For the price of a few minutes worth of education about agriculture, people in several different states have a chance to win $5000 worth of groceries. Seems like a pretty good deal!
Agricultural organizations in Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio have banded together for the ag literacy sweepstakes on “FarmersFeedUS.org” featuring poster farmers and ranchers for each state. You have to watch at least one of the videos to enter the contest, and to do that you just click on your state and choose from producers of dairy, beef, pork, corn, soybeans, poultry, eggs, and more.
One would hope that a year’s worth of groceries would be good incentive for anyone to take a few minutes and watch a video about food production. What is crazy is that we even have to do this. Farmers and ranchers should be out on the job putting food on our tables, instead of having to resort to bribery to educate the public about how that food is produced. Agriculture is having to bribe people to learn about what we do, because what they don’t know can and already does hurt us. We are hoping that if they know us better and understand better how food is produced that people won’t pass laws that hurt our ability to feed the world.
Blake Hurst, the plain speaking and thought provoking farmer from Missouri, is back in The American today providing us all with ample reason to say thanks to farmers as we prepare to load on the turkey tomorrow.
Hurst pulls back the invisible curtain that separates today’s consumers from the real workings of a family farm in a fun and meaningful way that is worth a read and worth sharing with your friends.
“I had to laugh at a recent Nicholas Kristof column in the New York Times, in which he had traveled back to his family’s farm in Oregon and was remembering how it was when he was a boy. But that idyllic time is lost, all lost, and Kristof concluded that farms have lost their soul. Or at least “industrial” farms operate at a soul deficit. I don’t know exactly what Kristof meant by the loss of soul. Reading what others write about agriculture, I sometimes think that what others see as “soul,” we farmers remember as grinding poverty and isolation. Does the fact that I follow the grain markets on my iPhone imply a loss of soul? If so, then this “soul” business is all cabbage, and the hell with it. Kristof and others constantly romanticize the life they imagine we live, or used to live, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other. But it can be as sharp as a serpent’s tooth. But if he means a family, working together from dawn till dusk to bring the harvest in, a place where love and affection and forbearance bind the workers together, then soul still exists, and we’ve got plenty of it.”
Yes, the old scenic barns still dot the countryside. But they often stand in the shadow of large metal buildings. They may lack the warm fuzzy-feelings of Americana but are far better adapted to house the large, technology-laden machines that still allow family farms to produce our food, feed and fuel that we rely on but often take for granted.
The aforementioned large equipment, satellite technology, computerized grain monitors, and modern grain dryers are all part of the tool box that allows family operations to survive and occasionally prosper. And make no mistake, American consumers recognize the value of these operations and plainly state this is a food production system worth valuing and protecting.
“If the movie “Food, Inc.” can be said to have a theme, it is that corn is too cheap. Cheap corn has led to industrial uses, cheap fast food, and, horror of horrors, corn fed to cows. This year’s harvest is bad news for documentary makers, because we’re bringing in a tremendous crop. Corn prices are at two-year lows. Author of Fast Food Nation Eric Schlosser’s pain is palpable, but a big harvest should be a cause for celebration for everyone else. Farmers make the news when weather causes low yields and high prices, but plentiful and reasonably priced food is such a given that nobody but we farmers celebrates a great crop like this one. The rest of America should celebrate, and be grateful for the abundance that agriculture provides.”
So this Thanksgiving as you push you chair away from the table with a full belly be grateful for hard working American family farmers. And be careful about swallowing the load of bull that some agenda-driven elitists are trying to feed the public. Happy Thanksgiving!
We live in a new media age where online sources from videos to blogs can carry as much credibility as traditional news sources. Online communications carry the big benefit of having the potential to reach a targeted community with lightning speed, do so in a cost effective way, and it gives you more control over content.
The National Corn Growers Association is making a conscious effort to embrace this revolution with the most recent example being two new videos exposing two common myths: 1. Family farmers have been replaced by corporate Ag and 2. Sustainable farming practices are the purview of organic farmers exclusively.
Actually 98% of the nation’s corn is grown by America’s family farmers which are the most productive in the world. These operations are also more sustainable each year, getting bigger crops with fewer resources and less environmental impact. Instead of being proud of these entrepreneurs and the generations of invaluable knowledge they possess, some misguided folks seek to vilify them and make the masses fear their food and the farmers who produce it.
NCGA is fighting back and you can help. The latest effort is a fun and attention getting email with a Halloween theme and links to the two videos that tell people they shouldn’t be afraid of their food. We have a great story to tell.
