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

  • The government's 2026 Dietary Guidelines for Americans promotes cooking with butter, beef tallow and olive oil, but pointedly does not mention seed oils. (Screenshot from realfood.gov)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The medical establishment says seed oils are safe and healthy, but 28% of Americans say they avoid them.

  • President Donald Trump says the U.S. doesn't need anything Canada or Mexico produce and he isn't looking to renew the free-trade deal with those countries. (DTN file photo)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Mexico and Canada are U.S. agriculture's largest export markets. Is the president serious about not renewing the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement?

  • In an important recent speech, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent articulated a view both parties share that national security requires less dependence on imports. (Photo of U.S. Treasury building, and photo of Bessent from Sen. Tim Scott's Instagram page)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Loss of high-wage manufacturing jobs had already undermined political support for free trade. Then China's challenge to the U.S. position in the world and its manufacturing dominance fortified the case against depending on imports.

  • Talk of a peace agreement pushes oil prices down, renewed hostilities push them up, but even when they're down, they're much higher than they were a few months ago. (DTN ProphetX chart)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Each side in the U.S.-Iran war thinks it holds the cards and can wait out the other. That's made negotiations difficult and kept the Strait of Hormuz closed.

  • U.S. soybean farmers remain dangerously overdependent on a single foreign market, China, and that will be true even if the president returns from his summit in Beijing with good news on soybean sales. (DTN/Progressive Farmer file photo)

    An Urban's Rural View

    The president is heading to Beijing for a summit, having in recent months softened his approach to China. Even if he comes back with more soybean sales, American bean growers need to reduce their dependence on China.

  • Steak now ranks high among the foods the government's 2026 dietary guidelines recommend. That's not where heart doctors would rank it. (Screenshot from realfood.gov)

    An Urban's Rural View

    Thoughts on who the public will believe: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who urges eating more red meat, or heart doctors, who advise eating less.