Urban Lehner

Editor Emeritus

Urban C. Lehner joined DTN as editor-in-chief in July 2003. He became vice president of the editorial operations of DTN and the Progressive Farmer in July 2010. He is a past president of the North American Agricultural Journalists and in August 2009 was named "Writer of the Year" by the American Agricultural Editors' Association.

 

Previously he spent 33 years at The Wall Street Journal, including 20 in Europe and Asia. Most recently he was vice president, business development. Other positions included publisher and executive editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Europe, Tokyo bureau chief, Detroit bureau chief and Washington economics reporter.

 

He co-authored a 1989 series on U.S.-Japan relations that won an Overseas Press Club citation for excellence. He authored and edited "Let's Talk Turkey About Japanese Turkeys and Other Tales from The Asian Wall Street Journal" (Charles Tuttle, Rutland, Vt., and Tokyo, 1996).

 

Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., he has a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Recent Blogs by Author

More From This Author

  • With China's encouragement, Brazil keeps expanding its soybean production. And it still has tens of millions more acres than could be planted in soybeans. (DTN file photo)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The immediate cause of China's stiffing of American soybeans is the trade war and the retaliatory tariffs. But China has been encouraging Brazil to expand soybean production for a long time and is now helping solve Brazil's...

  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics drew the president's ire when it reported that hiring has slowed in recent months. He fired the agency's nonpartisan professional leader and named a strongly partisan successor. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics logo)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Most users of U.S. government statistics understand they're imperfect but believe the mistakes are honest. The recent firing of the nonpartisan professional head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the replacement of her with...

  • An argument can be made that when the Trump administration pressured the Coca-Cola company to use cane sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup, the unspoken reason was glyphosate. (Photo by slworking2, CC BY-SA 2.0)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The next MAHA report may not recommend against glyphosate, as farmers fear, but there are other ways the health and human services secretary can take swipes at the herbicide.