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 [...]

A hundred years ago, or maybe half a hundred, I helped my Dad and Uncle Harry gather dry cows. We trailed them out to the Dwyer stockyards (no longer in business) and loaded them on a C&S boxcar (no longer in business) and sent them to Denver Union stockyards, consigned to Mann Boyd and Mann [...]