I found an interesting article that said that Americans throw away up to 40 percent of their food every year. This number comes from analysis released recently by the Natural Resources Defense Council. I don’t doubt this – I try my best to use up food before it goes bad in my fridge, but there […]
food
What tastes better – corn-fed or grass-finished beef?
I recently stumbled up Quora – a Q&A site on the web where people can pose questions in all types of categories, from parenting to management, home repair to manufacturing – and significant to me – food and agriculture. After browsing through some of the questions, I found myself looking through the corn-fed vs grass-fed […]
We need a farm bill
I am a food consumer and I am a farmer. The 2012 Farm Bill is important to not only those who farm but those who eat! The current Farm Bill will expire this year. As a group, Congress has yet to pass a Farm Bill. Although a version has been passed by the Senate, a […]
Africa 4 ag?
Africa has been the “talk of the shop” amongst my ag industry counterparts. After all – if we are going to feed 9 billion people by 2050 – where are we going to produce all of this food? I read a great article by Andy Vance in Feedstuffs (8/12/12) on developing ag in Africa and […]
My nickname is Bird. What is Ag’s?
My childhood nickname is Bird. And if you were around my family today, you wouldn’t hear my first name used at all. I like the nickname. It’s simple and easy – but you know what’s really funny? It doesn’t describe me at all! I received the nickname from my Grandma who said I ate like […]
What America Spends On Groceries
In a series on NPR online called, “Graphing America”, I found an article with some interesting graphs on how much less America spends on groceries today versus 30 years ago. This third-party research is pertinent to pair with our farmers and ranchers stories of how they raise food to complete the whole story of food […]
The farm effect.
More than ever, I have heard more people say they, or their kids, are allergic to unusual things. Peanuts. Tomatoes. Fish. Odors of food. Plants and animals. Room temperature food. And heaven forbid – Chocolate. An NPR article posted today shows the research that the issues with more and more kids becoming allergic to food […]
Healthy animals = safer food = happy people
A task force for the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) have looked at the pressures to change livestock rearing methods, evidence to support the direct public health impact on human illness days, and food safety and inspection service regulations. They (and you and I) know that many groups in society, including politicians, activists, […]
Producing enough sustainable food
Ahhh. Sustainable. A word that is so overused, yet so important to agriculture. And also to consumers who want to use it as much as possible when it comes to their food. And we’re taking food. Everyone wants it. Everyone needs it. This YouTube video came out yesterday and it does pretty darn good job […]
Transformation Nation, and we’re not talking Dr. Oz.
Consumers. They are the ones who have the most influential say in what production practices are put into place for livestock production and animal welfare practices. And these consumers are talking to their food retailers. Lately, we have seen more and more retailers put policies in place that require their supply of meat to be […]
