Opinion

I have read several stories recently that make life in rural America seem pretty dismal – the population is aging and decreasing, everyone is poorly educated and addicted to drugs,…

The American Prairie Reserve (APR) is presently engaged in a major publicity effort to advance its acceptance in the Lewistown area by supporting a conference to teach area landowners how…

The success of Montana’s agriculture industry is dependent upon water and water right certainty. It is easily the single most important resource for people across Montana, which is why ratification…

Does our justice system always get it right? No. That’s why there are appeals courts. A jury in California recently got one very wrong. They awarded hundreds of millions of…

I farm grain in Montana on the Rocky Mountain Front. Sixty miles to the west are mountains with gorgeous rolling hills, but the rest of our landscape is flat—not exactly…

This past year, an unlikely group of individuals met for multiple days, in multiple locations, for multiple hours focused on one issue: the greater sage-grouse. Ranchers, like myself, participated in…

Farmers across the state are in the middle of a busy seeding, haying, and fast approaching harvest season. Most years our worries focus on weather, markets, and workload, but this…

Every five or so years, the U.S. Congress has the difficult task of trying to pass an act that will guide the future of the agriculture industry, while simultaneously trying…

Water rights are the cornerstone of our agricultural economy. Without certainty, protection for existing water right holders, and a plan to define the federally reserved water rights of the tribes,…