One has heard so much these last eight years about how Wisconsin has been ‘open for business,’ and for Walker and the WEDC that has meant countless subsidies and tax breaks for conservatives’ preferred businesses. Walker was never a free-market man; his whole approach rested on state capitalism (government funding some producers) and crony capitalism…
Agriculture
Agriculture, Economy, Trump
Dairy Farmers’ Struggles
by JOHN ADAMS •
The AP reports Farm bankruptcies on the rise in Upper Midwest: The number of farms filing for bankruptcy is increasing across the Upper Midwest, following low prices for corn, soybeans, milk and beef, according to a new analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. The analysis found that 84 farms filed for bankruptcy in Wisconsin,…
Agriculture, Economy, Trade, Trump
A Farmer on Trump’s Trade War: I Can’t ‘Take It’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Economy, Trade, Trump
Tales of Unrequited Support
by JOHN ADAMS •
Wisconsinites who went for Trump now find themselves economically disadvantaged despite their support. It’s become an international tale: how some residents of America’s Dairyland foolishly hoped for better from Trump and now find themselves experiencing worse: Plymouth, Wisconsin, styles itself as “the cheese capital of the world”. The town of 8,445 people, about an hour north…
Agriculture, Film
How Chinese Refugees Saved the Sweet Potato
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Water
Oversalting
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Nature
Threats to Honey Bees
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Business, Food, Law, Press
Gazette Thinks Janesvillians Are Too Stupid to Buy Milk of Their Own Choice
by JOHN ADAMS •
Among the items in its ‘Monday Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down’ editorial, the Gazette argues against allowing Wisconsinites to drink organic milk (subscription req’d). It’s not merely that the paper’s editorial board thinks that drinking raw imprudent (pointing to illness from a recent incident), it’s that the board thinks sales should remain illegal. Without a law, the…
Agriculture, Animals
Chickens Are Getting Bigger…Much Bigger
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture
Howard Quimby: The 86-Year-Old Farmer Who Won’t Quit
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Animals
The Running of the Goats
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Film
Film: Farm
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Good Ideas
The Creative, Cheesy Solution to Icy Roads
by JOHN ADAMS •
Agriculture, Animals, Beautiful Whitewater, City, Farming, Food, Good Ideas, Hip & Prosperous, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Local Government, New Whitewater, Planning
A Model Ordinance
by JOHN ADAMS •
These last few months, beginning in September, Whitewater’s Planning Commission has heard, and subsequently considered, a proposal for an urban (backyard) chicken ordinance. The proposal is not mine; I have been a mere observer of this effort. One may write about a topic, but only after months of careful observation, as in this case. I…