The volunteer farm women involved in CommonGround state programs across the country are talking and, increasingly, the evidence shows that urban and suburban moms are joining in the conversation. With many states recently launching their programs or preparing to do so this spring, the buzz surrounding this open, honest approach to discussing food is spreading too.
Earlier this month, CommonGround Kansas launched its program with a full court press during the University of Kansas women’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence.
The Lady Jayhawks may have fallen to Kansas State University’s Lady Wildcats, but the ladies of CommonGround stood tall as they explained how they grow food and the facts about modern agriculture. For a few hours on the cold January evening, volunteers shared in outstanding Kansas City barbeque and in conversations on subjects including the locavore movement, organic fruits and vegetables, sustainability and livestock production to a group of reporters, bloggers, government representatives and community influencers.
While bringing together farm women and the people who speak to urban and suburban moms on a large scale started a conversation, what truly matters is knowing that the dialogue opened that night made a difference. Judging by an article featuring volunteer LaVelle Winsor that ran in the Lawrence World Journal, the stories these women have to tell and understanding they offer about food scored with attendees.
In explaining the program’s goals and offering it as a resource, the article spread the word that there is another source of information for moms concerned about the foods they prepare for their family.
“We aren’t trying to tell anyone how to eat,” Winsor was quoted as saying in the article. “But we would like them to know what actually happens on our farm.”
Want to learn more? “Like” the CommonGround Facebook page and look to see if there are upcoming events in your area.
These days, farmers and ranchers seem to be constantly having to defend every practice they use to produce food, fuel and fiber – and much of it is based on just plain ignorance of agriculture in general.
Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also extremely dangerous. We just recently came across this Penn and Teller video about how willing people are to sign a petition to ban water when it is called by its chemically proper but unfamiliar name, “dihydrogen monoxide.” This illustration of ignorance and radicalism is not new. Wikipedia traces it back to some University of California students in 1990. Penn and Teller updated the hoax in 2006 and it would be funnier if it wasn’t such a sad commentary on how gullible some people can be and how it could have disastrous consequences.
There is a conversation going on about food. Entire television networks, radio programs and magazines have long sought to elevate the humble act of eating by transforming the tastes and textures of our meals. Now, consumers want to know more. They want to know how their food was produced, if it is safe and if it is the best option for their families.
Farmers must be part of this conversation. Logically, it makes sense. Farmers grow the food. They have the most intimate knowledge of how they do so and why they select particular methods. They understand consumer questions intimately because they too must answer them when they prepare meals for their own tables.
Programs such as CommonGround and the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance facilitate this discussion. Helping bridge the gap between the rural communities in which farms exist and the urban landscape in which most consumers reside, the volunteer farmers who speak out about their personal experiences lend a voice to the very small percentage of the population who grows food for a hungry world.
How effective are these efforts? Can one conversation really make a difference? While this evidence may be anecdotal, the impact of one conversation can radiate infinitely like ripples on a pond.
This summer, a group of women who volunteer to speak through the Missouri CommonGround program shared a lunch with Missouri Department of Agriculture Director Jon Hagler during the state fair. Through the course of their conversation, the women talked about their farms, their feelings about food and the importance of opening a positive, inclusive dialogue with the people who eat what they grow.
November 30, those messages hit a larger audience when Hagler appeared on the National Public Radio Program St. Louis On the Air. While Hagler certainly covered a variety of topics and in no way parroted the conversation, the tone of inclusive, positive, open conversation carried through.
Callers responded. Ordinary citizens from across the metropolitan area asked specific, direct questions about a wide variety of food-related topics. Whether their particular interest was in food safety, production practices, sustainability or in where to find answers, the move toward an intense public interest in agriculture was evident.
Did this one luncheon shape Hagler’s perception? While it certainly was not the entire basis for his viewpoint, the importance of a sustained conversation between farmers and the public is undeniable. Directly or through influential persons, farmers need to help address concerns and become a part of the conversation.
Make today count. Join the discussion on food. Farmers impact the world through what they grow. It is time to talk about it.
