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A September 2006 outbreak of E.coli in 26 states that sickened more than 200 people and led to the deaths of three may have been caused by feral swine roaming on a central California spinach farm, according to a study published in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal.

Twitter-transmitted pictures of spring 2019 in the Midwest have made my feed a stream of continuous heartbreak. Video after video of flooded fields and homes, stuck tractors, ruined crops, with pictures of tornado damage serving as the visual exclamation point to the slow-moving disaster that we’re living in the central part of the nation. We’ve have several hundred acres under water on our farm, our fields are dotted with wet spots and ruts, and we’re the fortunate ones, given what I see on my social media feed. It is a helpless feeling to watch as farmers and homeowners throughout the Midwest suffer from this disaster of historic proportions.

Located deep within the farm bill is a provision that could have a profound impact in the future. Section 7120 establishes a new USDA program entitled “New Beginning for Tribal Students.”

We in agriculture need to confront a painful fact. A noble goal, which many of us have pursued for years, decades and in some cases generations, has for the most part failed. Who among us has not attended an ag-industry meeting over the years and either said, or at least heard, a plea for “agriculture to speak with one voice,” rather than fragment into divisive segments in the face of one challenge or another?

We need water for a variety of uses, but chief among them is to grow food. Seventy-one percent of water consumed globally is poured into crop and livestock production. Yet many agricultural producers live in water-stressed areas and the problem is growing worse.

The USDA proposal to relocate the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Economic Research Service (ERS) out of the nation’s capital and to realign the ERS to report to the Office of the Chief Economist rather than to the Undersecretary for Research, Education, and Economics (REE) has created an unfortunate conflict between the US Department of Agriculture and the agricultural research community. While I am a retiree and speak only for myself, this is a fight that need not and should not be.

Imagine a single mother working multiple part time jobs, a grandparent living near a city and driving for a ridesharing company, or a widower picking up work on a farm or as a handyman. All of these people are working to support themselves or their family, but many still may be in need of assistance.

Former USDA Secretary Vilsack is right:“You cannot ask farmers to do this on their own. They have the will but not the resources.”

It is known throughout the agriculture industry that what often starts in California, in terms of regulation, always seems to be a slippery slope to follow for the rest of the country.

More than 200 leaders from organic businesses, farms, and ranches of all sizes from all regions of the country are coming to Washington this week with one goal in mind: Repair the organic public-private partnership and halt the bureaucratic foot-dragging that is stymieing this vibrant industry.