“He’s probably one of the most successful farmers I know,” says Kyle Rupp of his dad, Gary. “He started from the ground up and made all of this possible.”

The 2025-30 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) issued by the Trump administration in January 2026 are perhaps the most talked-about DGA ever. In some ways, they are also the most simplified, containing just 10 pages of official guidance under the catchphrase “eat real food.”

As an individual farm that relies largely on the sugarbeet crop, Garner recognizes the need to meet current and future challenges with efficiency, water management and “loosening the reins” to involve the younger generation.

Amid higher input and machinery costs, maximizing profitability means expanding landholdings for some farmers – that’s one way to go. Another way to go is through maximizing yields on current cropland, which is the route R.L. Brown Farms of Jerome, Idaho, has chosen.

With glyphosate, many see only the risks and not the benefits. A closer look at glyphosate shows that the safety concerns are not scientifically supported, and that the benefits are worth the perceived risk.

Many years ago, in a college course on toxic plants, I learned about the popular ornamental houseplant dieffenbachia, also known as “dumb cane.”

“I think they took away with them an understanding of how much we value every drop of water. Runoff risk is a major concern of the EPA and the ability of Idaho producers to utilize every drop of water via ponds, irrigation systems [drip irrigation], tailwater collection and recovery systems, or other methods, seemed to fascinate the EPA representatives.”

Amalgamated Sugar Co. researchers and agronomists present field trials including nitrogen fertility, cropping systems, tillage, water sensor use, cover crops and herbicide use in sugarbeet production.