“The New Food Puritans” is a fascinating article on a website I just found called “Truth in Food.” The post is great, but the full interview with author Mary Eberstadt is even better and well worth 22 minutes of your listening time. Besides being an author, Eberstadt is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and consulting editor to the Institution’s bimonthly Policy Review

The post and interview are based on an essay Eberstadt wrote last year called “Is Food the New Sex?” which puts forth the premise that while modern society places no restrictions on sexual behaviors – anything goes because it is just “personal choice” – today’s new moralists are instead judgmental about the food choices people make. That is, we have mindless sex but mindful eating. “I find it really interesting that these two codes, one about food and one about sex, seem to be existing in this inverse relationship, where as one gets stricter the other gets more lenient,” she says in the interview.

Very interesting theory put forth by a very intelligent lady with strong conservative Christian values. There is some other great stuff on the “Truth in Food” website worth a read – like “The Ten Reasons Why They Hate You So” – They being the anti-production agriculture movement and You being – farmers. Be sure to read the comments on that one too – seemed to touch a pretty raw nerve with some folks! You can also find Truth in Food on Facebook. Thanks to my friend Ray Bowman with the Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office for pointing me in their direction!

 He doesn’t have a farming background and isn’t invested in the ethanol industry so he is a neutral and somewhat uninformed observer. He is also one of the busiest guys I know so for him to notice it means the anti-ethanol crowd are now officially pervasive. Apparently, it’s not just me feeling paranoid.

 The conversation came back to me in a hurry this week with the latest “ethanol is evil” Tsunami rolling across the country once again. It started with the Wall Street Journal  (No link here because you have to pay for this tripe) and the Washington Post and worked its way across the country hitting the Chicago Tribune and Des Moines Register yesterday and likely making its way for the West Coast like some cheap traveling circus.

 And like the aforementioned Circus the anti-ethanol gang leave a trail behind much like Barnum and Bailey’s elephants only there is no guy with a shovel and bucket cleaning up in their wake. They leave their load of “misinformation” to fester in the road in full knowledge that most people are also too busy to check the veracity of their propaganda.

 The public lynching of ethanol began with the bogus food vs. fuel charade in 2008 and since then has continued to resurface over and over again in several different guises that get trotted out and recycled whenever opportunity presents itself.

 Several things remain consistent as the attacks continue. The noxious cocktail they serve up is made with equal parts of the best bad science money can buy and poor logic. And the olive on the toothpick seems to be just plain old avarice.

 That’s greed, materialism, or covetousness with a Capital “C.” The people fanning the fires of these attacks have rationale and motivation that are simple if not transparent. They are the folks that want the cheapest corn possible because it boosts their profits; want ethanol to be made from another source; or want ethanol crippled forever because the market share just got too big.

 So, for the next couple of days come back here and you will get a sneak peak each day of some of these players and the Machiavellian games they play and fund all to snuff out the only real competition that imported petroleum faces in the marketplace today…ethanol.

Given the extreme stories, messages and views that pound us every day from dozens of information sources in this wired world, I think we all need a reprieve. We all need places to go for perspective and this is particularly true regarding livestock production. Given the antics of lobbying groups like the Humane Society of the U.S., that disguise themselves as an animal welfare group, journalists like Michael Pollan  giving advice on feeding cattle, and chef’s promoting specific crop and livestock rearing practices with no real education on the subject..it makes me want to scream.

Type the letters “Mi” into Google and Pollan’s name pops up and this crank – possibly well-meaning but still a crank – comes up immediately showing the influence he is having on society via the New York Times Best Seller List, rather than logging years nurturing cows or sweating in a cattle feedlot.

All of the above scenarios are roughly equivalent to going to a plumber for advice on brain surgery. I would certainly prefer to know my meat/protein comes from well managed family operations like David Fremark’s in St. Lawrence, South Dakota or Jamie Willret of Malta, Illinois referenced in the above blog. You will find farmers and ranchers outside the city limits of most any town or city. In fact these days you can find many of them as close as your laptop or smart phone via social media. #agchat on twitter is a great place to ask a question on almost anything related to farming and food production. I encourage you to start a dialogue.

Lack of knowledge on how livestock specifically and agriculture in general works is a huge risk for society today. Uniformed people make bad decisions and in this case potentially decisions that are irreparable as family farms don’t come back once they are gone.

One good barometer of the success of an advertising campaign is to generate buzz, cultivate conversation and even attract the attention of the occasional rock thrower. Based on this yardstick the new Corn Farmers Coalition campaign in Washington, DC is a raging success.

It has attracted positive attention from the media, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and several key societal thought leaders. On the negative side several environmental bloggers have taken exception to the campaign labeling it “hilarious, calling it “greenwashing” and “pro-corn propaganda. Since when did publicly displaying USDA and EPA facts become a subversive pursuit? Feel free to go to these sites and comment.

