In the first place, the farmers I know don’t consider themselves “manipulated by government policy and corporate interest.” They love what they do and they are proud of their work. Most of them are multigenerational family farmers who see the wisdom of applying modern technology to farming traditions.
When it comes to the Gulf hypoxic zone, Philpott shows a static and ineffective USGS chart that does not provide the whole picture when it comes to the hypoxic zone. It does not show the trend of nutrient flux over time nor does it show how the trend has shifted away from nitrogen and toward phosphorus.
Philpott leaves out another chart that shows that nitrogen flux was lower in the 2000s, just as ethanol production increased, than in the two prior decades. Since ethanol production ramped up, the average annual amount of nitrogen load in the Mississippi has decreased. There is no correlation between increased ethanol production and the size or intensity of the hypoxic zone.
The size of the hypoxic zone is beyond our control. Just look at the difference between 2009 and 2010. What is within our control is the amount of nutrients that flow down-river to the Gulf, and farmers are working hard to increase nutrient use efficiency.
The ethanol industry is accused of using the Gulf oil disaster to promote ethanol. No one talks about how environmental extremists are using it to push for their pet projects while attacking America’s family farmers.
If you ever get a chance to watch a presentation by Fred Below, University of Illinois, then you should do it. You’ll not only be entertained and informed but come away energized. He is passionate about his work and you will have no doubts about that when he’s done. He says his work mainly consists in figuring out how to sustainably reach a 300 bushel of corn per acre yield.
At the Corn Utilization and Technology Conference his topic was “Genetic and Agronomic Contributions to More Efficient Corn Production.” One of the messages he wanted to impart was that due to improvements in corn genetics some of the standard use factors for nitrogen are a little high. He urges producers to look very carefully at their use of fertilizer because they can find ways to save which will benefit them financially while improving environmental impact. He thinks this efficiency will continue to improve too. So even as corn yields increase the amount of fertilizer and energy input will go down. This also helps those involved in ethanol production because it shows the EPA that “We actually produce ethanol with a lot less environmental impact.”
You can download (mp3) and listen to my interview with Fred here:
If you haven’t already tuned into the new level of activism in agriculture, especially regarding misinformation on our largest industry, then you won’t find better evidence of this evolving cultural phenomenon than the Corn Farmers Coalition.
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.
It’s really fun when you have a brush with greatness and it is no more apropos than when you run into a celebrity in Anaheim during Commodity Classic. Well the celebrity I’m referring to is our very own NCGA past president Ken McCauley, who was featured in the book Power Trip. Now Ken is quite modest and didn’t really tell people that he made it into the book. From start to finish it took more than two years from the time the author Amanda Little visited his farm in White Cloud, Kansas to the time it made it to the book shelves (Fall of ‘09).
Needless to say, as soon as I saw Ken I told him I’d read (and reviewed) the book and he was, well, flabbergasted after he got over being shocked. But he shouldn’t be shocked – the book is very good and Ken did an amazing job of getting out a strong American agricultural message. The book is about how tied our world is to fossil fuels. From transportation to medicines, to plastic to agriculture, fossil fuels are a part of our everyday lives, and Little helps us understand how embedded they are, and addresses the question of how we move away from them.
In an recent blog from Mark, he celebrated that fact that Food Inc. didn’t win an Oscar. Unfortunately you can’t mention that “documentary” without thinking of Michael Pollan who wrote Omnivore’s Dilemma and promotes a world of organic farming. When on Ken’s farm, Little asks him about Pollan to which he replied, “It’s not a way to maximize production.”
Ken explained that the drawback of these organic methods is that they require more labor and time, and in turn generate lower profits. Organic farmers also tend to have lower yields per acre and higher prices.
The question Little didn’t ask him: How is the world going to feed 9 billion people without production agriculture? It’s not.
Ken is very conscientious about sustainable farming since his land, puts food on his table too. Farmers understand more than most that they must take care of the land that feeds them. I just wish consumers understood that better.
Well, to better understand our addiction to oil and the need for production agriculture through the eyes of a great man, Ken McCauley, then be sure to read Power Trip.
If you farm or if you eat you will be affected by a lovely body of water many of us will never see called the Chesapeake Bay. This is because “The Bay” as it is known affectionately is being used as a test case or a template for how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will deal with watersheds across the nation. Unfortunately, those pushing the agenda blame many of the Bays woes on agriculture.
