By Mike Barnett

A blast of cool greeted me as I stepped outside Sunday morning, a welcome respite from a week of 100-degree temperatures last week. Does that mean fall has arrived? Hardly. I reckon we’ll face more hot weather.

That’s the thing about Texas . We take a lot of ribbing because we don’t have distinct weather changes like our northern cousins. It may be 95 degrees in February in the Lone Star State. Spring can turn to summer in April. Mild temperatures—like last year—make you wonder what winter is. And in the fall, we don’t have the wholesale changing of the leaves as those further north enjoy. What little color we do have may show up after Thanksgiving.

By Gene Hall

One of my favorite writers is Peggy Noonan, once a speechwriter for Ronald Reagan, now columnist for the Wall Street Journal. She recently wrote a piece called “A Nation that Believes Nothing.” Part of it is too political for our purposes, so I won’t link to it. The piece is notable, and sad, for the premise that we are citizens who do not trust our institutions, or each other. It’s not that we don’t believe “in” anything. It’s that we don’t believe people in authority. True, some have earned our mistrust, but we always overreact.

By Mike Barnett

I was in the hospital recently and as I watched the steady drip, drip, drip of the IV feeding into my arm, I marveled at the technology the doctors at Scott & White Hospital in Temple were using to restore my health.

Millions of dollars in research, tons of investment in machinery and mountains of skill and knowledge were used to get me back on my feet. And as I lay in the hospital bed, I started thinking how similar doctors were to farmers.

High-tech is a bridge between medicine and agriculture.

By Mike Barnett

The chatter about where Texas gets water to meet a future population explosion has taken an ugly turn lately as agriculture—the state’s largest water user—is being accused of wasting water.

The criticism comes on the heels of last year’s devastating drought which left many areas high and dry and has many speculating on how Texas will meet future water needs.

What really grabbed my attention was a recent editorial in the Houston Chronicle that suggested agriculture will be responsible for future water shortages in high growth areas of Texas, which is nonsense .

By Gene Hall

Farmers and ranchers could not operate without the life-giving rays of the sun.  Photosynthesis, the chemical process by which plants nourish themselves, could not take place without it.  However, the sun can also bring misery, disease and even death, though all of this is ultimately preventable.  Heat and ultraviolet solar rays can take a devastating toll on crops and livestock.  The farm or ranch family can also be afflicted with serious problems, too.