across the U.S. No surprise, it’s happening in Europe, too. Here’s why and what to do about it.
The agricultural export story coming out of Ireland these days is upbeat. Irish food, drink and horticulture exports were up 22% last year, reaching a record high of 16.7 billion euros ($417.8 billion).

That’s good news.

Photo credit: Canadian Mental Health Association

No farmer wants to leave money on the table. But if you’re not somehow putting your signature on commodities leaving your farm, you may be missing an opportunity.

Photo credit: watchusgrow.org

Musicians struggled in the early 1980s — but not because of sex, drugs, or rock and roll, the usual causes.

Instead, for many of them, their nemesis was video.

And it’s all because of MTV. When the music channel debuted in 1981, musicians had to become actors overnight. Video support for new releases was a key to success, and performers went from fronting a band to following a script.
Photo credit: Etsy

What’s Your Story: Livestock conservation is a winning tale for farmers. It’s said a rising tide lifts all boats. And in farming, it’s no different.
Photo credit: The Livestock Conservancy

Summertime’s easygoing vibe has a way of alleviating tension, or at least postponing it.

Because why else aren’t people wringing their hands about Russia’s game-changing exit from the Black Sea grain movement deal?

Photo credit: Mashed.com

Americans are nagged to no end about their diets. The Centers for Disease Control, for example, relentlessly chides consumers for eating less than 10% of their daily recommended fruit-and-vegetable intake.

The center says that leads to all kinds of health problems and disease. But who’s to blame?

Photo credit: Cushman & Wakefield Food & Beverage

What’s Your Story? The movement toward homegrown self-sufficiency makes this an ideal time to get consumers onboard with domestic fertilizer production, but farmers need to fill the information gap. Photo credit: Market Realist

I’m pleased to now be contributing a monthly column to Illinois’ Prairie Farmer, called “What’s Your Story?” It’s all about tips and reasons to help producers reach consumers and decision makers. If those groups are better informed, policy creation and buying decisions should be more balanced.