Frequently, CornCommentary serves as a place to correct the many errors, fallacies and misrepresentations that plague media coverage of agriculture. With 98.5 percent of the population totally uninvolved in farming or farm-related activities and deep labor cuts at outlets across the country eliminating staff with any ag knowledge, this problem may seem endemic. Other times, it becomes evident that controversy sells and, should it not appear organically, some journalists happily create it.
Corn farmers have an unlikely ally in correcting the fallacies surrounding high fructose corn syrup though – Michael Pollan. Often viewed as an enemy of modern production agriculture, Pollan has come out clarifying statements he made that, in his own opinion, portray the sweetener unfairly.
This statement is completely in line with earlier expressions of his viewpoint, such as that in his popular work Food Rules, an Eater’s Manual. While he does caution readers to cut down on their overall sugar intake, he pointedly notes that this includes sweetener of any kind and not just HFCS.
“Don’t fall for the food industry’s latest scam: products reformulated to contain ‘no HFCS’ or ‘real cane sugar,’” he states. “These claims imply these foods are somehow healthier, but they’re not. Sugar is sugar.”
Yet again, Pollan confirms the idea that a balanced diet leads to good health. It may be simpler to demonize a single ingredient, but the results of doing so will not be as effective. Instead, make healthy eating simple by moderating sugar intake without wasting time worrying about which specific sweetener it is.
For more than a month and a half now, Occupy Wall Street protesters have taken over city parks and the national news programs protesting social and economic inequality and corporate greed and power. Within weeks of its beginning, the movement grew not just geographically, with satellite protests springing up across the nation, but also internally. By now, some protesters even carry signs with such articulate messaging as “I AM VERY UPSET,” as seen on the front page of a recent New York Times
Guess what? A lot of people are upset about a lot of things. But, as the many causes associated with the demonstrations multiply, some food elitists have started joining the “99%” while pushing an agenda that is not supported by the masses. Delivering misconstrued messaging that purportedly promotes democracy and touting dubitable sources, these fear mongers hype a plight that does not exist.
A recent blog post on Civil Eats outlines what the food-motivated occupiers actually want. The outcome of their desires would effectively squelch the freedom of average Americans to select the diet they prefer in favor of dictating a “healthier” America. By painting a seriously skewed picture of American agriculture, the elitist radicals deny the basic tenets of capitalism, an idea most Americans closely link with freedom. They condescend, offering only scant information provided by sources which either speak out of their field of expertise or have been debunked time and time again. Relying on a conception that Americans will embrace this emotionally charged propaganda without meaningful consideration, they aim to dictate both the choices of consumers and the ability of farmers to produce an abundant supply of healthy food choices.
Since an early age, children learn that they can “vote with their pocketbooks” as, in a free society the laws of supply and demand provide a tool with which they affect corporate America directly through their purchasing decisions. Yet, these protesters instead pose the idea that “75 percent of the population are obese or overweight and many are chronically ill with diet-related diseases” because of a corporate-controlled food supply. In doing so, they offer the easy out to anyone who makes poor choices by denying the long-valued ideal of personal responsibility.
Americans are not spoon-fed or force-fed the oversized portions of high-calorie foods that lead to weight gain. Instead, they choose a diet that they enjoy. Average Americans may not make the same choices as these activists, or even base them upon the same values, but that does not discount their opinions.
That argument sounds strangely familiar…
Many people take the easy academic out and blame corporations for producing the choices that they secretly favor. So, the protesters validate them. By blaming obesity on the corporations, these master debaters place the blame on faceless, callous mental images of corporations. These arguments further disguise an elitist agenda under the blanket of anger against corporations spun with the threads of discontent with financial entities whose corporate irresponsibility pushed our nation toward recession.
While these protestors claim to stand up to corporate farming, they rage against a corporate machine that doesn’t exist in the way they portray it. g. In all reality, 95 percent of all farms in America are still family owned. These growers, most often the descendants of a proud tradition of the rugged individualists who first made farming flourish here, make informed decisions every year on what to put in their fields. Farmers understand what types of climates and soil produce certain crops. They know first-hand that selecting seeds that can resist stressors common in their area will increase the chance of a successful harvest. They study their land, growing the most abundant crop possible in a way that preserves the environment- the single greatest resource as growers.