CFC  efforts have also surfaced the old traditional tactic used by these detractors to label family corn farmers as “industrial corn” (whatever the heck that is)  or one of my personal favorites….”King Corn.”  Anyone who actually knows one of the 300,000 family farmers in the U.S. already knows the proper term is “industrious” as this is a prerequisite to surviving in the low profit margin world that is modern agriculture. If you want to see what these fourth and fifth generation farmers look like click here.

The basic idea of using terms like industrial and factory farms is to play upon the public misconception that agriculture is some mega-corporation built on the same model as say global petroleum. Hinting that a handful of major agribusinesses are controlling agriculture and today’s corn farms are massive plantation-like operations. Would somebody please take these people for a fieldtrip outside the concrete jungle?

(And for the record CFC is completely funded by dollars directly from the aforementioned family farmers. There is no funding from Agribusiness).

It is exactly these kinds of tactics that have made it necessary for the hundreds of thousands of family farmers who produce most of this nation’s food, fiber and even a growing amount of fuel to invest in this campaign. The goal is simply to reflect a true picture of who is farming, how they farm, and how technology and innovation are making farmers environmental leaders.

Focus group research clearly shows that much of the Washington community from lobbyists to agency employees to Congressional staffers to environmental groups clearly don’t understand the wonderful mixture of family business and technological marvel that is modern farming.

This is not about any specific issue as some would have you think. The goals of the CFC campaign started in 2008 long before the current issues were before Congress and will likely still be relevant years from now when we move on to other policy debates. Keeping the campaign purely educational and keeping a degree of separation is part of the reason the Coalition was formed initially.

For farmers and other supporters of this campaign, please take the critics comments for what they are worth….feedback that shows the campaign is getting traction and for every negative comments there are hundreds, maybe even thousands of people in the nation’s capitol who are learning and beginning to understand this critical business of farming.

Today’s guest blog comes from Jesse Johnson, Social Media Director for South Dakota Corn. Similar social media training sessions for corn farmers will be conducted througout the summer by state grower associations.

It was a long day, but it was a good day. Last Friday, Cause Matter Corp, #AGCHAT founder and social media professional, Michelle Payn-Knoper, stood in front of a classroom full of South Dakota Corn Board directors with one goal in mind…teaching them the importance of #Agvocacy and how to use Facebook and Twitter to tell their story.

“Are you concerned about how the media is portraying agriculture?” Payn-Knoper asked.

There was an obvious consensus in the room as several slides showing examples of anti-agriculture agendas flew across the projector screen.

“…Because the conversation is happening, whether you are there or not.”

Payn-Knoper pointed out the large following that anti-agriculture activist groups like the Humane Society of the United States and PETA have.

 “Do you want the HSUS President, Wayne Pacelle, telling people your story for you? Because he is.”

It didn’t take long for Payn-Knoper to gain everyone’s attention. As board members, they are well aware that modern agriculture is under attack, but many of them haven’t been exposed to specific examples found via social media sites. It was clear the group realized the importance of the task at hand.

With a majority of the group having a diverse farming operation, the board directors, just like other producers, are very busy and don’t have a lot excess time during their day.

 “All I’m asking for is 15 minutes a day,” Payn-Knoper went on to say. “You will get out of agvocacy what you put into it.”

Farmers Jump on the Social Media Band Wagon…

When the day started, only four of the board members were on Facebook and zero on Twitter. By the end of the day all 22 members present were up and running on both.

“Farmers have always been good at adapting to new technology, only this time it’s not to protect our land, but our livelihood,” said South Dakota Corn Utilization Council President, David Fremark, a farmer and rancher from St. Lawrence, SD.

The high point of the day was during the afternoon session when the group started understanding how to use Twitter and witnessed its power. Within minutes of going live, the board directors had a number of followers waiting to hear their message. The group’s enthusiasm did a “180” as they started sending out their own Tweets. There was a definite sense of accomplishment in the room, but their efforts have only just begun.

 The Illinois Corn Marketing Board is part of the Corn Farmers Coalition  along with other state corn grower groups and the National Corn Growers Association.  Earlier this week, we launched a new phase of our educational campaign that started last year. The goal is to let policy makers – and those who influence them – from think tanks to environmental groups in Washington, DC  – know corn farmers really are environmental stewards, conscious about food safety, and enjoying every minute of life on the farm with their family at their side.

 We covered the launch on our website if you’d like to read more.

 The thing is, the Environmental Working Group is calling our campaign “Greenwashing,” meaning that we’re trying to paint our industry as a green industry even though it’s not.  Well, call me old fashioned, but when someone I love is attacked, it ruffles my feathers a bit and this blatant disregard for facts just doesn’t sit well with me.

 The FACT is farmers are green. 

