At least once or twice a decade, every editor writes a column that explains why we do what we do. Last week, we received a call from a reader who was upset that I printed, on the front page no less, an Associated Press article that said the House GOP leaders were making political hay from a non-issue — regulation of farm dust. I didn’t take the call personally, but heard about it from the poublisher who did. I’m not sure if she was upset because she thought the dust issue was real, or if she thought as an agriculture publication, I shouldn’t kick the golden cow. The fact is, that the Environmental Protection Agency, as stated in the article that dust raised through routine seasonal farming activities is not on its radar scope. But in an election year, politicians are looking for issues they can point to and tell voters, “I was out there telling EPA you can’t do this.” I’m old school enough to still believe, and practice, that a newspaper, within reason, should be a venue for free-flowing ideas, opinions and public discourse. I know, for instance, that if I write an article about organic farming, someone will take issue that organic farming could not possibly feed the world — yet, organic farming is a niche market and part of agriculture. I also know that if we write a story about aspect of what is now considered conventional tillage, that no-tillers and strip-tillers will attempt to correct my thinking on the subject — yet, conventional tillage, no-till and strip-till and other alternative farming methods are all part of agriculture. And all the above and other trends and research are fair game for publiction on our pages. The thing that puzzles me is, why people think that because an article on our news pages means that we espouse the issue? That doesn’t make sense. We reserve those opinions for columns like these, not in news stories. We write at least three to four articles on cover crops annually, but I, personally, can’t see how it pays. I can understand the conservation of the plan, but it sounds spendy to me. But, it’s out there in the agriculture world, and we report on the continuing research. Organic farming sounds like more work than I’d care to spend on it — but that doesn’t mean we won’t write about it, just because I have reservations about it. I’ll hate to lose last week’s caller as a reader, which she said would happen, but Farm News readers need to understand — if it’s happening in agriculture, whether its the good, the bad or the ugly, we’ll write about it. Get used to it.

Have a good week. (Not that I’m trying to tell you what to do.)

Kershner is the Farm News news editor, living in Fort Dodge. Reach him by e-mail at kersh@farm-news.com