Off the coast of India sits a small country that’s currently serving as the testing ground for the Columbo Declaration, a UN global campaign on Sustainable Nitrogen Management. In fact, that small country, Sri Lanka, is leading the world effort, with aims to reduce their nitrogen waste by half by 2030.

If you work in any industry about which the public isn’t well-educated, you know that in the absence of facts, people will try to find patterns or fill-in-the-blank themselves where they have knowledge gaps. Rarely does this end in any kind of positivity.

What these billionaire investors want you to believe is that they are being incredibly benevolent in their investments. They market their support of a sustainable and climate friendly agriculture as their gift to the world at large. They share stories of how innovation in agriculture will help eliminate world hunger and safeguard the planet for future generations. They speak of the building a better future by harnessing the technology and innovation of the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Their marketing game is on point.

An issue dating back to the 1970s, the Klamath Basin Crisis continues to be a hot mess. For those of you who are not familiar with the area, the Klamath River is about 250 miles long, and stretches from southern Oregon and on into northern California. For years, this area has been in extreme distress as all those who depend upon it for its water are scrambling to decide how best to address this crisis. Farmers, Klamath Tribes members, conservationists, and many others are fighting to preserve the basin, but not everyone can agree on what issue takes priority.

Initiative Petition 13, a ballot initiative filed for the 2022 Oregon general election, would remove many of the current exemptions from Oregon’s animal cruelty laws against animal abuse, animal neglect, and animal sexual assault.

Innovation is a common denominator in dairy farming regardless of herd size, farm-owner demographics, or geography. From a principle standpoint, perpetual innovation is one of the few consistencies in farming at all.

There are people who wake up and see the world through a realistic lens, who trust scientists and their years of experience, who trust animal welfare experts like the renowned scientist Temple Grandin, and then there are people who wake up every day like Allstate’s Mayhem Commercial Guy and are ready to pounce upon the world like the F1 offspring of a category 7 hurricane and F5 tornado.

As a fourth generation dairy farmer who has dedicated my career - and therefore life - to raising and caring for dairy cattle and ensuring high-quality, reasonably priced, delicious dairy products are available in grocery stores, the thought of defending an industry that shows generation after generation we can become more-sustainable while continually improving how we care for our farm animals is exhausting.

Breaking down the 4 percent of the U.S. federal budget allocated to food and agriculture subsidies.

Are CAFOs, or a Confined Animal Feed Operations, bad? What are they? What does it mean? Let’s discuss.

Farming isn’t always easy, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth it. It just means that it’s impossible to see the full picture when only looking at it through the lens of a pencil and a piece of paper.