If you would like to spread the word send the link above to your friends, family, neighbors, leaders and decision makers…pretty much anybody since we all eat and have a stake in the future of our food and the people who produce it! The effect of this compounding email could be significant. If you are interested in receiving an email with the poster pictured here and an appropriate message you can forward to your contacts, please send a request to lambert@ncga.com and we’ll send it right to you.
Efforts to use Social Media to educate the public on Ag issues continue to gain steam especially on Twitter and Facebook. One of the biggest issues facing us right now is the economic thumping the pork industry is taking in part due to misinformation regarding H1N1.
This Friday, Sept. 11, you can help by pushing information out to all of your friends via Facebook. Participants in the online H1N1 online activism effort are being asked to cut and paste the logo you see here and the message below on their Facebook Page profile.
Stop the hogwash! Call it H1N1, not “swine flu.” You cannot get H1N1 from eating pork, and the misnomer is hurting pork producers financially.
Join me in the fight against bad farm facts. Copy this entire message into your profile status and leave it there all day. Then click “like” on the Illinois Farm Bureau Fan Page status to show that you participated. Thank you for supporting U.S. agriculture.
Ok everyone, now stop stressing, let’s take this effort nationwide….and go eat some bacon!
Corn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative Tricia Braid-Terry, former farm broadcaster, spoke with me about all the things they’re doing in their tent.
Tricia says they’re really focusing a lot of their information on carbon footprinting. In fact, you can follow some very large black footprints around their tent! They’re easy to find with 30+ foot high corn stalks and an E85 blimp hovering over the tent. They also help attendees with submitting comments to EPA about the RFS2.
She says that the National Corn Growers Association and Indiana Corn Growers are also participating in the exhibit. Indiana has their mobile biofuels unit on display.
Can you feel the ripple of discontent in agriculture? It seems farmers are getting tired of constant misrepresentation in the media and quasi-experts preaching to them and consumers about how to do their job. I think I feel a shift. I hope I do and we all better help it build and sustain it.
From the movie Food Inc. to the latest article in Time magazine that berates one of our most productive economic sectors, the writing is on the wall. It is time to carve out a little time each week to become an educator if not an advocate for agriculture. Don’t underestimate the power of an individual to make a difference, but likewise, don’t expect others to solve your problems for you.
Agriculture is getting attacked from many directions these days and it is time for a new level of farmer-rancher activism. The very independence you cherish as a farmer may be at risk if you don’t get involved, confront the myths and mistruths in the media and tell your story to consumers at every opportunity.
I came across three good examples of people in the industry making a difference just today. The first is a letter written to Time Magazine by Don Hutchens, Executive Director of the Nebraska Corn Board. (more…)
Kicking off the NCGA Land Use and Carbon Impacts of Corn-Based Ethanol Conference and welcoming participants was Conference Chairman, Jamey Cline, NCGA Director Biofuels and Business Development. I spoke with him after the opening session.
Jamey says that regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and from EPA on the Renewable Fuel Standards (RFS) have brought up a number of questions and this conference was put together to ask them and receive answers in a public forum with various stakeholders. A lot of these current or proposed regulations are based on assumptions and economic theory and so questions need to be asked to make sure the latest data is being used and reasonable predictions are made for the future. He says that these issues are extremely important to agribusiness and corn growers in particular because if the CARB regs hold up, by 2012 they will effectively shut off that market to ethanol. Additionally, one presenter said that due to the proposed climate change bill and RFS, approximately 27.1 million acres would be taken out of production across the Unites States. That would have a huge impact on our economy, especially in rural areas.
He also speaks about the various models being used or referenced on the topics like land use change and life cycle analysis.
Summer is rapidly coming to an end and with the return of school those useful and amusing temporary employees called interns are also heading back to college.
If you want to educate yourself about corn, or in some cases just laugh at their spin on all things corn, you can enjoy some of the fruits of their summer labor by going to the following links highlighted here.
In Nebraska The Cob Squad has hit again by adding four new videos to the Nebraska Corn Board’s Channel on YouTube. There is a series of three, which together forms a full news broadcast and a bonus commercial.
Part 1 discusses sustainability in agriculture; Part 2 addresses some of the issues like California’s Prop 2; Part 3 investigates efficient water use and Part 4 is a commercial about new corn products.
In the heart of the Corn Belt Illinois’ film crew created several videos explaining the difference between field corn and sweet corn; and offers up a second installment on what happens to all of the field corn produced in Illinois, which they say is enough to fill railroad box cars stretching all the way from Illinois to Hong Kong.
