We are conditioned, threatened and shamed to accept many falsities and fail to do the research. The most destructive issue facing us now is carbon control control.
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You, the taxpayer, are paying the price, whether you live in the city or the country.
Since it was passed by the Oregon Legislature last year as part of its education reform package, we’ve been hearing producers and vendors express concerns over the state’s corporate activity tax.
Consumers want good food from people they trust. Exactly how that food is produced is lost on most people.
America’s farmers and ranchers are at the heart of our real economy. Yet for the past six years, U.S. agricultural production has faced turbulence. From natural disasters to low commodity pric…
Moderation in all things — a rule for life, for the marketplace and for the dairy farmer. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing.
It is in the interests of all of Oregon’s citizens — and the world’s population — to live in a stable climate regime. There are many policies and solutions to reduce the concentrations of atmo…
The economy is humming and most people who want a job have one. This is great news.
You’ve heard the names: kudzu, nutria, zebra mussels, cheatgrass, yellow star thistle, wild pigs, spotted wing drosophila. ... These plants, animals and insects are well known to many in agric…
The Oregon Senate’s Interim Committee on Environment and Natural Resources has unveiled the Legislature’s latest version of climate change legislation.
Farmers enjoy one of the highest levels of public trust of any group or potential source of information, ranging from scientists to government experts, and certainly more than leaders in the r…
I grew up on our land in the 1950s and 1960s riding horses and helping my grandfather with his cows that pastured here with never a cougar confrontation. This continued in the 1970s with my husband.
President Donald Trump is scheduled to sign phase one of a U.S.-China trade deal on Jan. 15 at the White House.
Those of us who build and maintain Idaho’s vital transportation network agree whole-heartedly with Gov. Brad Little who stated during his annual State of the State address on Monday, “One thin…
A recent University of Washington study about killer whales could offer another clue to the well-being of the southern resident killer whales that live in Puget Sound and the Salish Sea off th…
The start of a new decade holds a lot of promise for American farmers and ranchers. Much-anticipated progress in hemp regulation, sustainability, technology and a presidential election will be…
Re: Your editorial “Farmers right to be skeptical of being made whole.”
America’s Christmas tree growers got a surprise present the first week of December. That’s when pop music super star Taylor Swift released her song, “Christmas Tree Farm.”
The results of a study of stakeholder attitudes regarding the proposed breaching of Snake River dams were hardly surprising, but ag interests say the document may serve to educate proponents o…
The Lower Snake River Dams Stakeholders Engagement Report draft was recently released. Shorthand, it is the $750,000 study. It is the study that politicians in eastern Washington condemned as …
Newsman’s 45-year career spanned ‘sin and religion,’ courts, city, county and state government, education, hydropower and politics. He found his niche in agriculture.
A recent article in the Capital Press brought to light certain actions taken by the government and our elected officials that may not be in the best interest of our environment. The article wa…
Earlier this month we published a story that tried to gauge whether rural voters still support Donald Trump. It appears that they do.
Maybe the third try will be successful in cobbling together a roadmap for the management of three sprawling national forests in Eastern Oregon.
The $220 million settlement reached between the National Milk Producers Federation and a group of butter and cheese buyers is a head-scratcher. The lawsuit claimed the NMPF and participants in…
Over the last three years we’ve learned to be cautious with our optimism on matters of trade. But, it looks as though there was some positive movement on that front last week.
Factory farm. It sounds so … mechanical. Cold. Unfeeling.
When the topic of sustainability comes up in conversation in cattle circles, it’s common to see heads shaking. It’s not a topic we like to discuss in our industry — primarily because it’s so o…
A lot of people in government these days make a real show about the need to be transparent, then turn around and do everything they can to conduct their most controversial business behind clos…
Some day in the not-too-distant future, an orchardist will push a button and a fleet of robots will deploy and harvest the apples. Working day and night and in any weather, they will choose on…
How can you talk to consumers about gene editing when most have little understanding of how plants are bred?
Farmers have been poring over the details of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s interim rules governing the production of hemp. They haven’t liked a lot of what they see.
In an era of bare-knuckled politics, it is instructive to reflect on the career of William Ruckelshaus, the first director of the Environmental Protection Administration.
When it’s time to sign a new farmland rental agreement, both parties can bring a lot to the table to make sure the cash rental agreement meets everyone’s needs. A few of the pieces of informat…
Every Dec. 5, USDA joins partners around the globe to celebrate World Soil Day, an annual event to bring attention to the importance of healthy soil and to advocate for sustainable management …
About a decade ago, I moved to the small town where I plan to spend the rest of my life. Excitement filled me, and I rushed to join the community and put down some roots.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) notes that 90% of the world’s fisheries are at capacity or have been overfished. By the year 2030 — a mere decade away — the world po…
As has been well-reported, Dean Foods filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 12.
Now I admit I haven’t googled up gas so I’m far from a expert on cow gas, or people gas for that matter. But I never hear about human gas, and it may be more than you need to know about me but…
The Old Rule: Profitable milk demand exceeds the milk supply made by U.S. dairy farmers — make more milk.
In 1621 the Pilgrim colonists of Plymouth, Mass., celebrated their first harvest in the New World with a three-day feast, an extended dinner party that is the origin of our modern Thanksgiving…
The folks at Washington’s Department of Ecology like to write reports. It’s as though they are always looking to point a finger somewhere for causing one sort of problem or the other.
We have been skeptical that there could be Congressional approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, before next year’s election given the great partisan divide between the White H…
Say it. Let it roll off your tongue. “Sabotage.”
The following sentence, tucked in a footnote of a White Paper the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife prepared last winter, may hold the key to the health of the South Resident po…
I find it appalling that the director of the dept of wildlife, Kelly Susewind, is ignoring the governor’s directive to curtail the killing of wolves in order to protect cattle.
In the West, few resources evoke more passion than water. The reason is obvious: Everything comes down to the quantity and quality of water.
I recently read the editorial entitled, “Grizzly bears pose danger to all around them,” and thought, “Holy cow, that’s pretty scary. Perhaps I’ve been wrong about bears all along? I’d better r…
For years we’ve advocated for legislation that would give agricultural producers and processors easier access to affordable, legal foreign workers they need to make up for the lack of domestic…
Much of the Pacific Northwest and California have been embroiled in a legal fur ball for the past several decades. At its center: fish.
In 2017, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill ordered the Idaho Department of Fish and Wildlife to destroy data collected from wolf and elk collars that he determined were attached unlawfully to a…
America is fortunate to have a large and diverse agricultural economy. Our citizens — and millions of others across the world — have grown to depend on the high-quality food and goods we produce.
Farmers in Oregon’s Yamhill County who for three years have been fighting the county’s attempt to turn an abandoned railroad right-of-way into a recreational trail got a boost earlier this mon…
The biologists from the National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and others who want to move up to 200 grizzly bears into the North Cascades of Washington state are playing wit…
John Newton, chief economist of the American Farm Bureau recently wrote: “Agriculture will continue to play an important role in helping the world adapt to and mitigate climate change, but U.S…