Pushing this reality aside, the blog post in particular jumps to the idea many espouse: somehow, big companies are behind what farmers produce. While a variety of companies do sell seeds, as consumers farmers select what they see as the product that will grow the best crop given their particular circumstances. If they did not see value in biotech, they wouldn’t pay for it.
Pointing to the rapid growth of sales for corn seeds with the Roundup Ready trait, the blog implies that, in order to achieve this type of success, the seed provider must be exercising some sort of secret power. In a way, successful seed providers are exercising a power that may be mysterious to the protestors. They make effective, proven, safe products that farmers like. Most average citizens understand that, when you make something that people like instead of just empty rhetoric, it tends to become popular quickly. Mystery solved.
The activists cite self-proclaimed “experts.” Again relying on the inaccurate assumption that the average Americans they claim to represent will be too lazy to examine these experts credibility, their arguments rely heavily on the claims made in the Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. (To read up on the problems of the documentary, read American Agri-Women’s Food Inc Analysis.)
The aforementioned blog post in particular also cites a doctorate. Instead of the logical selection of citing a medical doctor for information on human health, or even a biologist, nutritionist or dietician, the information sourced are the opinions of a physicist. While a doctorate requires mental aptitude and dedication, it seems like a large leap to place trust in someone speaking so far outside of their area of expertise. If a physicist is in no way licensed to practice medicine or dispense dietary advice, it might appear more credible if the expert cited in these areas were thus raising the question of how the author made such a selection. The word “desperation” comes to mind…
Opponents rely on inaccurate data and select seemingly odd sources only when no better choices exist. This proves true yet again with the implication that Americans chose processed foods because they are cheaper. Looking at the research shows, cooking homemade meals from the ingredients that they deem healthy, albeit produced using more modern practices, actually saves money. Again, food choice has not been obliterated by a corporate plot. The average American simply does not chose the foods that the protestors’ agenda would dictate.
Instead of occupying a park only to spout propaganda, those seeking to occupy our nation’s fields and stomachs should face reality. The food system, while as much of a work-in-progress as any other human endeavor, is functional. Every year, farmers provide an abundant supply of quality food. They do so at prices lower than anywhere else in the developed world. They do so despite challenges both from the weather and from the very people eating the food they grow.
Do not let the occupiers win. The monopoly they seek to create would take away choice, push up prices and kill the efficiency that allows farmers to feed the actually impoverished, hungry masses they pretend to represent.
In the world of communications, it is understood that if you don’t tell your own story, someone else will tell it for you. Being as what this other person says may not be accurate or fair, it is generally accepted that telling your story first in a clear, concise manner is crucial.
Over the past decade, social media has revolutionized communications. Now, anyone on Facebook, Twitter or even newer platforms like Google+ acts as a communications professional every day as they share their lives, stories and opinions with an ever-growing audience. In establishing a personal connection, social media allows for authentic interaction and relationship building in a way that was previously unimaginable.
Many of the problems facing modern agriculture stem from a lack of communication. By helping the people outside of agriculture, 98.5 of the U.S. population currently, see how safely and effectively family farmers grow a quality product year-after-year, many of the anxieties and concerns surrounding our food supply will dissipate.
Farmers have always embraced new technology and change. From more advanced equipment to improved seed varieties, they innately understand the importance of adopting the best possible tools. This year, why not view social media as an investment also. Just a few minutes a day spent telling the story of your farm on a YouTube video, through Facebook or just tweeting from the combine can help form relationships and shape opinions.
Every citizen has a voice. Make sure that yours is heard before it is too late.
In a summer plagued by extreme weather, farmers along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers watched as water swelled from its banks and, eventually, covered many of their fields. These farmers continue working to salvage the 400,000 acres lost to the flood. This is about more than flooded farms and homes though– this is about people’s lives and livelihoods.
2011 has been a devastating year for farmers along the rivers. In May, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers blew up three levees in southeast Missouri, flooding 200 square miles of homes, fields and businesses along the banks of the Mississippi River. Shortly thereafter, they released historic amounts of water from the Missouri River Reservoir System, flooding an estimated 400,000 acres of prime farmland for four months. Stress, frustration and a sense of hopeless rolled in with the water.
