Latest from Alan

Gun closets across America

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, July 21, 2024

Like most southern Illinois farms of my youth, my family had a closet filled with guns. 

It was just inside the living room and it held my father’s 12-gauge Marlin shotgun, his .22 caliber Remington pump rifle, brother Richard’s single-shot 20-gauge shotgun, brother David’s single-shot 410-shotgun, and my single-shot .22 […]

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Your local USDA office may soon be your local federal courthouse

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, July 14, 2024

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 28 ruling to overturn the Chevron deference was a business-favoring decision to upend 40 years of legal precedent and redirect federal power from agencies like the Department of Agriculture (USDA) to the courts and Congress.

Big Ag loved the news. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association […]

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Farm Bill politics 2024 lean toward Project 2025

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, July 7, 2024

This year, like last year, is a Farm Bill year and this year, like last year, probably won’t deliver any Farm Bill.

The reason is the oldest one in Washington, D.C.: politics. Most Congressional Republicans aren’t interested in passing any bipartisan farm and food assistance bill when they believe a delay might deliver a GOP-controlled House, […]

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The Fourth of July that saved the nation

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, June 30, 2024

As an end-of-the-road farm boy growing up deep in southern Illinois, the Fourth of July was more of a shadetree holiday from the alfalfa field than a noisy celebration of national independence. Besides, we were more partial to a local hero, Abraham Lincoln, than any frilly “Founding Father.”

That leaning […]

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Mexico’s election delivers new leader to tackle old problems

Farm and Food File for the week beginning Sunday, June 23, 2024

While Americans still face a long season of political campaigning, more than 80 other nations have completed their federal elections this year or are about to go to the polls.

For example, France’s general elections will be held June 30, the United Kingdom’s on July […]

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