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Humankind’s First Harvest

The Bible tells the story about humankind’s first harvest: In the Garden of Eden, Eve plucked an apple or some kind of fruit from its tree and offered it to Adam. So why did they eat from the Tree of Knowledge? We think we know—guised as a serpent, a cunning Lucifer sweet-talked Eve into committing the Original Sin. However, maybe she was just hungry and needed to satisfy her stomach rumblings. Maybe Adam got cranky when he didn’t eat, and Eve didn’t want to deal with his attitude.

Whether Catholic, Jewish, Amish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist, Agnostic or one of a hundred other religions, we all depend on agriculture. Yet it was four years ago when I finally woke up and realized that I relied on farmers and ranchers for survival.

When I think back on my agriculturally illiterate life, I feel embarrassed—much like Adam when he and Eve were banished from paradise. Can you believe it? I spent over half my life eating food and wearing clothes and never once thought about who produced them. Grocery stores and malls would have been my answers had you asked me where food and fiber came from. Talk about the epitome of agricultural ignorance.

But here I am sharing my story with you. And that’s what agvocacy is all about.

How I got within the Agrosphere well, I owe it all to education. Until my return to college in 2008, I played baseball in the SF Giants minor leagues. If anyone depended on agriculture it was me, for I used a glove and a ball made from steer hide, I swung bats made from wood and resin, I played on turf-grass in stadiums built with concrete and wood, and I fueled my performance with protein powders and meaty meals. You’d think once my baseball career ended I’d a waved bye-bye to my addiction to agriculture. Nope. When I was back inside the classroom, I still encountered agriculture every day.

In an advanced composition class the teacher assigned this book  by Peter Singer, The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter. If you haven’t read it then I suggest you do; it provides perspectives on why animal extremists believe their dietary choices are supreme. The book will also force you to ask the same questions about contemporary agriculture that I did. Thing is, I read it in a class that had nothing to do with agriculture! I’m so happy I read it because it was the catalyst that sparked my quest for truth about our food system.

In telling you this, my mission is to start conversations about agriculture—with everyone. It might seem crazy that I believe everyone should join the movement to celebrate choice in our food marketplaces. Really it’s not too far-fetched though. What’s even crazier is I embody the type of consumer that agriculture has been targeting during its proactive campaign to raise awareness and increase agriculture literacy among disconnected consumers living next door and beyond. Because I grew up a city slicker, you might label me an “outsider,” a guy who has no business expressing his emotional bond with food, fiber, farmers, and ranchers. But as an agvocate, a.k.a, a farmer of information, my role is crucial to continur agricultural sustainability.

Even if considered an outsider to an industry that has been and is widely known as traditional, conventional, and conservative, I am proof that anyone can find a place in Agrosphere. Anyone with an honest desire to learn about food and fiber production can become an ambassador for those who we depend on every day.

Alls I’m saying is, when it comes down to it, your spiritual beliefs should complement the connection we share with agriculture, even more so when it comes to supporting American family farmers and ranchers. Besides family, what we eat and wear are the most important things in our lives (some would argue food, clothes, and shelter are more important).

Anyway, please, never stop asking questions about our food and fiber production. But, please, go to the right people: Talk to farmers and ranchers because they are the experts.

I’m glad you stayed with me this far, and I hope you make agriculture your true religion. Rather than argue about whose food is naturally healthier, or contend whose fiber is environmentally safer, let’s cultivate our Gardens of Eden.

No matter what production method you use to produce food and fiber, let’s support the men, women, and children who provide us with the chance to celebrate life.

Blog writer: Anthony Pannone

Agriculture Transforms Lives

“Chicos, Qué es esto?”

“Naranja!”

“¿Cómo se dice en inglés?”

“Orange.”

Their little brown faces beamed. They believe English is the language that will make them wealthy and successful. This intelligence could enable them to communicate with the world and provide for their families. Their lives are bleak and their futures are dim without any education, especially in agriculture. Some don’t have parents. Some have parents, but they only make 2Q’s a day, equivalent to twenty cents. We have the world placed at our feet; we are freely given education. Knowledge is power. We have this power and most of us had no idea how much we abuse it.

With grandparents as ranchers, a horticulturist for a mom, a dad who works in agricultural economics, I naturally grew up showing steers, extremely involved in 4-H, and creating many floral arrangements for various events and weddings. However, I was independent and my peers at school did not agree that agriculture was an essential to life like my family, so I attempted to ignore anything agricultural related for a long time. It was not until went to Guatemala and witnessed how agriculture can transform communities for the better.