The Missouri Corn Growers Association and Missouri Corn Merchandising Council are working along these growers that the government does not turn its back on the farms that they chose to flood. Through a new documentary, Underwater and Overlooked: Crisis on the Missouri River, the groups bring the facts to the forefront, holding the Corps accountable for the 2011 flood along the Missouri River banks and pushing them to take steps to ensure this never happens again.
The Army Corps of Engineers made the decisions that changed the lives of Missouri farmers. Now is the time to hear their stories, understand this tragedy and join with those supporting the victims as they rebuild. Click here to see what actually happened in Missouri’s farmlands as they sat flooded for 16 weeks. When the water goes down, the cameras go away and the spotlight dims, keep this story in the public eye until the levees are repaired and flood management is recognized as the top priority by the Corps.
Today, guest blogger Dawn Caldwell shares a post on her experience as a farmer and a CommonGround volunteer responding to questions about biotechnology and agriculture.
Of all the things I am; a wife, an employee, church council member, lawn mower, bill payer, grocery getter, cook, friend, aunt, daughter, granddaughter, niece, you get the idea…I feel that one of the most, if not the most important title I hold is that of Mom. Oh believe me, there are definitely days I wonder why God ever entrusted me with two spawn (as they humorously call themselves)! None-the-less, I take my opportunity to be a Mom VERY seriously (with as much humor built in as possible)! Like any mother of teenage “spawn”, I face all of the fun situations (never wanting to pay for their own gas), challenges (two broken cell phones at one time), celebrations (major part in the one-act play & great grades), and heartbreaks (oh the hard choices that have to be made…especially for teenage girls!). And like every other mom, especially moms of athletes, nutrition and food safety come to mind all the time; especially when I’m buying ANOTHER $100 in groceries for the week. Teenage spawn eat a LOT!
Big Eater (Spawn #1)
The Other Big Eater (Spawn #2) and his Dad don't like facing the camera.
Since becoming a CommonGround volunteer, one of the most common questions I get is about the safety of food derived directly or indirectly from GMO grains. After a lengthy conversation with a fellow ag enthusiast recently at Husker Nation (for all of you non-Huskers reading this, that’s the entire area surrounding and including Memorial Stadium in Lincoln where we Huskers like to gather by the droves), I decided I just need to get the info in writing and hope that many, many people read and share what I am about to divulge.
I have to admit, it has been quite some time since I was in a science class daily. So, I had to do some digging and reading to be able to verify what I thought was right and make sure that what I share isn’t just me trusting all that is out there to be used in the wide world of technology.
Let’s begin with what GMO stands for: it is not “Get More Oreo’s”, though this afternoon, I wish someone would – cookies and milk sound really good right now! GMO really stands for Genetically Modified Organism. Do not let that scare you! For perspective, the organism is only the seed, in fact, just a small part of the seed. Now, as for the genetically modified part… When a gene from one organism is purposely moved to improve or change another organism in a laboratory, the result is a genetically modified organism (GMO). It is also sometimes called “transgenic” for transfer of genes. See further explanation of this here. If you read through that article, you will find that genetic engineering is certainly not new! In fact, Bt proteins, a very common GMO in today’s farming, has been used in many organic farms for over 50 years as a microbial pest control agent. A complete article on Bt strains used in organic farming can be seen here.
After all of the reading and questioning I have done to put together this blog post, I am even more comfortable with farmers utilizing GMO technology when raising crops. GMO’s for insect resistance are typically very specific proteins that can affect only the target insect. My take on this: fewer pesticides being applied topically. I think that is a good thing! Of course there are GMO’s for a few other things such as certain herbicides (Round-Up Ready) and drought resistance. I can see wonderful opportunities coming from this technology! For those of you VERY science-minded people, check out this document.
One more thing…the folks developing the technologies and the farmers using them are people just like you, with families and friends and neighbors. We are purchasing food in the grocery store and we are drinking the water from under our fields and pastures. None of us would ever do anything to intentionally harm our food and water supply. GMO’s have been around now for more than 5 decades. We can all rest assured that the dinner we serve our families tonight, whether it is meat from animals fed GMO grains or cereals from those grains, they are as safe and nutritious as ever. And, because of modern farming and technology, there is enough for all of us to have plenty of choices of product when we do our food purchasing.
