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January 26, 2023
January 26, 2023
Hello, everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the
National Corn Growers Association, CropLife America, and Renewable Fuels Association.
They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural
America. Thank you.
It is time for our government to go to work. The Senate and House both are in the process of
naming who will serve on the different committees. The Republican-led house is scheduled to
take up a GOP energy bill. It will direct the Biden Administration to come up with a plan to
increase oil and gas production on federal land before drawing down our Strategic Petroleum
Reserve anymore. We know President Biden does not want the U.S. to pump more oil. He wants
to buy it from other countries. What will happen? We shall see.
In farm country the need to pass a new farm bill is at the top of our list. Paul Ryan, former House
Speaker speaking at the International Dairy Foods Association Forum last Sunday predicts that
we will pass a new farm bill this year. House Ag Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson and
Senate Ag Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow will give us that bipartisan ag leadership
that we need. I am optimistic.
Focus on Mexico. Yes – China is our biggest ag export market, but Mexico is close behind.
Mexico wants to ban imports of genetically modified corn. Our U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack
said that’s not going to happen. Good job Mr. Secretary. Keep the pressure on.
Another subject- the worst avian influenza outbreak we have ever had. The bird flu attack started
about 1 year ago. When you get it, the whole poultry flock must be destroyed. 58 million poultry
in 47 states are gone. Egg farmers are not insured. The virus has been devastating. Protecting the
flocks has not been easy. Wild birds flying North or South just spread it everywhere.
I have not talked about this new subject, but it is in the news every day. We all remember all of
the news and attention focused on secret government documents found at President Trump’s
Mar-a-Lago resort. The national news media was attacking Trump every day. Now President
Biden is in the hot seat. The FBI is investigating. They seem to find secret papers almost
wherever they look. I know some people thought President Trump should be put in jail for his
reckless handling of secret papers. Now they have to think about President Biden’s problem.
Now we have news that former Vice President Pence has some classified papers in his home. I
guess President Trump is not alone.
If you would like to review Jack Block’s radio shows going back more than 20 years, just go
online to www.johnblockreports.com.
Previous Weeks
This and That
March 21 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
We celebrated Ag Day this week. Secretary Vilsack did an outstanding job of making the case for our industry at a dinner held in the Atrium of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Barry Nelson (John Deere) provided the welcome, Orion Samuelson…
Ag Day message
March 14 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Next week, we will be celebrating Ag Day USA. It is more important than ever that we get the positive message about agriculture out. In this country, we have about 300 or 400 thousand farms feeding our population and exporting $140 billion…
Down on the Farm
March 7 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Last week, I was on the farm in Illinois. I was greeted with 5 days of snow with accumulation of about 7 inches. In ordinary times, I would not have liked the wind and snow, but not this year, after last…
Mislabeled Products
February 28 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Mislabeling food products has consumers up in arms in the U.S. and Europe. You can understand the customers’ concerns. Stop at the supermarket and pick up some beef stew. You would be angry to find that it…
Bowman v. Monsanto
February 21 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
The Supreme Court is very selective in the court cases that they choose to hear and decide. A recent really big one was the question whether certain features in the new health care law passed by the Congress…
The Postal Service
February 14 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Do you know where to look for the poster child of government dysfunction? You don’t have to look very hard. Just look down the street in your little town, in your community. I’m talking about the Postal…
EPA Attacks Chicken Farmers
February 7 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
EPA cannot bring itself to leave farmers alone. Lois Alt, a West Virginia chicken farmer, has spent months fighting off the demands of EPA that her poultry operation had to have a clean water discharge permit.…
Immigration Reform
January 31 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Let the debate begin. I guess we can’t say elections don’t matter. Republicans lost 70% of the Latino vote in last fall’s election. Suddenly, Republican leadership and Democrat leadership have joined together to…
FDA – Coming To A Farm Near You
January 24 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This is Rick Frank sitting in for John Block. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Just last week, marking the second anniversary of Congress’s passage of the Food Safety Modernization Act, FDA proposed comprehensive regulations for the growing,…
A Look Back and Ahead
January 17 2013
Hello everybody out there in farm country. This radio commentary is brought to you by the Renewable Fuels Association, Monsanto, and John Deere. They are all friends, supporters, and allies of a healthy farm economy and prosperous rural America. Thank you.
And now for today’s commentary—
Today, I want to look back at 2012 for some positive things that were done. Then, I will give you my wish list for 2013.
2012
- Russia joined the World Trade Organization last August. For us to take full…
