By Steve Pringle

In these days of gun rights, immigration reform and gay marriage discussions, it is time to also tackle another difficult decision facing the U.S.: opening trade and travel to Cuba.

Entertainers Jay-Z and Beyonce just returned from Cuba, where only the rich and famous or those “licensed” by our government can travel.

The U.S. is supposed to be the land of the free and home of the brave, but it appears that the whole world is a lot more free and brave when it comes to visiting this island nation only 90 miles off our border.

By Gene Hall

It’s a curious coalition that always creeps out of the deep woods to oppose the farm bill, which, in one form or another has ensured U.S. supplies of food and fiber since the 1930s.

It’s sort of like an episode of The Walking Dead.  One group of zombies swoops in from the deep woods of the left, believing that attacking modern agriculture in their typical Luddite fashion will produce the environmental utopia of which they dream. 

By Regan Beck

We know that Texas water is a precious resource. We’ve watched our pastures dry up and crops wither following the epic drought we’ve just endured (and continue to see, in many parts of the state). But one U.S. District Court judge wants to restrict our water even more.

U.S. District Court Judge Janis Graham Jack recently sided with an environmental group in its case against the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), the San Antonio River Authority, the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority and the Texas Chemical Council. The case accuses the agencies of water management practices that led to the deaths of 23 whooping cranes.

Seems like there’s a barbeque shack or three in every small town in the Lone Star State, and Texas Monthly (TM) has just hired a full-time editor to review them. At first glance, I thought I had lost my dream job.

Imagine the opportunity to sample the best Q on earth and get paid for it. Heaven.

But then I thought again.

For every good barbeque joint in Texas, there are 10 bad ones. What at first glance seems like nirvana could fast turn into a gastronomic nightmare.

By Gene Hall

The Obama Administration is again making noises on regulating climate change and, as usual, some are selling it as a crisis.

 In talking with farmers and ranchers who have been on the land for multiple generations, I’ve seen a reluctance to agree that droughts should be blamed on manmade activity. Their family history reports many droughts, some more severe than the current batch. Farmers are also suspicious that they will be the first to feel the pinch of aggressive efforts to regulate carbon emissions. There is something to that. Great strides have been made with conservation tillage and no-till, but very few have found a way to produce a crop without driving across a field.

By Mike Barnett

The Legislature took a significant step last week toward meeting Texas’ future water needs as the House Committee on Natural Resources passed a bill to jump start water projects in Texas, as reported in Texas Farm Bureau’s Austin Newsletter.

 The multi-year drought that caused over $7.6 billion in agricultural losses in 2011 alone and is drying up water sources for many Texas towns and cities has drawn the attention of our lawmakers in Austin. HB 4 by Representative Allan Ritter (R-Nederland) proposes that $2 billion be used from the Rainy Day Fund to create a revolving loan program so communities can begin working on projects outlined in the State Water Plan.