We have a breakthrough on beef trade with Japan.

It has been almost a year since we discovered one cow that tested positive for BSE. That one cow shut the door on our exports of beef around the world. Since then we have been negotiating with the Japanese to arrive at a testing protocol that would satisfy them.

Now, thanks to the efforts of Secretary of Agriculture, Ann Veneman, and President Bush the door is opening just a crack. I say that because anyone that thinks the Japanese could make an…

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What an exciting weekend!

I trucked corn to our elevator on our farm and watched the golden kernels slide out of the truck, into the auger, and up the leg. We're filling our grain bins to feed our hungry hogs for another year. In the afternoon I was driving the corn combine thrashing 8 rows at a clip. The monitor read 16 percent moisture and 230bu per acre. I have never in my days farming seen anything like it.

The corn stood like trees, straight and thick -- 32,000 plants per acre. I looked out…

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Is the war on fat going to tum out to be a big fat hoax? Now that the health care industry, the pharmaceutical companies, the media and yes the government have built obesity up into public enemy number one, there are questions yet unanswered.

It was my impression that obesity was becoming an epidemic. However, that may be an exaggeration. The average weight increase ofthe US population has increased about 7-10 pounds over the past 13 years. Thin Americans have not gained at all. And when we…

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