From the Editor

Some will call it curious timing. Others will say the stars lined up out of kismet and good fortune. But just days before Brazil would light the Olympic flame for the first time on South American soil, the USDA extended its own peace offering to the world’s fifth-largest nation.

Perhaps you’ve had the difficult discussion, as a parent or child, when you decide what direction to take in life. What education and training is needed? What career will lead to being happy and successful?

If you like to comb through numbers and data, this year’s 2016 Beef Statistics poster, found inserted in the center of this issue, is a trove of goods. Here are just a few that are worth your close attention:

Some people feel the anxiety of aging around the holidays or maybe with their birthday. For me, the stark reminders that I’m growing long in the tooth come in June, when my kids finish another year of school.

Given how little the American public wanders into an honest discussion about its food policy, when a news story does broach the topic, you have to pay attention.

Having listened to the opposing sides waging a fierce debate over genetically modified organism (GMO) food labels in the U.S., it’s painfully obvious who’s winning the battle. And it isn’t the family farm or ranch.