Dog is man’s best friend, and we said goodbye to our best friend today. Dash, officially known as Foxboro I’m In a Hurry CDX RAE GCG, was just two weeks shy of marking his 17th trip around the sun. Born August 19th, 2004, he is the dog that forever changed my relationship with dogs from […]
Reading is good, and good for you. I’m fortunate, my folks read to me when I was a wee bairn, and never hesitated to buy me books throughout my youth. I read in the car on trips, read in my spare time, and generally fell in love with the written word. Here’s what I’m reading […]
It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly 9 years since I was regularly reporting the news on radio stations across the Midwest and parts of the Southern U.S., but on some level I think I’ll always consider myself “an old radio guy.” I still get to play broadcaster from time to time, hosting video […]
According to the latest data from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the average size of farm operating loans in the fourth quarter reached record levels. The volume of non-real estate farm debt continued to increase in the fourth quarter of 2018. The increase was driven by growth in operating loans, which reached a […]
The McRib is back! I heard the news on the radio this morning that McDonald’s beloved rack-of-ribs-shaped pork sandwich is back in some 9,000 stores for another limited run, and knew that millions were rejoicing in the magical barbeque patty’s return. McRib’s triumphant return also reminded me of a stroke of brilliance McDonald’s did a […]
“Wins or losses don’t define me.” Kyle Snyder, riding a three-year gold medal streak that included two World Senior Men’s Freestyle Wrestling championships and the 2016 Olympic gold medal at 97kg, was pinned just 72 seconds into the final match of the 2018 World Championship. The match was a high-anticipated rematch of the 2017 World […]
A Bloomberg headline caught my attention this morning: U.S. Growth Engine Looks Able to Power Past Stock Market’s Woes. Reporter Christopher Condon noted that although stocks have taken a beating in recent weeks, economists are by and large unconcerned about what broader financial indicators say about prospects for continued growth in the U.S. economy. To put […]
For several years now, I’ve spoken to agricultural groups and businesses about a variety of issues related to consumer perceptions of food, food marketing, and agricultural production practices. The discussion can be emotionally charged because most farmers I know derive a great deal of their personal identity and fulfillment, to say nothing of their financial […]
A couple of years back a Gallup release about employee engagement left me dumbstruck: in the firm’s survey of worker sentiment, for the first six months of 2015, engagement figures hovered steadily between 31.5% and 31.9%. What was almost more sobering was that only 40.4% of managers reported feeling engaged in their jobs. In other words, […]
One of the first sales trainers I ever heard speak on the subject put it this way: “No one ever says ‘I want to be a salesman when I grow up.’” Apologies to the speaker, because I can’t recall who it was that said it (it was probably an author named Chris Lytle, come to […]