And if you need a dose of twisted corn history you won’t want to miss the tale of Lewis & Clark’s lesser know mission of discovery, funding provided of course by the unemployed history major’s association.
Now, it’s time for us full-time slackers to get back to work.
This is the time of year when many agricultural groups provide some subtle education on our profession in the form of feeding the public. While many environmental groups, animal rights groups, global petroleum interests and others spread misinformation about family farmers, maybe the best answer is to simply “spread the table.”
Just this morning one of these breakfasts was held and the intent is to charge the attendees only the amount of money the farmer receives for producing the bounty on their plate. This year a hefty plate of eggs, bacon (both corn-fed no doubt), pancakes and milk cost a whopping .45 cents.
A dollar on the table covered this unbelievable breakfast for two people. Keep the tip! Given the high quality, safety, selection, and abundance of food in this nation it makes one wonder what critics of agriculture really want, when a thank you and perhaps an antacid would seem the appropriate response.
Today, it takes 25 cents of corn to produce a pound of beef; 32 cents to produce a pound of pork, and 36 cents for a dozen eggs.
In the case of American corn farmers, we are five-times more productive today than we were in the 1930s (on 20% less land), and worldwide farmers are producing enough crops to feed twice as many people as they did in 1950 on the same amount of land. All this is being done thanks to an environmentally friendly combination of technology and innovation.
Agriculture may be the greatest story never told. Ok, some people are trying to tell it, but good luck bringing a good news story to the attention of the American public. Cutting through the information clutter and getting the attention of a public worried by the economy and health care seems nearly insurmountable, especially when the vast majority of citizens are still seeing full shelves and paychecks sufficient to put food on the table.
At least today, in a small corner of the world dozens of well fed citizens in one city started their day knowing more about farmer’s true contribution to our food supply and quality of life. Let’s hope the message sticks and they become evangelists who take the time to educate their urban cousins.
Can you actually hear corn grow? Don’t know if this has been tested scientifically, but it sure seems possible this year. Corn in some of the late planted fields seems to have gone from inches to feet in two weeks time.
Here is the best actual data that reflect the horticultural muscle of my favorite crop…maize.
Kentucky corn researchers put a tape measure on a corn plant beginning June 3 and ending July 4. It grew between 1.4 and 5.0 in. per day, and grew an average of 10% of its height each day during the V6 stage. Leaves grew 2.5 to 4.0 in. per day, which the researchers calculated to be at a speed of 2.5 to 3.8 millimeters per hour.
So what does this kind of prodigious growth capacity mean in real world impact? U.S.feed grain supplies for 2009/10 are projected higher this month in large part because of the estimated 12.3 billion bushels we will grow this summer, up 355 million from last month.
As we do most years, it seems very likely we will have enough corn for all purposes with extra as a safety cushion. Can I get a Hooray for corn farmers?
Agricultural organizations in Michigan, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa and Ohio have banded together for the ag literacy sweepstakes on “FarmersFeedUS.org” featuring poster farmers and ranchers for each state. You have to watch at least one of the videos to enter the contest, and to do that you just click on your state and choose from producers of dairy, beef, pork, corn, soybeans, poultry, eggs, and more. 
We live in a new media age where online sources from videos to blogs can carry as much credibility as traditional news sources. Online communications carry the big benefit of having the potential to reach a targeted community with lightning speed, do so in a cost effective way, and it gives you more control over content.
Efforts to use Social Media to educate the public on Ag issues continue to gain steam especially on Twitter and Facebook. One of the biggest issues facing us right now is the economic thumping the pork industry is taking in part due to misinformation regarding H1N1.
Corn growers nationwide are represented here at the Farm Progress Show by the Illinois Corn Growers Association. New ICGA representative 
Can you feel the ripple of discontent in agriculture? It seems farmers are getting tired of constant misrepresentation in the media and quasi-experts preaching to them and consumers about how to do their job. I think I feel a shift. I hope I do and we all better help it build and sustain it.
Kicking off the NCGA Land Use and Carbon Impacts of Corn-Based Ethanol Conference and welcoming participants was Conference Chairman, Jamey Cline, NCGA Director Biofuels and Business Development. I spoke with him after the opening session.
This is the time of year when many agricultural groups provide some subtle education on our profession in the form of feeding the public. While many environmental groups, animal rights groups, global petroleum interests and others spread misinformation about family farmers, maybe the best answer is to simply “spread the table.”