 CFC ads report data like “Thanks to new, innovative fertilization methods, today’s American corn farmers are producing 70% more corn per pound of fertilizer.”  That data comes straight from the USDA and that data reflects an industry that is conscious of what they are using and placing on the land in their care.  Show me another industry that is so environmentally conscious or has such a great story to tell.

 The FACT is farmers are operating family (not corporate) farms.

 I’ll speak from experience here; I know a lot of farmers.  Every single one of them is just a regular, down home guy – the sort that would wave at a stranger from the cab of their pick-up truck, the sort that would stop and help you if you had car trouble, the sort that jumps from the tractor to the shower and speeds into town to watch their son’s t-ball game or their daughter’s dance recital. 

 EWG says that “There are thousands of large, plantation-scale corn factories dotting the American landscape, family-owned or not.  And family ownership does not necessarily equal small.  Agricultural supply giant Cargill is family-owned.  So are the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Minnesota Twins.”

 To compare the family farm I grew up on to the Minnesota Twins is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard.  My dad farms a lot of acres – some his own, some his brothers, and some his neighbors that retired from farming.  To the local farmer’s market consumer, I know he looks like a plantation owner.  But he’s the one driving the tractor.  He’s the one stressing over marketing decisions.  He’s the one dealing with environmental regulations that EPA bureaucrats decide are relevant.  He’s the one trying to make his small business work with only the help of wife at home to support him and his dad at the end of the row to bring him a drink.  I doubt Cargill and the Minnesota Twins are operated in the same manner.

 And he’s not unique.

 The FACT is farmers are using less land, not more.

 EWG says that “According to a National Wildlife Federation report this year, the corn ethanol gold rush has been responsible for plowing up thousands of acres of pristine wildlife habitat (and prime carbon sequestration vegetation) and converting it to corn production.”

 Well, I suppose that depends on who you feel is the authority.

 Our federal government (the USDA), who runs the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) indicated that from 1982 to 2007, cropland acreage declined from about 420 million acres to 357 million acres.  CRP, or acres returned their natural state, reflects more than half of that diverted acreage. 

 There are multiple other facts that EWG has gotten wrong, but you can read those for yourself.

 At the end of the day, I’d say the only “greenwashing” we’re trying to accomplish is to make every other industry in the country green with envy at the wholesome, slow-paced, family environment in which we get to work and the fabulous story we have to tell about corn farmers that are conscious stewards of the land.

 Eat your heart out, EWG.

You can read more from Lindsay at the CornCorps blog  – http://corncorps.blogspot.com/

Regular readers of this blog realize giving donations to your local animal shelters is a good thing. They actually help animals, unlike the loosely related Humane Society of the United States that gives nearly nothing to support these efforts.  Instead, HSUS chooses to use its significant and questionably acquired resources to pursue an animal rights agenda and vegan lifestyle.

HSUS is systematically going from state to state trying to enforce their minority agenda by passing laws that would radically change safe, proven and productive livestock rearing practices. And they are leveraging their positive reputation – yes they have one because people think they are saving puppies – to tell farmers and ranchers how to do their job.

Their most recent effort in Ohio seemed to have ended well when voters showed them the door and told the carpetbaggers to go home. Ohio chose to form their own state board of experts to review, monitor and police livestock production practices.

This is where your radar should go up and the red lights should start flashing. HSUS is now trying to get an initiative on the November ballot that would force the state’s new Livestock Care Standards Board to mimic the policies that HSUS got passed with its last ballot measure, in California.

It appears the gathering of signatures wasn’t going well so HSUS sued the state of Ohio over a statute that was written to make sure only Ohioans could gather signatures to change state laws. HSUS remarkably won that suit.

This means groups like HSUS can now bring in paid, if not professional, employees to work the streets and gather the needed signatures to tell Ohio how to run their state. Given their past use of disingenuous images and information to acheive their goal, this does not bode well.

Personally, I am concerned other groups are watching the twisted success of HSUS and contemplating how this strategy might be applied to other issues and governing practices touching your profession and your day-to-day life. Precedence, even bad precedence, carries weight.

The good news is Ohio agriculture is working hard to assure a good outcome. In the interim, do your part by learning more about the real HSUS and tell your friends.

Speaking to a couple of family farmers recently they expressed their frustration at the misinformation, innuendo and outright fabrications that are being used to frame their chosen profession. As upset as they were, there was also a prevalent sense that there was nothing they could do to change things.

If you are frustrated and tired of all the attacks and negative news swirling around agriculture you have come to the right place. Read slowly, soak this up, and then if you are a corn farmer give yourself a big pat on the back.

