John Block Reports from Washington

What a pleasure it was last week to attend the annual Farm Broadcasters meeting in Kansas City. Many familiar faces and many new faces were there exchanging ideas, interviewing speakers, and broadcasting back to their local stations across this great nation.

It has been a long time since I have seen such an upbeat mood. Everyone seemed prepared to really celebrate Thanksgiving. Why not be grateful for a demand driven bull market.

The pioneers that came here to settle this country started the Thanksgiving tradition. I sometimes contrast what they were celebrating to what we celebrate today. They were just grateful to have food on the table and be free in a new and beautiful land. To this day, we are grateful to be in a free and beautiful land, but we enjoy luxuries never imagined by our ancestors. automobiles, airplanes, telephones, electric lights, television, and the Internet. We must thank our forefathers for their wisdom, their courage and bravery. They fought wars and sacrificed for us. Beginning with the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, just to mention a few. Now we find ourselves bogged down in a war in Iraq. I don't know the best strategy, but I do have confidence in this country to protect our liberty and way of life.

When I was a boy, we had 2 horses named Burt and Bill. They pulled a 2-row corn planter. We milked our cows by hand and put up loose hay. Thanksgiving was turkey, sweet potatoes, gravy and pumpkin pie. Today, the menu is the same. But the farming business is far different with big tractors, planters, laborsaving machinery.

I am optimistic that in another 50 years, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be celebrating Thanksgiving the same way. But I can't imagine what farming will be like then.

Until next week, I am John Block from Washington.