UK Farmers Must Focus and “Get Fit Quick” Post-Brexit
Stay in the EU or get out: That’s the choice the United Kingdom faced in last year’s referendum, and now we face Brexit, a democratic decision I have to accept....
NAFTA, Other Agreements
Needed: Strong Trade Agreements With Predictable Allies
I’m worried about soybeans. We grow them on my farm in Iowa, along with corn and cattle. As the planting season approaches, however, I’m not sure how to h...
Ag, Airplanes and Perdue
President Trump took his time to choose a nominee to head the Department of Agriculture, and he picked a good one: Sonny Perdue, a former Governor of Georgia wh...
Appreciating President Obama’s Trade Support
President Obama mentioned trade only once during his farewell address on Tuesday night: “I agree that our trade should be fair and not just free.” In a speec...
Choosing Optimism As We Feed the World
At the dawn of 2017, it’s time to make America great again by making America competitive again—and the Global Farmer Network spent much of the last 12...
Trading to “Do Good and Do Well” With a Post-Fidel Cuba
Earlier this year, Missouri-based Martin Rice Company sent a 20-ton container of rice to Cuba—the first shipment of rice from the United States to Cuba in eight...
Making A Best-Case “Pivot To Trade” Scenario for Trump
Donald Trump sounds like a protectionist. In his speech to the New York Economic Club last week, he condemned “these terrible trade deals,” by which he meant mo...
When Trump and Clinton Talk Bad About Trade, Silence is Not Golden
I’ve never seen American politicians as hostile to free trade as they are right now. We’ve witnessed spats of protectionism before, but it seems like today’s...
Getting On With It Post Brexit
The swift formation of the UK’s post-Brexit government removes one element of uncertainty. David Cameron has stepped away as Prime Minister, Theresa May has mov...
Why Trade Matters
Two weeks ago, my brother, my wife and I, and our farm crew loaded five boxcars with pinto beans grown on our family farm in North Dakota. Bound for Mexico, the...