My mind focuses again on the present; the children laughing at how the new word sounds. I tell them to go and teach their families when they return home from school. Their shining eyes sparkle as they take in my advice. I look around. Their school building is fragile and falling apart. A stack of old student desks are rotting in a pile of the courtyard corner. The classrooms have no air conditioning and no electrical lighting. Two classrooms adjacent to each other share the same teacher. They paid to go here. The clock strikes five o’clock and school is over. The students rush to the antique wooden doors that keep them off the rocky street outside.  I stand in the courtyard, watching them leave. I look up at the sky; it is a foggy gray over the distant mountains. My eyes rain unfathomable tears of sadness. This is all they know. I look at the Earth below their feet; it is green and alive. Maybe they will know now what seasons they can grow certain crop? Maybe they will remember the plants we discussed? Maybe they will want to use the makeshift water filters the school taught them how to make? Maybe they will actually share the knowledge learned at school with their families? There is hope.

The past two summers, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel with the Borlaug Institute at Texas A&M University to administer agriculture education through the junior master gardener program to children and communities in Guatemala. I discovered how Norman Borlaug, namesake and inspiration for the Institute, was honored the Nobel Peace Prize just by studying how to more effectively grow wheat, an essential element to peoples’ daily diets. Wheat! His studies in agriculture saved the lives of millions! Unfortunately, there are still millions living in poverty. The Guatemalan people suffer from many treatable health problems that most American’s are easily treated for, such as diarrhea and influenza. Their streets are filled with trash and like many developing countries foreign visitors can get sick from eating their produce or drinking the water. Sadly, Guatemala is a beautiful place that could have massive potential profits in agriculture and tourism.

If sanitation was reformed and if their foods were produced in more hygienic areas, people from other countries would be more inclined to visit the country and enjoy the country’s scenery and foods. Knowledge in agriculture would teach them to be more efficient and beneficial economic trends, agricultural knowledge, and practices to increase their daily profits and minimize countries’ heath and sanitation problems. Also, the land is extremely fertile and could grow crops very well. In fact, Guatemala is known for their excellent coffee. Families could use knowledge to help crops grow more efficiently and save their lands from overuse and pollution. Even floral design can be used by the women in communities; they can make arrangements to sell in the markets from the flowers they grow near their homes. Developing countries should have the opportunity for easy access to education and economic development that would enable them to have a more stable future. Unlike the traditional American dream of glory and riches, I don’t want to just study something just to make money. I want to help people make a difference in their world. I want to research and teach people how to improve the health of not only their own lives, but the generations to come through agriculture, just like Dr. Borlaug did.

I look once more at their little faces, radiant beams of light in their country, hope. Orange. They can grasp the color in their little palms and it spreads from their faces, to their minds, to their actions. They are bright flames of enlightenment in a dark world of ignorance. Knowledge is power, but more importantly a tool. That is why agriculture is important to me; it can save lives.

Blog Writer: Taylor Whittlesey

Why Not Let Paula Deen Do the Agricultural Education?

Recently, I had the pleasure of sitting in on a Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification program for my animal science class.  While listening to the speaker, I was shocked by two statistics which, unfortunately, reflect the United States general view of agriculture.

2008 Consumer Confidence Survey

by the Center for Food Integrity

1.  Only 54% of consumers trust the U.S. food supply.

2.    Only 33% strongly agree that the U.S. had the safest food supply in the world.

Now, I’ve always known that the average American was iffy when it came to their country’s food and fiber production.  With hormone injection questions and antibiotic resistant bacteria conspiracies flying around left and right and constant recalls of food products, who doesn’t question what they put in their body?  However, these doubts by the American public seem to overshadow the fact that, according to BQA and various other entities, the United States truly does have the world’s safest food source.

In a recent study done by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance, it was reported that 70% of the agriculturalists surveyed believe that the average consumer has “very little knowledge” about American agriculture.  Furthermore, 16% believe that consumers have “no knowledge at all” about food and fiber production.  With an 86% negatory response, it is clear that both producers and consumers feel that the United States is not doing a good job at educating its citizens on where their goods come from.

The question is “How can we bridge this gap between producer and consumer?”.  I believe that I stumbled upon an answer for this dilemma when I sat down with Dr. Tracy Rutherford, a professor of Agricultural Communications and Journalism at Texas A&M University.  According to Dr. Rutherford, only about 2% of agricultural goods per year receive airtime from U.S. media sources. 

