The Hand that Feeds U.S.

December 15, 2009

Now Featuring: Corn

By Samantha - First time at a corn harvest

Welcome to Dumas

I ventured north past Amarillo to Dumas, Texas to meet with Dee Vaughan for my final harvest: corn. And if you think of the harvest as a giant ball, corn is this year's Cinderella.

It's mid-October, and in Texas, that usually means the corn harvest is well underway. However, corn farmers in the Panhandle are delayed getting into the fields this year.

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If it Walks Like a Duck

One look at the smiles on Hill staffers' faces and you would've thought Christmas came early this year.

But it wasn't Santa delivering the goodies—it was the Cato Institute. And it wasn't presents causing the commotion—it was a royalty-like spread of food, a rarity on Capitol Hill since stringent lobbying standards were passed.

Dozens of chicken sandwiches paired with dozens more tuna sandwiches; bags of chips, pretzels and popcorn; bowls full of fruit; buckets full of soft drinks; and an assortment of holiday candy were used to lure hungry Congressional staffers to a Halloween Cato briefing about why U.S. sugar policy should be dismantled.

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Community Profile: Bowling for Sugar

All eyes will be on New Orleans this New Year's Day as the University of Cincinnati Bearcats defend their perfect season against the Florida Gators in the Sugar Bowl.

And while their beloved LSU Tigers will be nearly 650 miles away in Orlando, most people from south Louisiana will still tune in to support the Sugar Bowl and the crop it represents.

Sugar and Louisiana are as intertwined as any expect maybe Idaho potatoes.

New Orleans was the first site in North America where the crop was planted and the first Sugar Bowl was played in a converted sugar field.

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