I have a confession to make. I never meant to stay this long.

Nearly three decades ago, I was employed by Texas Farm Bureau—28 years, five months and 29 days to be exact. I was much younger then, searching for my calling with visions of my own business dancing in my head.

Then something funny happened. I started to believe. For the first time in my life, I was truly involved with the issues of agriculture. I witnessed the daily struggle of farmers and ranchers trying to stay ahead. I saw an organization with a steel resolve to make life better on the farm and ranch.

By Mike Barnett

Cage-free eggs. Sounds good. But is it really better for the chickens that lay them?

Maybe if you believe in live free and die hard.

Cage-free eggs are the new rage. Driven by consumer perception that cage-free chickens are happier and healthier, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Costco and, most recently, Panera Bread will require suppliers to go cage-free over the next decade.

That leaves the egg industry—worth $10 billion a year—struggling to figure out how to shift from confined hen laying to cage-free.

It’s not as simple as turning chickens loose. Cage-free doesn’t mean problem-free.

By Mike Barnett

When it comes to new machinery, new cropping methods or new herbicides and pesticides, farmers and ranchers are on top of their game.

No doubt that’s why American agriculture is the most progressive in the world.

Not so much, though, when it comes to communicating. We have work to do. Farmers and ranchers have talked about “educating” the public for all of my 30-year career in Farm Bureau.

Truth. The public doesn’t want to be “educated.” They want answers. To their concerns about food. How you grow it. And what you do to ensure their family’s safety.

By Mike Barnett

Mother Nature is a fickle lady when it comes to moisture. Especially for Texas farmers and ranchers.

Too much. Not enough. Just right.

The third is the least common scenario.

This year, rain has been wild, unpredictable, devastating and wonderful. Sometimes all in the same area.

The season kicked off with abundant moisture in South and Central Texas. Spring came and it rained, rained and rained. Planting was delayed. The wheat crop suffered. Farmers kept looking for a break. And more rain came. Many farmers in South, Central and North Texas never fully recovered. Crops were stunted. Lost. Or never planted.

By Gene Hall

This is one of those occasions when I must say that the opinions here are mine alone.

I know Rick Perry a bit. My career as a spokesman for Texas Farm Bureau began almost exactly the same time as his first statewide political victory. Rick became Texas Commissioner of Agriculture in 1990. I was the moderator that year of a special satellite broadcast beamed to almost 200 county Farm Bureau offices in Texas. Karl Rove was on the stage that night. So were the real architects of Perry’s victory over Jim Hightower: TFB President S.M. True and Executive Director Vernie Glasson. We used primitive satellite technology to introduce Rick to Texas farmers and ranchers. They liked him. Many still do.