The year just past was one of turbulent markets and unmet expectations for most of U.S. agriculture. Public and private attention focused mainly on the steep drop in farm commodity prices, and when the soggy markets might show signs of recovery. Yet while they captured most of the headlines,...

A growing chorus of rural leaders agrees that new opportunities are on the horizon for rural America. Economic consolidation and outmigration need not be rural America’s future. The question most rural regions now face is this: How to claim the new opportunities? At root, this question is all...

U.S. agriculture appears to be passing into a new era marked by both greater risk and potentially greater rewards. Pending legislation would lower the government safety net that for decades has supported farm incomes and reduced the risk of farming. If signed into law by the President, the new...

A new farm bill will be enacted in 1995, and the debate over it has already begun. With farm bills being renewed just once every five years, the 1995 bill provides a propitious opportunity to re-evaluate the current bill in light of fundamental changes to the marketplace since the adoption of...

U.S. agriculture formally entered a new era in April 1996 when a new seven-year farm bill was signed into law overturning 60 years of commodity programs. The new bill set agriculture on a new course where markets, not government programs, will determine agriculture's products and its bottom...

U.S. agriculture had a very good year in 1997, with profits widely shared among the nation's farmers. While few producers could boast of bell-ringer profits, as they did in 1996, nearly all could claim a good year. The year was especially welcome to the nation's cattle producers, who had...