John Ikerd

I spent much of the first thirty years of my early life preparing to be a scientist, a social scientist but nonetheless a scientist. I...

Someone recently forwarded me a link to an opinion piece by freelance writer Sarah Mock that begins: “I tried to prove that small family...

Everything eventually boils down to economics! How many times have we heard this assertion—as if it were settled truth? Farmers need an...

We humans are subject to the same laws of nature that govern the rest of the universe. If this were not true, there would be no concern...

Ten years ago, I wrote a book titled The Essentials of Economic Sustainability. It was written initially for short courses I taught in...

"Government spending is out of control! We can’t afford new government programs to rebuild infrastructure, mitigate climate change, or...

I don’t like watching videos of my own presentations, but I force myself to do it from time to time. I know how I feel about...

I have been reluctant to write about political issues since the 2020 presidential election. I had hoped some of the bitterness and...

Elsie Herring was a friend! We weren’t close personal friends but professional friends who shared a sense of mutual respect and common...

When speaking at public events about the negative impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operators or CAFOs, I am often asked how best to...

It has been a year now since COVID 19 was proclaimed a pandemic. Virtually everyone has experienced the disruption of the food system in...

Why do we need a “Farm Bill”? Farmers make up only 1.3% of the total U.S. population and even less than 10% of the population of counties...

The "Green New Deal"[i] has been systematically demonized by corporate propaganda targeting rural America. Rural people have been led to...

I have been writing a regular column for the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development for the past 10 years. My...

The election of 2020 is finally over. Yes, it is over. Joe Biden won and Donald Trump lost. This conclusion was not reached quickly or...

This series of short essays makes a compelling case for returning the U.S. to the long, difficult journey toward "a more perfect union."

How can the U.S. government pay the economic costs of fulfilling its responsibility to secure liberty and justice for all?

If our democratic republic survives the November election, it will still not survive unless we reaffirm the American Covenant with God.

“We need to run government like a business”--a common refrain in the U.S. But, governments and businesses have very different purposes.

In democracies, the people consent to common values to guide government. In a monarchy, the individual values of the "king" are supreme.