Dairy producers will know better than I do about rising corn prices. “Higher corn prices forecasted in 2007” and “Highest cost of corn hits dairy farmers” have been headlines in the news during the past three months. Increasing corn prices have pushed a low milk-feed price ratio even lower, down to 2.34 in November 2006.

I was recently on leave in Michigan, spending three days at home, including Thanksgiving Day. I certainly had much to be thankful for. My assignment in Afghanistan has been a safe one so far, and given what I see in that country, the developed world should never take for granted what it has. On my way back to Afghanistan, I traveled on a diplomatic passport to Syria, thus representing the United States and in particular, the U.S. Department of Agriculture. There I visited the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas or ICARDA.

Here it is a new year again. The older you get the faster time goes. It seems to me, as soon as you get through going to school, time just takes off and goes faster the older you get.

Two months ago, a vote was taken in Arizona. Not a vote about legislators or representatives, but a vote that had to do with agriculture. Most people throughout the United States had very little knowledge or understanding about the measure, but its future implications are widespread.

Readers will notice we’ve made some changes this month to Progressive Dairyman. We think our new combination of headline and body text typefaces are more reader-friendly. The combination also allows us to fit more information-packed words on a page.

In the fall of 1983, my sister Nina and I devised a plan for her family to join our family in Jerome to embark on a Christmas trip to visit our two brothers living in Arizona. I had acquired a previously fire-gutted, 15-passenger Dodge Maxi-van that only had two full-width seats in addition to the single bucket seat and front passenger seat. With 11 kids and their parents making the trip, I decided to construct a bunk bed at the back of the van, complete with made-to-fit foam mattresses covered with sheets, blankets and pillows. “Since we would be traveling in the night, why not make it comfortable for everyone?” I thought.

Here’s a short Christmas story about a fictional character named Jimmy. Hope you enjoy! It wasn’t like I really meant to argue with Mom and run away. Mom’s not the arguing kind, but when she announced we were going to have one more foster kid come to our home, I couldn’t take it. We had seven adopted kids already who came from foster care.

Reporting from Bagram, Afghanistan …

“This is wonderful, no?”

The other day I heard the world famous Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing the traditional Thanksgiving song “Come Ye Thankful People Come.” Tears of gratitude filled my eyes as I thought of the glorious harvest we have gleaned this year.