High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal Columnists Archives

This Week's Journal

Meat marketing tactics change with consumer trends

Columnists

Doug Rich

Greg Wolf

Holly Martin

Jennifer Bremer

Jennifer Latzke

Jerry Nine

Ken Root

Kylene Scott

Larry Dreiling

Sam Synder

Sara Wyant

Trent Loos

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Root Zone by Ken Root

Ken Root is celebrating over 35 years as an agricultural reporter. He grew up on a small farm in central Oklahoma and has worked in Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri as a broadcaster. Root was the original host of AgriTalk. He has also been the executive director of the National AgriChemical Retailers Association in Washington, D.C. and the National Association of Farm Broadcasters in Kansas City. Ken is now the lead farm broadcaster at WHO and WMT Radio based in Des Moines, Iowa. He can be reached at KenRoot@clearchannel.com.

Doing good deeds

Have you ever done something for someone in a manner that was selfless? Did it make you feel good or feel foolish? I struggle with how to be helpful to my fellow man without being self-serving in my actions or my expectations.

NOV 9, 2009 —Crop scouting In space

The European Space Agency has just launched a new satellite that goes by four letters: SMOS. It stands for soil moisture and ocean salinity. The simplicity of the name belies the complexity of the science that will be required to measure both. [Read More]

NOV 2, 2009 —TV fantasy is not scientific reality

If agriculture had remained a small organic enterprise for millions of families, it would be portrayed on television and movies as a cottage industry with determined but uneducated plodders putting in the crop and sitting in rocking chairs admiring the view as the sun set each evening. Today, with technology taking the lead and farms becoming high-tech operations, the industry is portrayed as corporate, unfeeling and scary. "You can't win!" [Read More]

OCT 26, 2009 —Is polarized politics good for anyone?

Editor's note: Ken Root is away this week. This column has been re-published from its August 2007 appearance in High Plains Journal. A presidential election or a vacancy on the Supreme Court brings out our liberal or conservative stripes and causes many people to insist that the candidate or nominee align with their political views. [Read More]

OCT 19, 2009 —Death of the dollar?

You know that eye on the dollar bill? Is it looking out or looking in? The difference may be the way we see ourselves versus how others see us in this period of 21st century realignment. [Read More]

OCT 12, 2009 —Uncertain times

Agriculture is a cyclical industry. That statement is as obvious as it is painful. It remains true throughout countless gyrations, with each up and down move taking out a portion of the producers of every commodity. [Read More]

OCT 5, 2009 —Orion rises

This morning in Iowa it is 43 degrees. That's the coldest I can remember since spring. It is obvious to us through cultural learning and scientific observation that the season is changing. [Read More]

SEP 28, 2009 —The honor box

Editor's note: This edition of the Root Zone originally printed in July 2006. Where else but rural America would you find a wagon loaded with garden produce, parked alongside a roadway with no one around, a hand-painted sign saying "Sweet Corn $3.50 per dozen" and a small can nailed to the frame with the words "honor box" stenciled on it? It's a unique part of our heritage and a quiet statement of our culture and values. [Read More]

SEP 21, 2009 —Norman Borlaug: Agriculture's ultimate humanitarian

Dr. Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Yet, he and his work are still relevant at this time. Dr. Borlaug died last week at age 95, and is being mourned by the agricultural world; but, he should be remembered by mankind, worldwide, for much more than his agronomic achievements. [Read More]

SEP 14, 2009 —COOL Fuel

When Americans go to the gas pump to fill up with fuel, do you think they care about its origin? That is the supposed basis for a country-of-origin labeling (COOL) move by Growth Energy, an ethanol promotion group, based in Washington, D.C., but primarily funded by ethanol producers across the Midwest. The goal seems commendable, but the outcome is far from certain. [Read More]

SEP 14, 2009 —COOL Fuel [Read More]

SEP 7, 2009 —Sharing the road [Read More]

AUG 31, 2009 —The biggest and the best [Read More]

AUG 24, 2009 —Freedom to Fail [Read More]

AUG 17, 2009 —We will bury you, but first let's look at your hybrid corn [Read More]

AUG 10, 2009 —Report card time [Read More]

AUG 3, 2009 —Climate change legislation is real! [Read More]

JUL 27, 2009 —Thank you, Uncle Walter [Read More]

JUL 20, 2009 —Words rather than deeds [Read More]

JUL 13, 2009 —Commerce face to face [Read More]

JUL 6, 2009 —Political climate change [Read More]

JUN 29, 2009 —Stained glass windows [Read More]