This 2%, of course, seldom depicts the positive aspects of the American food and fiber system and usually focuses on product recalls, illnesses inflicted by agricultural products, and protests over modern crop-producing systems, leaving the 98% of farm and ranch products that benefits its consumers to go unnoticed by Americans.  Our country does, however, have a means of informing its people about this invisible majority of agricultural products, and it’s called Food Network.

Everyday Food Network, its magazine, and their counterparts give people a (literal) taste of the positive side of agricultural production, yet these people do not realize that they are being educated about agriculture.  Sadly, I am not so sure if Food Network even realizes that it is a form of agricultural education, but if we, as  agricultural advocates, were to help these entities realize their role in the Ag industry, the gap between producer and consumer could finally be bridged!

By prompting these food media sources to delve deeper into Ag production systems, producers would finally be able to show consumers that their product is actually quite safe.  Next time Guy Fieri visits one of America’s greatest Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, he could invite a local corn farmer to explain the life cycle of corn before it ends up in your chowder, and, instead of Paula Deen just providing her viewers with an infinite number of ways to cook with butter, she could tour a local dairy to show them how her favorite ingredient is produced.  The possibilities are endless, but this modern form of agricultural education can only come to fruition if you as a consumer take an active role.

         

I challenge each of you out there to contact whatever food media source you can think of, be it a company as large as Food Network or even just a local cooking show, and urge them to start providing more education about the origins of food.  Only by taking this active stance can we truly help the average American learn that agriculture is not a bad thing, so, before you pass the pot roast, please pass along a message saying that you’re tired of people not understanding agriculture!

To contact Food Network go to http://www.foodnetwork.com/contact-us/package/index.html!

To contact Cooking TV go to http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/contact-us/package/index.html!


Blog writer: Josh Hardcastle

China- More than just a Traditional cup of Tea

Agriculture outside of the United States

     Situated in eastern Asia on the western shore of the Pacific Ocean, China is home to a population of more than 1.3 billion, equivalent to about 20 percent of the world’s population. Leaving behind American agriculture to see China, a vibrant mix of historic landmarks, a growing population and a modern expanding sector of agriculture, expectations were high as we boarded the plane to be immersed into a culture far from our own. After a 10-day excursion to experience agriculture throughout the world’s most populous country, I along with 64 other members from across the United States returned home with a vast and diverse impression of the Chinese way of life by attending the International Leadership Seminar for State Officers (ILSSO).

     Once in China, we set out to visit various aspects of China with a strong emphasis on understanding the nation’s agriculture industry in an effort to better understand how agriculture operates globally. Stops on the tour included the largest wholesale market in Beijing (Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market), a 280,000-head cattle and sheep farm, the National Agriculture High-Tech Industry Demonstration Zone, a cooperative dairy farm for beginning farmers and the Suzhou Xiangyun Tai Lake Goose Company – an operation that breeds over 5,000 geese near China’s third-largest freshwater lake. The current and former FFA state officers also visited the Bunge Chai Tai (Tianjin) Grains & Oils Co., plant in Tianjin. The operation develops, produces and distributes soybean oil and soybean meal that supplies fast-growing industries in the Beijing-Tianjin area. Bunge North America served as a main sponsor of the trip.

     For many of us on the trip, it was interesting to see how similar the production operations in China were compared to here in the United States. There were still withdrawal periods between application of medication and slaughter time periods of the beef cattle along with growth additives in feeds. The biggest difference we discovered was how much more manpower was utilized. While the same operations could have been done a lot more efficiently here in America, on the flip side you would have been cutting out many people’s jobs in China.

     When asked why this trip and learning about international agriculture in general is important I respond with this- in order to protect our Nation’s food supply and agricultural infrastructure, we must understand every side of the agriculture industry. Whether that is investing in technological advancements in crop and animal production, tackling what consumers are really looking for or building strong relationships oversees to support our markets. While it’s important to emphasize the things we do on the farm, it’s just as important to emphasize the things we do off the farm i.e. with our international partners. While in China, we also had the opportunity to visit the United States Embassy and talk one on one with a USDA Agricultural Attaché about the markets between the United States and China. The biggest lesson we walked away with was his words saying “ It is imperative that we continue to build strong alliances with the Chinese and other countries. We (the U.S. and China) have the resources to continue to stimulate our own economies while providing for the rest of the world. That being said, it shouldn’t be a competition between the Chinese and the United States. We need to be able to depend on one another.”

