God Made A Farmer

I could go on forever about this commercial and my love for this specific Paul Harvey moment, but I will spare you.

I love agriculture, every bit of it. Thank you Dodge and National FFA for supporting American Farmers and Ranchers. 

What a Summer!

Forest fires in the Northwestern states, hurricanes in the South, a continued drought in the Southwest, all summer events directly effecting agriculture. A not so typical summer event is the continued drought effecting a majority of the country.

Side note: My labor day weekend adventures were random, and I love random. My random adventures landed me into a Vegas style pool party on the Lake of the Ozarks with another friend who loves agriculture as much as I do. And is didn’t take us long to be launched into in-depth conversation about the nation wide drought and the impact on agriculture. I think we need more hobbies…not likely to happen.

Here are few photos from the summers impact on agriculture.

Hay donations after massive wildfires in South Eastern Oregon. Photo credit Stephanie Falck.

Pair trying to find a dry spot after hurricane Isaac, photo credit Jessica Lester.

 

My question: How can we be better prepared for these crisis situations in agriculture?

Talking in Consumer Terms

It is no secret; I am working for a PR agency. Our client base is agricultural organizations; my focus is on the animal health world. I took this job due to the fact I could combine my passion for the cattle industry and communications every single day.

Now, let’s get this straight, all of my opinions are my own on this blog. I have gained access and knowledge to many more resources, but as you have noticed I haven’t had the time to blog a lot recently. Work has kept me really busy.

I wanted to share a few resources about talking with consumers, these resources come from studies I had heard about, but I hadn’t the slightest idea of where to start searching for them. Seeing that most Americans (I mean like the other 99 percent of the population) is three to four generations removed from the farm or agricultural production having the ability to connect and articulate with consumers is becoming harder. These two studies showcase terms that consumers like, and can easily relate too.

Below is page from one of the studies that I found highly interesting, and I reference it every single day.

Capturing the Shipper Mindset-Merck Animal Health

The Consumer Mindset-Merck Animal Health

 

I hope this helps when you are talking with consumers, let me know if you have any questions! 

Wordless Wednesday–Hay Trucks

Where is that hay heading? Wait hay?

A friend from Wallowa County, Oregon posted this picture of a semi loaded with grass-hay headed to feed livestock in Texas.

Pray for rain! Thanks Julie for letting me borrow your photo!

#ChallengeFriday Summer Sound Track

Some of my favorite memories all are tied to songs.

There always seems to some fun, rather stupid song that just kicks me summer off. This year, I claimed, Call Me Maybe to be that song.

This was followed with my parody of the Harvard Baseball team.

How many great plays on words can there be…I mean it is breeding season and all!

From the Montana Stockgrowers Association

 

Sexy and I Know It has just continued to be a song that you can help, but to like it…or just sing along with it. This song has become a summer phenomena especially, for my love of agriculture. The Peterson Farm Bros from Saline, Kansas have become a viral YouTube sensation with “I’m Farming and I Grow It.”

 

 

I had the opportunity to spend most of the week with the Kansas Livestock Association, Young Stockmen’s Academy, which was a great experience! Being on the road much of the week put me a few days behind my typical social media monitoring. The texts, emails, and Facebook posts were pouring in so I knew I had to watch this video at the first chance I got.  I fell in love with this video, it is s catchy, funny, and yet so real.

Real of the summer life on a farm, an ALL AMERICAN FARM.

If you haven’t checked out this video, I encourage you to do so.

#ChallengeFriday

What is your favorite advocacy video on YouTube? Mine is a close tie between the Peterson Brothers and another video that got 30,000 views…and is done by (coughing *Texas A &M). Both are great videos, show casing agriculture…what are your opinions on social media and agriculture?

What will you do when HSUS shows up next door?

Reblogged from Agriculture Proud:

• 
• 

Thursday morning while checking my messages, a news release from The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS, not to be confused with your local animal shelter) showed up in my Facebook timeline. Their latest move in an escapade to change the face of livestock farms includes Tennessee-based Cracker Barrel Old Country Store.

The press release announced that Cracker Barrel will phase out pork products from suppliers using gestation crates in favor of group housing for sows.

Read more… 698 more words

[Youtube=http://youtu.be/AMpZ0TGjbWE] What are you thoughts? I loved it!

