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—

The World Trade Organization ruled this week that Canada and Mexico can impose retaliatory tariffs on our exports to their countries to the tune of more than 1 billion dollars per year. This is serious. It can cost pork producers, cattlemen,…

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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 read and hear so much about our weak economy. The stock market is going through a correction. Well, that is what is going on down on the farm. Not just our farms but European farms U.S. farmers are looking at a 36% plunge in net…

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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—

I have four issues to put on the table today.

The first is Pope Francis’s visit to Cuba. I think his visit will help improve relations between our two countries. President Obama is moving to reduce business and travel restrictions…

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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 started planting corn this week on our Illinois farm. It is always exciting to begin a new season. A lot of people depend on the U.S. farmer; not only our own citizens, but we export almost 30% of what we produce, feeding people all over…

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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— 

Last year in January, I announced my wish list for 2013. Today, let’s review that list and see how we did. 

Wish Number 1: “Get a farm bill passed.” Well, we’re still wishing. 

Wish Number 2: “Deal with our immigration problem. If we don’t,…

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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—

As complex as the world trading system has become, it still relies on something as simple as trust. Basically, it requires that those who enter into mutually agreed contracts will abide by the terms of those contracts. Unfortunately, in the last…

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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— 

 Happy New Year. I threw away my 2013 calendar and hung up the new one. There is a lot to get done in the new year. But, today I want to talk about one specific project. We need to modernize our water transportation system. Our locks and dams…

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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 should get a farm bill in January. It appears that we now have a budget. That helps because now the Ag Department will know how much money the Department has to spend. Let’s keep the pressure on to get it done. 

The subject that I want to…

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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—

All the talk here in Washington, D.C. is about the risk of default and the concern about  shutting down the government. I’m not going to try to outline the process that will solve this  impasse. However, I do predict that we will not default…

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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— 

This week, I was on a panel with three other former Secretaries of Agriculture. The event, sponsored by Croplife, was a lot of fun for those of us on the program and also the audience. Not surprising, the farm bill was in the spotlight.…

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