     We definitely cannot hide the fact that the Chinese and others around the world are players in the international market. By attending this seminar, I feel we took many necessary steps to continue to be the advocates that are needed to represent our generation and the agriculture industry to come. By having the opportunity to visit these farms and agribusinesses and a culture unlike our own, we were provided a global perspective and left feeling empowered with a new knowledge and the ability to share this culture. We have developed ourselves as culturally aware students and taken interest in influencing our future careers.

Blog Writer: Katie Heinrich

Roots in Agriculutre

               “I now declare this Convention adjourned,” and that was it. That started what has been a whirlwind of a year as a state officer of the Texas FFA Association. I’ve met people all across Texas and the nation, had the privilege to wear the blue and gold jacket one more time, but what has been even more exciting is that I have had the chance to promote an industry and way of life that has been near and dear to my heart for my entire life, agriculture.

                When my family and I lived in Ericksdahl, Texas, (a small Swedish community in West Texas) my dad was a farmer. He grew cotton, wheat and raised cattle on land that was owned by himself and his mother and father. He worked the long days that start before sunrise and end well after sunset, but no matter what we always had a roof over our heads and food on the table. No, it was not a glamorous lifestyle, we did not have a fancy house, truck or television, but we were happy with what we had. Then in 1997 we all had endured one of the, “discomforts of agricultural life.” There was a drought that ran from about 1995-1997, my grandfather passed away a few years before that and a lower than normal cotton and wheat crop made my father rethink his career. That year he started to work as a crop insurance adjuster, traveling all over the Great Plains adjusting wheat crops for Arm Tech, AgNet and USDA. Then after seeing a glimpse of the insurance side of farming he decided to try his hand at that, so he and two other individuals started a crop insurance company called AgCrop located in Stamford, Texas, at an old grain elevator and storage facility. They grew their business so that it now reaches from Brownsville, Texas, to Erick, Oklahoma, and El Paso to Texarkana. He’s been an insurance agent for 14 years now and has shown me what it truly means to work and live by agriculture even though it can be extremely unpredictable.

                Living through not only the joys, but the discomforts of agriculture is why I believe I have made it nearly full circle in coming to Texas A&M to study Agricultural Systems Management and even become a Texas FFA State Officer. I have figured out through these hardships, that I have the upmost respect and passion for agriculture. Most people go after things that bring fame, that are glamorous or have an enticing appeal about them, but I love agriculture because it was not meant for the faint-hearted. Only from the things you cannot control will you receive the greatest reward. 

               After watching my dad be at the mercy of the weather and cultivate his livelihood with his own hands, did I then realize how awesome this profession was. Nothing in this world is as pure as growing a crop that will not only benefit you, but serve those around you as well. In Hebrews 13:16 we are told that we should, “...not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” What better way is there to serve your neighbor and give to a worthy cause than to feed and clothe them? That is truly why I wanted to be an FFA State Officer and be active in agriculture. I want to continue a culture that shows the true values of this country and the way we were supposed to live. 

Blog writer: Heston Heller

Standing Together for Agriculture

We are not alone!

Jeff Klose and Brandon Williamson are agricultural science teachers in Texas and developers of 2FB Enterprises.  Together they are working to be the voice of American agriculture through a blog, "Hands of a Farmer." - http://handsofafarmer.wordpress.com/

Like Farmers Fight, they are taking a stand and working towards telling the story of the American farmer, rancher and agribussiness industries.

They are receiving excellent feedback that encourages me that we are on the right path here in Aggieland.

A comment from Melita Cramblet reads, "This is great [Hands of a Farmer]!!! People need reminding what the farmers and ranchers do for EVERYONE! Without this industry we’d all be some pretty hungry and naked people, not to mention sick. Thanks!"

If you have a minute take a look around their blog, maybe it will give you an idea for a blog post of your own!

Here is a short video about modern agriculture from CropLife America.

Modern agriculture is a term that is used to describe a wide majority of production practices employed by America's farmers.

Over 90% of farmers today use the most innovative practices and growing techniques to produce enough food, fuel and fiber for the growing world, while also minimizing their environmental footprint.

The term "modern agriculture" depicts farmers and ranchers commitment to innovation, stewardship and meeting the global food challenge all at once -- there is nothing conventional about that.

Have a great week Ags!

Blog editor: Callie McCullough