I know – I can already see the comments coming in… “But it is primarily one or two big companies putting those GMO’s out there and hauling in the mother load financially.” I can tell you – anyone in the world had the opportunity to put forth the time, effort, and risk to do the same work they have done. In any other business, the successful leaders are rewarded, as they should be in agriculture. Is it frustrating being on the purchasing side of the technology? Of course! Am I glad we have the choice to purchase or not purchase that technology? Absolutely!!! This is America, folks. We are supposed to be able to enjoy free enterprise. All of us need to continue working hard to live the life we think is best for ourselves and our families. I am not here to tell you have to purchase food grown with or without GMO technology or any other specific quality or label. I am only trying to reassure you that food in the United States is the safest in the world.
Now, go enjoy a wonderful meal with someone you love. I think we get to enjoy some left over roast beef at our house tonight – probably in the form of roast beef salad sandwiches. YUM!!!!
As U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates for the 2012 corn crop continue to drop, a lot of people want to throw around blame. Whether it be for higher prices or smaller supplies, corn users and detractors alike want heads to roll over their inability to source corn at prices that, quite frankly, have held relatively steady for decades.
Today is not the time for blame. Today is the time to reflect upon the incredible achievements that have allowed U.S. farmers to pull through disastrous weather reasonably in-tact, producing what may be a near-record crop.
Farmers, by the very nature of their business, must depend upon the weather. This year, Mother Nature proved uncooperative at best. In spring, she flooded the banks of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers and delayed planting with a seemingly unending deluge. Then, showing her mercurial nature, she baked Texas, and much of the Corn Belt to a lesser extent, with an unrelenting heat. Finally, as if to show that no one would escape her wrath, Hurricane Irene leveled much of the crop almost ready for harvest along the East Coast. If this were an actual mother, the family would certainly be in counseling by now.
Despite harsh conditions, farmers maintained their composure using the vast array of tools and techniques developed through advanced research to mitigate the string on blows pummeled upon their fields. Day after day, they walked the rows contemplating a next move, a way to make the most of the quickly deteriorating situation.
What we should celebrate today is the fact that farmers, backed by research and technology, can still produce an abundant crop even in difficult conditions. Only 10 years ago, the national average yield was 138 bushels per acre and the crop totaled 9.5 billion bushels. Now, even in a year many farmers describe as having the worst weather they have seen, the United States is set to produce 12.5 billion bushels of corn with a national average yield of 148 bushels per acre. Today, farmers do what those only a few decades ago could not have imagined under circumstances without recent parallel.
It only gets better though. As new traits come through the pipeline, Texans will have access to corn varieties that can better resist drought. Corn Belters will select the seeds they need to withstand more or less rain as they see fit. Scientists are hard at work to make sure that every farmer’s hard work is matched by the thought and development in each seed they plant.
From Main Street to MTV, everyone is talking about food. Unfortunately, this conversation does not often include the people who grow it. CommonGround Conversations creates a space for America’s farm families, and the people who support them, to share the story. Here, we have a meeting ground that will let you discover the values and hard work that underlie our nation’s abundant, safe harvest. Help us share our story! By submitting photos of yourself, family and friends waving at the camera, join your voice with like-minded people to open a national dialogue saying, “Hi! I support farmers. Let’s talk about how we grow our food.”
Now’s your chance to join in on the CommonGround movement and let your voice be heard.
Right now, the movement is growing. Help us find the CommonGround between the people who grow food and those who buy it. Start today on CommonGround’s Facebook fan page. Here’s how to join the conversation:
The volunteer farm women involved in CommonGround state programs across the country are talking and, increasingly, the evidence shows that urban and suburban moms are joining in the conversation. With many states recently launching their programs or preparing to do so this spring, the buzz surrounding this open, honest approach to discussing food is spreading too.
These days, farmers and ranchers seem to be constantly having to defend every practice they use to produce food, fuel and fiber – and much of it is based on just plain ignorance of agriculture in general.
