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

  • Three thoughtful farmers agree economics helps explain the increasing disparity in voting patterns between suburbs and rural America, but cultural issues also play a role. (DTN file photo by Elaine Shein)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Three farmers emailed detailed thoughts on whether economics or cultural issues better explain why the countryside votes increasingly Republican even as Democrats make electoral gains in the suburbs.

  • The rescue of Silicon Valley Bank propelled a historic bond-market rally, driving down interest rates and highlighting a dilemma facing the Federal Reserve. (DTN ProphetX chart)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Depositors in Silicon Valley Bank were protected, but what happens to the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation as a result?

  • More than half of all Americans live in suburbs and the suburban-rural divide is increasingly important politically. (Photo by r.nial.bradshaw, CC BY 2.0)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Pundits struggle to explain why the Democrats now get more than half of their votes in the suburbs while the Republicans dominate in rural America far more than in the past.

  • Chinese purchases of American farmland have risen significantly and legislators are reacting. Still, Chinese interests own less than 1% of the 3% of U.S. farmland held by foreigners. (DTN file photo by Elaine Shein)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Legislators are debating whether to ban Chinese investments in U.S. agriculture or subject them to greater scrutiny.

  • Stocks rose in the wake of the Fed's quarter-point rate increase, reversing earlier declines. But the Fed remains more cautious about the future than the markets. (DTN graphic by Todd Hultman)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 0.25% on Feb. 1. At previous meetings the increases had been 0.75% and 0.5%. But there are likely more rate hikes ahead.

  • Bob Hagerty's new book explains why and how you should write your life story.

    An Urban's Rural View

    Do both yourself and your heirs a favor. Write a brief, (or lengthy, if you prefer) autobiography -- or at least your own obituary.

  • Exports are critical to U.S. agriculture's prosperity but the long-term outlook for them is murky. (DTN file photo by Mary Kennedy)

    An Urban's Rural View

    To maintain the current level of ag exports, much less expand them, Uncle Sam must do more than just basic blocking and tackling.

  • An apolitical, even anti-political hope for 2023 is that Americans learn to disagree more agreeably. (DTN file photo)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Americans will probably always be polarized, but they can still deal with each other as people rather than ideological stereotypes.