So, although this largely political fight will take place on the east coast, the ramifications are real and they may soon come to your city, town, village, burg and farm.
We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Virginia Grains Producers Association for taking the lead in this fight. The primary concern regarding the EPA process is the lack of complete data about current implementation of conservation practices already in place. The shortfall of real information significantly skews water quality reports and results in misleading pollution load reduction assignments for any one sector.
In recent testimony before the United States House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment, Molly Pugh, executive director of the Virginia Grain Producers Association (VGPA), stressed the actions growers have taken and are taking to be responsible stewards of their natural resources.
First and foremost, environmental goals cannot be addressed without assessing the effect on farm profitability. “VGPA has committed to working with all our partners including environment and government partners to achieve our region’s environmental goals and long-term farm profitability,” Pugh said in written testimony. “Our growers are committed to environmental stewardship and making their operations as efficient as possible. Reducing soil erosion, improving field efficiency of nutrient use and improving water quality are all goals that make our growers more profitable and improve the quality of the land on which they depend.” (more…)
Grant Woods’ famous 1930 “American Gothic” painting is an icon of what some people believe sustainable agriculture should be. Ma and Pa Kettle on the little idyllic farmstead making a living on the soil with their bare hands. Notice how miserable they look.
With all the talk these days about lifecycle analysis and carbon footprints, modern agriculture methods have increased our efficiency and therefore reduced our carbon footprint. A group of researchers led by Jude Capper with Washington State University, took a ‘life-cycle assessment’ (LCA) approach to evaluating foods for environmental impact and found that efficiency is more sustainable.
Intuitively, today’s modern production practices often seem to have a higher environmental impact than the “idyllic” management practices of the 1940s. Nonetheless, when assessed on a whole-system basis, greenhouse gas emissions per gallon of milk produced are 63 percent lower. In 2007, the U.S. dairy industry produced 8.3 billion more gallons of milk than in 1944, but due to improved productivity, the carbon footprint of the entire dairy farm industry was reduced by 41 percent during the same time period.
Pasture- or grass-fed meat also is growing in popularity, with the perception that it is more eco-friendly than conventionally produced beef. However, the time needed to grow an animal to slaughter weight is nearly double that of animals fed corn. This means that energy use and greenhouse gas emissions per pound of beef are increased three-fold in grass-fed beef cattle. In total, finishing the current U.S. population of 9.8 million fed-cattle on pasture would require an extra 60 million acres of land. Again, the intuitively environmentally friendly option has a far higher resource and environmental cost.
The study also finds that transportation efficiency often means that “locally grown” food may have a higher environmental impact.
“As an example, one dozen eggs, transported several hundred miles to a grocery store in a tractor-trailer that can carry 23,400 dozen eggs is a more fuel-efficient, eco-friendly option than a dozen eggs purchased at a farmers’ market (4.5 times more fuel used) or local farm (17.2 times more fuel used).”
While family farmers toil to bring in crops this fall an interesting thing is happening; folks in the organic and alternative Ag community have chosen to use the lousy harvest conditions as their latest reason to do away with our modern commodity-based food system.
“To my eyes, the disaster unfolding in the Corn Belt is further evidence of a dangerous lack of resiliency. To run properly, our current agricultural system relies on a precise set of conditions: cheap fuel, ample water, stable climate; tweak one of those conditions and the system derails,” says one blogger.
The blogger is partially right. Farmers are indeed much happier when fuel prices, markets and Mother Nature play along. Working normal hours under comfortable conditions and for a fair wage are goals we all aspire to, but to characterize farmers as a bunch of quitters or suggest we change the way we farm because of a little adversity is just plain silly.
Harvesting this year has been a major inconvenience for farmers but they are making rapid progress despite the dismal conditions. What we are dealing with is the wettest harvest weather in 40 years. This is an anomaly and no reason to walk away from a food production system that is the envy of the world.
When the dust settles we will be looking at one of the largest crops of all time despite the challenges. There will be some crop condition issues to manage in storage and drying costs will be higher, but we will have plenty of corn to supply the U.S. and much of the world once again. Rain may be falling but the sky isn’t!
If you want to see resilient, just drive outside the city limits and see the extraordinary steps being taken and hours being worked by growers to fill their bins and your pantry. With harvest behind us these same growers will be telling their children and grandchildren about the tough harvest of 2009 and how they rolled their sleeves up and got the job done.
