Manure is not created equally. Livestock feces and urine is composed of unused carbohydrates, nutrients, and water, and it is not homogeneous. Corn, soybeans, and forages go into livestock and poultry feed, but what comes out depends on environmental conditions, … Continue reading →
We do not live in a straight-line world. Although food markets are much easier to navigate in 2 dimensions. A linear, food industry supply chain makes intuitive sense when thinking about inputs > farming > processing > retail (Model #1 … Continue reading →
The American Farm Bureau Federation, Market Intel, and Danny Munch, just released a market outlook article on US Catfish Farmers: America’s Top Farm-Raised Fish Faces Growing Pressures. The current US Catfish farmer story is an account of grit and determination. … Continue reading →
In the throes of providing leadership on contract poultry grower challenges in the late 1990s, a brilliant mentor, Larry Cole, PhD., challenged me on whether I wanted to be 1) part of the defining the problem or 2) part of … Continue reading →
In 2016, I was invited to build a 4-year agribusiness program at Greenville University (GU) in Greenville, Illinois. We did it. Success is sometimes difficult to measure, but in this case, success is a measure of achieving our goals and … Continue reading →
Is it the 4-year, higher education, secondary education, or the rapidly changing agricultural industries? In a perfect world all these groups would complement each other. They do work together, actually, but under the surface there is competition for that leadership … Continue reading →
We are still using them. This chart is from the data in the USDA, 2022 Census of Agriculture, Volume 1, Table 40, Fertilizers and Chemicals Applied: 2022 and 2017. It is convenient that the Census of Agriculture now contains manure … Continue reading →
With great confidence, all organics are going to rot. There is a gratifying consistency in this certainty. The global and US farm economies are on fire with wars and rumors of wars. It is a difficult season to be a … Continue reading →
In January 2026, the USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) published the latest update of Rural America at a Glance: 2025 Edition. The companion chart to this post is from that publication, but is also the same chart that was published … Continue reading →
Last year, I became aware of ReFED.org and their work on food waste. Their report, “From Surplus to Solutions: 2025 ReFED U.S. Food Waste Report,” was popular in the food waste circles. It is an impressive document and an even … Continue reading →
