By Dave Carter President Rocky Mountain Farmers Union I never knew that family farmers and ranchers had so many friends. Just look around. It seems as if every major big business organization is engaged in some type of public hand wringing about the future of the family farm and ranch. Conservative think tanks, chambers of [...]

By Dave Carter What is the future of agriculture in the urbanizing West? Is it a long-term sustainable component of a viable, diversified economy, or, is it simply a short-term proposition, destined for extinction? The outcome of ongoing debate over growth management in the Colorado legislature may largely determine the answer to the question. Lawmakers [...]

The Honorable Ms. Ann Veneman Secretary, Dept of Agriculture Room 200A Jamie L. Whitten Bldg. 14th & Independence Ave., SW Washington, D.C. 20250 Dear Ms. Veneman, I am writing this letter pursuant to a motion advanced and passed by the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union board of Directors, April 5, 2001. Rocky Mountain Farmers Union (RMFU) [...]

Click the EDUCATION button at the top of the page for the report compiled by Rocky Mountain Farmers Union in preparation for the Governor’s Agricultural Summit held February 28, 2001. Once on the education page, you may click the underlined word ‘read’ in the last paragrapgh for the complete report (PDF file), including charts and [...]

By Dave Carter I understand a museum has opened to commemorate some of history’s worst inventions. The Edsel is prominently displayed in the lobby. I’m sure New Coke and Crystal Pepsi also occupy places of honor. I just hope they save a spot for the 1996 Farm Bill. The 1996 Farm Bill, you may recall, [...]

Tom Lauridson Vice President Rocky Mountain Farmers Union As we begin to frame debate around the 2002 farm bill, the farm community must raise important issues to decision makers. Issues, that in the end, need to focus on a primary question – Do we really need to save family farms? We hear more and more [...]

By Dave Carter The conventional wisdom guiding modern agricultural policy is starting to look kind of stupid. Traditional economists, policymakers and agribusiness executives have long trumpeted the “efficiency” of a modern agricultural system in which independent agricultural producers must step aside in favor of large-scale industrialized food-producing operations. These respected experts promised repeatedly that the [...]

By Dave Carter The post-election confusion in November left ranchers and farmers scratching their heads over the future of federal agricultural policies. Agricultural leaders keep searching the shifting election results for hints about the future of a farm bill, international trade, concentration and rural economic development. But at least the election night fiasco in Florida [...]

By Dave Carter Traveling by commercial airline became a major effort this summer. Flight delays and cancellations stranded thousands of travelers across the country over the past few months. The situation grew so bad that U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., recommended immediate action to break up the regional monopolies within the airline industry. Sen. Allard [...]

By Dave Carter “How low can you go?” It seems that many people are chanting this along with the limbo dancers while sipping pina coladas as they cruise the Caribbean on profits reaped from their latest stock investment. Farmers and ranchers, however, mutter those words each time they check the market prices for their commodities. [...]

By Dave Carter A couple months back, I happened to stand next to a Kansas grain and livestock producer at the back of a convention hall as a panel of international trade experts extolled the opportunities awaiting agriculture in the new world marketplace. I noticed that my friend from Kansas began to fidget as each [...]

Solutions require fresh thinking from ag producers By Tom Lauridson, Ph. D. Farmers as individuals tend to increase production in years when prices are low because we cannot manage industry wide supply ourselves. We can’t manage supply alone because of the large number and geographic diversity of farmers in the United States. No one farmer [...]

By Dave Carter Nearly a century ago, agricultural settlers were lulled to the high plains region by the promise that rain would follow the plow. Immigrants staked out homesteads across the Rocky Mountain West on the assumption that the farming practices that had worked well in the East could produce bumper crops in the West. [...]

By Dave Carter Someone once described agriculture as “the last hand-shakin’ way of doing business in the country.” It is an apt description. For years, millions of dollars of merchandise traded hands across rural America on the security of a firm handshake. It worked. It worked because a relationship stood behind each handshake. A farmer [...]

By Tom Lauridson, Ph. D. Thanks in part to the National Farmers Union rally in March, Congress has been put on notice that rural America is headed in the opposite direction of the rest of the national economy. However, having Congress’ attention hardly solves the problem . . . so now the hard work begins; [...]

By Dave Carter Spring is a time of optimism across the rural West . . . at least in most years. As the recent moisture and warming sun starts to paint the countryside green this spring, farmers and ranchers find themselves up against some nearly insurmountable odds. Commodity prices seem wedged at historic low prices. [...]

By Jerry Hergenreder I would like to introduce you to a farmer – myself – and tell you a little about agriculture. I may not look like a businessman when I am wearing my work uniform and you probably wouldn’t expect me out by the corral talking on my cell phone, saying, “Sell 2 May [...]

By Dave Carter Critical mass. The term describes the amount of molecular material necessary to begin the chain reaction necessary for a nuclear explosion. Anyone concerned about the fabric of rural America today ought to be concerned about critical mass. Not from a sense of molecular matter and nuclear explosions. The critical mass in question [...]

By Dave Carter Remember Rollerball? Probably not. Released sometime in the mid 1970’s, Rollerball was a grade “B” movie portraying a futuristic society in which nations had ceased to exist. Instead, something like 10 corporations ruled the world. Everyone around the globe owed their allegiance to one of those corporations. They flew the appropriate corporate [...]

By Dave Carter Did I miss something, or didn’t World War II end about 50 years ago? You wouldn’t think so, based on the recent events surrounding the World Trade Organization (WTO) talks in Seattle. No, I don’t mean the protests in the streets, although that’s another story. I am referring to the official negotiations [...]