Mother Nature is at it again—bitterly cold weather in January followed by 60 degree temps in February. Hopefully it didn’t encourage the alfalfa to start growing and put those tender shoots in harms way as we don’t need winter kill or winter injury to set back the first crop.

We returned recently from our annual winter getaway to Hawaii. For the first time while there I took a closer look at their land and couldn’t help but notice how drastically our 50th state has changed since sugar cane and pineapple growing have left the islands. There are literally thousands and thousands of acres of fallow land left behind even as they try to use that land to grow replacement crops like citrus, coffee and other products that can used consumed in Hawaii.

That departure of sugar cane and pineapple, I found out, was also a big reason for the wildfire that destroyed the ancient capitol and tourist town of Lahaina along the Maui coast. Taking a tour of the burned out city last month a local official told me that fire never would have happened if crops were still being gown on the hillsides above the town. But since those crops left about 20 years ago the land has been left idol to grow nothing but wild grasses that dry out. Once those grasses caught fire and got pushed by the ocean winds down toward the town, disaster happened. Even though they saved the world’s second largest Banyon tree in the town square it’s less than half as big as it once was.

Closer to home we’re hoping to get a new Farm Bill passed soon, even though it’s just being called a skinny farm bill since many provisions normally included in a farm bill were part of the One, Big Beautiful Bill passed earlier. We also continue to keep an eye on trade issues, the farm work force and so many other issues. I’m ready for spring!