Thank you Domino’s–Logic and Common Sense

What doesn’t sound more fun than enjoying pizza with your best friends and fellow consumers?

I know I sure enjoyed a pizza party in elementary school, and a random one in one of my last undergraduate classes. This time, a party for good behavior much like it was when I was in elementary school, but this time its the behavior of a major corporation.

Domino’s Pizza has all sorts of fun facts about their organizations, but the greatest fact is they have not succumbed to the pressure of HSUS and their targeted mission against modern animal agriculture. One of my favorite bloggers has this to say about Domino’s:

I was so encouraged to hear that the stockholders of Domino’s Pizza share my stand on animal care. The company announced that it  would rely on animal experts to determine what is the best way to raise an animal that’s being used for food.  As a farmer, I respect Domino’s for its common sense decision and for trusting the experts in animal care.

So join in, and give thanks to Domino’s for using logic and science to guide their decisions about where they source their products from. 

Just like in elementary school, students were rewarded for good grades and good behavior, I am giving Domino’s a gold star and my dollar for this act of behavior.

Copy and share this photo through social media! Thanks to the creators Kelly Rivard and The Truth about Agriculture!

Modern American–Modern Agriculture

I am BACCCCK! Ok maybe not for real, but I had a minute, so I thought I would get a blog posted.

I have been neglecting my social media…”life” recently. I have been reading what I have time for, and I picked up on this article that the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance posted on Facebook. The article was written by Steve Chapman, who is a member of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial board and blogs at chicagotribune.com/chapman. The article is titled:

Investigating a pig’s life

A firsthand look at modern swine production

Awesome, it perked my attention. Maybe I read it wrong, but I took it as he wrote this from a very framed perspective, the side that supports animal activist groups such as HSUS and PETA. Heck, I might be wrong, but that is how I read it.

Something to keep in mind, he doesn’t mention that pigs will eat their young, if you didn’t know this fact you do now.

Also, the whole point of this blog is based around a conversation I have been having with several people lately. Americans has pushed for a modernized society since the Industrial Revolution. American’s are efficient and effective; I was raised to be this way. Were you? I am OCD about approaching projects, moving across the country….any thing I do with the “what is the most efficient, effective way to do this?” mind set. So why shouldn’t agriculture production be any different?

Why shouldn’t we encourage MODERN
agricultural production practices?

Why are people romanticizing agriculture and food production?

 

Department of Labor Pulls the Proposed Child Labor Regulations

Sorry for neglecting my blog y’all. Here is a huge victory for American agriculture and all those involved in production agriculture.

Check out Chriss Chinn’s blog post about The Department of Labors Child Labor regulations that would have directly impacted production agriculture in this country as we know it.

Chris is one of my favorite bloggers, check her out!

Department of Labor Pulls the Proposed Child Labor Regulations.

 

Modern Rural American Family--Actively Involved in 4-H, FFA, & State and National Youth Livestock Associations--I think we have turned out pretty good!

Urgency or Realization?

The last three weeks has been an interesting battle for the beef industry.

Beef Products, Inc. has let go over 650 employees due to the title of ‘pink slime’ being directly attached the to the product lean finely textured beef that this company produces.

Several articles I read related to this media controversy have discussed the wants of the American population to know more about the food they consume.

Raw food production is not pretty, and I am excited to see what the multiple generations of Americans have to say about agricultural production practices and processing. The industrial revolution changed everything, and I am not sure where people have missed this fact. We are now facing two and three generations of American citizens that have no connection to agricultural practices.

Now with that, is there a way to get back to our agricultural roots, do people even want too?
Or do they just want to know more about how food is produced? Or neither? 

The Agriculture Proud blog brought up several good points about those involved in production agriculture must continue to be involved telling the story of production practices.

While the Real Time Farms blog posted an interesting post about meeting your meat! You choose the animal you want to eat and then slaughter it––I really wish I could have gone to this tourist attraction and agricultural tour when I was in Hawaii last summer.

So agriculturalist and consumers, is this a sign that we need to act urgently or is this a realization for everyone where food comes from and is produced?

The video is about an interesting couple that is getting back to their roots and are encouraging others to do it as well.

Experiencing the circle of life and all its bounties is one I enjoy to the fullest, but we live in a different world, one powered by modernization and more mouths to feed than every before. I am taking suggestions on thoughts on this growing issue in America. 

Photo courtesy of Hannah Wine Photography