EDITOR'S NOTES

Earlier this year, I spent a week in the Sunshine State visiting with ranchers and farmers and gawking at the landscape that was vastly different than my Idaho home. As I asked each one what was the biggest challenge to production agriculture in Florida, the answer was always the same: urban sprawl.

See if you spot any connections in these three news blips and one commentary:

It turns out that trying to run over a very large snake with a riding lawnmower might not be the best plan – if you approach it from the tail end first.

I visited with a rancher in Mississippi last month. He said the best career advice he’d been given was, “All that glitters is not gold.” He went on to say that many young farmers today in Mississippi think raising poultry will end their financial woes – in essence, it would be their gold field.

Let’s talk about the D-word for a second. No, I’m not talking about the four-letter variety. I’m talking about a type of invisible corrosion that closely follows the purchase of equipment and large tools.

Nevermind I’d never strapped on snowshoes or wasn’t physically in shape for the trek. Nevermind I didn’t have ski gear. A spectacular opportunity presented itself – a chance to go with a hydrology team on snowshoes in the mountains as they performed their snowpack survey report at Mores Creek.