At the World Food Prize Forum in Des Moines on Thursday, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates praised the work of Norman Borlaug and called for a new “Green Revolution” to help feed the poorest of the world’s poor. Gates also announced grants totaling about $120 million to help small farmers in developing countries such as Africa.
“In the middle of the 20th century, experts predicted famine and starvation, but they turned out to be wrong – because they did not predict Norman Borlaug. He not only showed humanity how to get more food from the earth – he proved that farming has the power to lift up the lives of the poor,” Gates said.
The billionaire noted that Borlaug’s Green Revolution “helped avert famine, save hundreds of millions of lives, and lift whole countries out of poverty” but “it didn’t go far enough. It didn’t go to Africa.”
He blames that on ideological differences between technology and environmentalism that forces a “false choice” between productivity and sustainability. “It blocks important advances. It breeds hostility among people who need to work together. And it makes it hard to launch a comprehensive program to help poor farmers. The fact is, we need both productivity and sustainability – and there is no reason we can’t have both.”
“We have to develop crops, including new inputs to go with them that can grow in a drought,” Gates said. “We have to have crops that can survive a flood, that can resist pests and new diseases. We need higher yields on the same land, despite more difficult weather. And we will never get there without a continuous and urgent, science-based search to increase productivity, especially focused on the needs of small farms in the developing world.”
I’m no big fan of Bill Gates, but I was very pleased to hear him standing up to radical environmentalists who want us to move backward instead of forward and supporting the use of biotech crops to help the poor in developing countries grow enough food to feed themselves.
You can watch Gates’ address on YouTube in three different segments (due to the 10 minute limit on videos for YouTube). Here is the first installment.
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.
I remember as a child hearing the funny question: “How do you eat an elephant?” Of course the response – best delivered with a Rodney Dangerfield impersonation – is “one bite at a time.” I remember thinking it was a goofy question. It wasn’t until years later that I started to realize there was wisdom to be found in these quaint colloquialisms that get passed down from generation to generation.
This flash back was triggered by some information I came across yesterday regarding the significant contribution that alternative energy sources like ethanol are already making to our pool of domestic resources. Gene Griffith, CEO of Patriot Renewable Energy noted simply his single 100 million gallon a year ethanol plant produces enough ethanol to fuel 100,000 vehicle for a year. They produce enough feed co-product (DDGS) to feed 500,000 head of cattle.
Many critics of ethanol say it is a bad idea because it can’t immediately replace all the petroleum we consume. This is true; no one fuel option can. We will need a menu of resources from wind and electric, nuclear and biomass to fill the giant market niche that imported oil currently dominates and protects like a crazed elephant cow protecting her offspring. So in the interim do we park our cars, stop commerce and other wise give up our quality of life and pray for a single post petroleum savior?
It seems we better answer these questions quickly because some experts say oil fields are depleting more quickly than previously thought. Something as simple as “increasing the amount of ethanol blended in our gasoline from 10% to 15% would create 140,000 green collar jobs nationwide and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 million tons per year – the equivalent to removing 3.5 million vehicles from our roads,” according to Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson.
(Makes one wonder if building more ethanol plants might not be a better and more taxpayer friendly option than cash for clunkers, but I digress).
So, how do we tackle our troubling dependence on imported oil? One bite at a time; One ethanol plant at a time; One fuel efficient vehicle at a time; One new convert to conservation, etc…
If you ever get a chance to watch a presentation by Fred Below, University of Illinois, then you should do it. You’ll not only be entertained and informed but come away energized. He is passionate about his work and you will have no doubts about that when he’s done. He says his work mainly consists in figuring out how to sustainably reach a 300 bushel of corn per acre yield.
If you farm or if you eat you will be affected by a lovely body of water many of us will never see called the Chesapeake Bay. This is because “The Bay” as it is known affectionately is being used as a test case or a template for how the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will deal with watersheds across the nation. Unfortunately, those pushing the agenda blame many of the Bays woes on agriculture.
Grant Woods’ famous 1930 “American Gothic” painting is an icon of what some people believe sustainable agriculture should be. Ma and Pa Kettle on the little idyllic farmstead making a living on the soil with their bare hands. Notice how miserable they look. 
“In the middle of the 20th century, experts predicted famine and starvation, but they turned out to be wrong – because they did not predict Norman Borlaug. He not only showed humanity how to get more food from the earth – he proved that farming has the power to lift up the lives of the poor,” Gates said.