Author: By Rachel Gabel

Rachel Gabel One of the most admirable traits in a leader is the willingness to surround yourself with people who know more than you do about the topics that will determine your success or failure in your career. Agriculture Commissioner Kate Greenberg is poised either to do just that or to seal her fate with…

Rachel Gabel President Joe Biden’s administration issued an executive order on biotechnology and, in it, directs the Secretary of Agriculture to determine how to best use biotechnology to, among other things, beef up fake meat. While I was blinking back the baffled thoughts, a friend texted me a Wall Street Journal opinion column. In it,…

Rachel Gabel Never have I ever had an animal health question and called an urban or suburban legislator for their expertise. Never has an animal-rights extremist group bent on ending animal agriculture showed up in a blizzard to help save calves. And never have I allowed words to pass my lips like “boy, we should…

Rachel Gabel I plugged in the slow cooker filled with barbecue beef long before the sun rose. The watermelon was sliced, the peach cobbler was cooked to a bubbly brown, and the cucumbers, garlic and jalapeños were soaking up vinegar. Small boxes of expensive vaccines were stacked into a cooler, and automatic syringes were placed…

Rachel Gabel Kevin Jensen judged the market beef show last week at the Colorado State Fair in Pueblo. A Kansas cattleman, Jensen believes in good livestock, good kids and behaving with integrity. When the time came for the grand drive, the announcer brought in the reserve champion steers from each weight division, and they walked…

Rachel Gabel I ran into a former student of mine last week at lunch. I taught his high school English classes — both the one for his grade (12th) and the one he needed to pass to graduate (freshman English). I taught for about 15 years in a handful of rural districts, the last one in…

Rachel Gabel Colorado Commissioner of Agriculture Kate Greenberg testified before the House Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research in a hearing titled, “An Examination of the USDA Hemp Production Program.” Testimony was heard from a number of researchers, academics and stakeholders investing in the industry hoping to secure additional funding in the 2023 U.S. Farm…

Rachel Gabel It must have been a wise philosopher who once said, “rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey.” Corn makes beef, too, and this foundational truth about agriculture is proving true across the country where corn and cattle are king. Widespread drought has prompted a reduction in the nation’s cowherd. In Texas, local law enforcement…

Rachel Gabel As the western United States was homesteaded, livestock grazing could be a bloody business. The cattle and sheep wars were real, and as stockmen moved through the landscape with their herds, management was lacking, and justice tended to be swift. In 1934, the Taylor Grazing Act led to the creation of grazing districts.…