History teaches us that salt and the control of it was a major source of power over people and nations because it was the only way to preserve food and thus life. With the invention of refrigeration that power to control went away.

Larry Matlack, Burrton, President of the American Agriculture Movement and coowner of Stinger in Haven, is questioning the motives of Congressman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) in his opposition to increasing the ethanol blend in gasoline to 15 percent. Goodlatte is the ranking minority member of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture.

I want to personally commend Agriculture Secretary Vilsack for his recent statements concerning how farmers should diversify their business plans to include renewable energy as a revenue source.  There are those that have lambasted the newly sworn in Secretary for his remarks that fixed payments may not be politically sustainable, but he is again on target as the new 2010 federal budget proposal offered by President Obama this week verifies.

When USDA recently released the new farm income projections for the coming year it gave many of us cause to worry and to reflect upon how we can improve federal farm programs. It may be time to review past programs and how they might be more relevant addressing the current financial meltdown.

In case you missed it, USDA has just forecasted a devastating 18.1-percent decline in net farm income for 2009 when compared to 2008. This catastrophic reduction will impact America’s farm and ranch families at time when the economy as a whole is in serious trouble.