A quick roundup of this weeks offering at THEE BIGGEST sale barns across the Midwest!

Host Monte James interviews Chelsea Good, Vice President Government & Industry affairs from the Livestock Marketing Association

Last week President Biden signed a broad Executive Order designed to ensure that we have more competitive markets. We have too many huge corporations. They keep buying up their competitors and just get bigger. Smaller companies compete at a disadvantage. Biden says, “Capitalism without competition isn’t capitalism. It’s exploitation.” Antitrust enforcement has been a priority of the President’s agenda. The use of Executive Orders to get something done is not new. For 20 years our presidents – both parties – have used Executive Orders. President Trump was criticized for making too many Executive Orders.

The cost of living keeps going up. Food costs 5% more, but what about fuel? I was on the farm in Illinois this past weekend. We rented a car in Chicago and had to pay well over $4 per gallon. It’s not quite that expensive in Washington, DC. In the farm country, it cost $3.25 per gallon. It is likely to keep going up. OPEC, made up of big oil-producing nations, in a surprise move just decided not to increase production. Energy costs on our farms have already exploded. There is more to come.

It is exciting to see our planting season go smoothly so far. Our corn and soybeans are three-fourths planted and starting to come up. That is something that we can control, but the federal government is a different story. President Biden has announced that he wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the year 2030. And Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “biofuels are a key piece of the plan.” Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

It is exciting to see our planting season go smoothly so far. Our corn and soybeans are three-fourths planted and starting to come up. That is something that we can control, but the federal government is a different story. President Biden has announced that he wants to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by the year 2030. And Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says, “biofuels are a key piece of the plan.” Thank you, Mr. Secretary.

Joe Biden will face a long and difficult list of challenges. Topping the list will be the Coronavirus and a $1.9 trillion stimulus to lift our economy. That huge spending bill has not passed the Congress yet. Probably will be changed some.

I am so tired of these “peaceful” rallies that end up destroying property, looting, and burning flags and signs.  We had a dozen of our large cities face this last summer and fall, but by far the worst is the assault on our own Capitol last week.  Both parties need to stand up and say “enough is enough”.  This is not the USA that I know.  Just blaming President Trump will not solve the problem.

When you are farming, you are faced with a lot of unknowns - What will the weather be like? Will these low prices ever recover?

Being in lock down like most of our citizens and trying to celebrate Mother’s Day made me think. My mother was so dedicated to my 2 sisters, me and of course my dad. Mom & Dad were married in 1934 and in 1935 I was born. We were living in a small house with no running water, no bathroom and no electricity but we had an outhouse.