Imagine 60,000 city people getting a positive message about farmers every day. As they go to and from work, go out for dinner, go to a movie, or just go about their life in general. Next imagine that most of these people are employed in jobs on or near Capitol Hill in Washington, DC…Congressmen, staffers, agency employees, lobbyists, environmental groups, and even media. That’s what is happening right now as you read this thanks to the efforts of farmers themselves.

In the attached photo of the Union Station Metro stop in Washington, DC you can see several of the ads that will be prevalent throughout June and July as part of CFC’s efforts.  From the highly trafficked Metro system, to Reagan National Airport, to the most widely read political publications like Politico and Congressional Quarterly. Throw in on-line advertising at the aforementioned publications, WashingtonPost.com, National Public Radio, ads in the Washington Nationals baseball team programs, and a smattering of talk, sports, and contemporary radio and you begin to get a feel for the breadth and scope of this campaign. It is conservatively estimated the educational campaign will create more than 10 million positive impressions in the land of policy and regulation.

Equally as impressive is that CFC, and the $1 million in corn checkoff funds backing the campaign, comes straight from family farmers in Maryland, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas and Michigan who believe we need to introduce a foundation of facts to the dialogue in Washington.

Ten messages based on USDA and EPA facts will be used in the campaign to show tech-savvy, innovative farmers are growing more corn every year – for food, animal feed, ethanol and exports – while using fewer resources and protecting the environment.

The coalition will meet with media, members of Congress, environmental groups and others to talk about what’s ahead: how U.S. farmers, using the latest technologies, will continue to expand yields and how this productivity can be a bright spot in an otherwise struggling economy.

We have a great story to tell so take heart.  You can make a difference and CFC offers clear evidence.

The Clean Air Task Force has filed suit against the Environmental Protection Agency over the Renewable Fuel Standard for failing “to account for the “global rebound effect” when analyzing the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from biofuels.”

It is doubtful that a truly sane person could put any credence in this theory, which goes on the assumption that, “By displacing some gasoline from the US market, the RFS reduces overall demand for petroleum, which in turn leads to lower prices, increased consumption, and higher greenhouse gas emissions in other countries. If EPA had considered the “global rebound effect” in its analysis of different biofuels, only a few of those fuels would have met Congress’s emissions reduction requirements.”

Using this theory, ANY action the United States might take to reduce gasoline consumption – from using more ethanol to increasing vehicle fuel efficiency – will result in INCREASED gasoline use elsewhere in the world. So, it makes no sense. As Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen puts it, “Whatever environmentalist activists call this new theory, I call it nonsense.”

Near as I can tell, this theory was proposed in August of last year by Steven Stoft, founder of the Global Economic Policy Center. In something he wrote called, “Corn Whiskey vs. the Climate,” Stoft says, “More ethanol use causes less oil to be imported, which causes a lower world “oil” price, which causes more liquid-fuel use worldwide. This same effect applies to conserving oil as well as to replacing it with ethanol, or even to pumping more oil from Alaska.”

Perhaps the environmentalists have come up with this new theory as another rabbit for EPA to chase now that ILUC is getting tired, but this is seriously crazy talk. Does this mean we should not bother trying to reduce our use of oil at all? If someone can explain the reasoning here, I would love to hear it.

Chipotle is a corporate sponsor for their effort. They are allowing ballots to be placed in their stores throughout Ohio to make it easier for unsuspecting patrons to vote in their favor, bringing us one step closer to ending animal agriculture in the United States.

There are now at least two Facebook pages calling for Chipotle to end its support of HSUS with about 1,000 fans each.

The question is – will it do any good? As agricultural journalist Trent Loos points out in a comment on one of the fan pages, “I do not want to dampen anyone’s spirits here but I will tell you I chased this rabbit two years ago. Owner Steve Ells agrees with HSUS rheotric and does not even eat meat himself. The best you are going to do is NOT go there and tell you friends and neighbors there are good alternatives.” To get an idea of where Ells stands, check out his testimony in support of the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act. There is a prominent link to this from the main page of the Chipotle website.

Chipotle wants to appeal to the market segment that wants organic food, promoting that fact on its own Facebook page. “That’s why we serve meats raised without antibiotics or added hormones. And it’s why we buy local and organic produce when we’re able. And why we prefer to work with small family farms that raise their animals responsibly and humanely.”

That’s fine, if that’s what they want to do and how they want to position themselves in the very competitive chain restaurant market. The problem is they believe that if Chipotle can do it, all restaurants can – and, more problematic, SHOULD. That’s where we draw the line, so it’s important for people who do not think that way and do not want to support the HSUS agenda to be aware of it. Yes, we should find some place else to get our burritos if we feel this restaurant chain is actively working against our industry – and we should inform others about it. But, it is doubtful we are going to change their minds if there is a market segment that responds positively to that agenda and will patronize them because of it.

So, boycott away – but changing their minds may be like trying to convince HSUS that cage-free chickens is a dumb idea.