Would you let the same people who operate the license bureau run a lab in the middle of cattle country that handles live foot and mouth disease? Neither would I.

The Obama administration released a report Monday on its policies and accomplishments in rural America during the President's first term in office. Rural equals agriculture in this report — and that leaves out the environment, worker safety, education and the hearings the administration held across the country on the lack of competition in the ag business.

The Senate seems to think an insurance program alone will provide enough of a safety net to protect farmers from the inevitable hard times ahead. The House, however, has concluded that insurance isn't going to do the trick.

A decision to breach a levee last spring brought floodwaters down on 200 square miles of SE Missouri. After a full year, some people are still displaced, others are farming again, and everyone has an opinion about the Corps of Engineers' fateful choice.