Another newsletter? Why would you do that?

February 2025 Update

Hello! Today I’m “reinvigorating” this newsletter!

For those who have been with me from the beginning, I’m so sorry. It’s been a while. My life went, well, elsewhere. For those who are just joining me now, hello and welcome!

So, what is this newsletter about? Well, like me, it’s evolving. But one constant remains true - this newsletter is about agriculture.

I started this newsletter to tell stories. Oftentimes funny ones (or so I’d like to think), about rural living, farm characters, small towns, crazy critters and the occasional food porn. I still love doing that and promise more content along those lines.

But, as much as I enjoy a good laugh, it’s not all fun, games and baskets of multi-colored pasture range eggs nostalgia in farmland. There are huge issues impacting rural American and U.S. farmers. Even more so with the second Trump presidency.

You should know I’m not a Trump fan. I don’t subscribe to most MAGA politics. But before you leave for that reason (or perhaps before you stay for that reason) you should ALSO know I very deeply understand - and agree with - the core issues and frustrations of U.S. farmers and rural America. I understand their knee-jerk reactions to liberal politics because, in my own farming career, I was the victim of that myself even when ‘liberals’ were my biggest fans and customers.

So, in today’s political climate, I’m not here to say FAFO to U.S. farming and watch U.S. farmers and farm communities lose everything. And I’m not here to put farmers into good versus bad boxes. Small farms versus big farms. Organic farms versus conventional farms. Local food versus export trade. Chemicals versus natural. You’ll find I’m an unabashed cheerleader of ALL U.S. farmers.

But what really concerns me is the huge communications divide we have beween those who live and breath farming and, frankly, just about everyone else. A communications divide that goes both ways.

So for that reason, I’m bringing this Substack back from Substack death. I’ll talk about farming and agricultural issues in plain language. I’ll explain the pros, cons and complexities of issues that farmers live on a daily basis, but that most non-farmers - even the most passionate supporters of food and agriculture - simply don’t understand the big picture of.

Whether you come here to learn more about agriculture from a conservative or a liberal-learning viewpoint, my goal is to challenge your viewpoint and piss you all off at some point or another. Hah. Just kidding. But also, not really.

So welcome! I also promise the occasional “funny farmer” story sprinkled in, for levity’s sake!