I would love to read some feedback from farmers and/or animal welfare specialists on this piece from the Des Moines Register (which typically has some of the better ag reporting among mainstream, daily newspapers). The article is headlined Critics of old henhouses drive a shift to cage-free, and by my read, the article has a reasoned tone that tells both sides of the cage-free chicken issue fairly well. Read more...

Understanding where Obama's heart and soul is when it comes to true change has been a topic of conversation ever since he started floating names of future cabinet members. USDA Sec. Tom Vilsack for example -- a real head scratcher to some folks.

Personally, I've been wondering aloud (here and here) if President Obama's biggest reformer, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, is actually the ag reformer we didn't get in  Tom Vilsack. Read more...