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

  • COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency but far from over otherwise. (World Health Organization image)

    The COVID-19 emergency is officially over. But elevated death tolls and the political controversies and social and economic changes the pandemic wrought aren't going away.

  • COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency but far from over otherwise. (World Health Organization image)

    The COVID-19 emergency is officially over. But elevated death tolls and the political controversies and social and economic changes the pandemic wrought aren't going away.

More From This Author

  • COVID-19 is over as a public health emergency but far from over otherwise. (World Health Organization image)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The COVID-19 emergency is officially over. But elevated death tolls and the political controversies and social and economic changes the pandemic wrought aren't going away.

  • Under the Supreme Court's decision, you won't be able to sell pork in California if you prevent the pig from "lying down, standing up, fully extending (its) limbs, or turning around freely." (DTN file photo)

    Best Blog of the Week

    The Supreme Court's decision upholding California's Proposition 12 will require pork producers to either spend millions to comply or get Congress to overturn it. The precedent will extend beyond pork.

  • Under the Supreme Court's decision, you won't be able to sell pork in California if you prevent the pig from "lying down, standing up, fully extending (its) limbs, or turning around freely." (DTN file photo)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The Supreme Court's decision upholding California's Proposition 12 will require pork producers to either spend millions to comply or get Congress to overturn it. The precedent will extend beyond pork.

  • At a time when many Americans think their country is in decline, the Economist sees it Riding High. (DTN photo of the Economist cover)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The Economist publishes a well-researched cover story arguing that the U.S. economy is leaving its peers further in the dust.

  • It's 5,000 miles from Kyiv to Taipei, but what happens in Ukraine won't stay in Ukraine. (Map by freewebs.com)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Advocates of 'arm Taiwan, not Ukraine' present a false choice. Defending Ukraine is critical to deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan.

  • 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.