Weekly Columns

Back to school sales are on, and parents are shopping for the crayons, calculators, and other supplies their kids will need for the first day of classes.  Before long, school buses will be on the roads, and college campuses will be abuzz with students returning for the fall semester.  Private schools will welcome back students with chapel or mass, and families that home school will resume study.

Nebraska’s agriculture producers, our farmers and ranchers, are the backbone of our great state.  They cultivate crops and raise livestock to feed people here in the United States and all over the world.  Along the way, they create hundreds of thousands of great-paying jobs for our economy.  In their work, they exemplify the grit, community spirit, and stewardship of the land and natural resources that define who we are as a people.

This March, Nebraska won its third consecutive Governor’s Cup.  Each year, Site Selection magazine awards the trophy to the state with the most economic development projects per capita.  Nebraska didn’t just win the Governor’s Cup this year—our state clobbered the competition!  We had more new projects than South Dakota, North Dakota, and Kansas combined.

Expanding trade relationships with Nebraska’s nearest international neighbors has helped grow Nebraska for many years.  International trade is especially crucial for our state’s farmers and ranchers.  Agriculture is the backbone of our economy.  About 1 in 4 people in Nebraska’s workforce are employed in agricultural production and agriculture-related businesses.