Wordless Wednesday: Glorious Rain Brings Green

Rain works wonders for soybeans!

 

Wheat harvest has begun in Kansas and it's only a matter of time before a combine rolls across this lovely golden field!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Drought Happens in the Winter, Too

I know it's commonplace to associate drought with summer time. July and August are generally known for low precipitation and high temperatures. Yuck. I am not a fan of summer.

However, drought happens year round. While my home state of Kansas and the Ninja's home state of Ohio are faring well in terms of moisture through the cold months (I'm still waiting on snow to melt from January and NW Ohio has had a near record-breaking winter), farmers and ranchers in California are desperate for moisture. Any moisture.

California rancher Meg Brown of The Beef Jar has been blogging about the difficulties her family's ranch is facing with such an extreme drought.

Meg is not alone. As you can see, there are numerous states that are struggling with a lack of moisture right now.

image credit National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminstration

 

So while there are many people [including myself] who are tired of snow, we should all keep those drought affected regions in our thoughts. Furthermore, that big purple portion of the map is responsible for A LOT of fruit and vegetable production in the USA and without water, it's going to be hard to get decent yields.

 

Just some food for thought!

 

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~

Wordless Wednesday: [Corn] Blowin in the Wind

A wet cornfield on a windy day in Ohio - harvest is upon us!

If You're Wasting, You Shouldn't Be Whinging

There's a little bit of Australian vocab for you - whinging means to whine, complain, protest, etc. Didn't know you were going to learn about food wastage and vocab today, did you?

Anyhow, several factors led to this blog post - first, there was this article from Drover's. I'll be sort-of summarizing it so if you don't want to read a whole article, you can read a whole blog post. You're welcome.

Secondly, this blog post that I wrote on Monday.

Thirdly, this:

A fridge full of leftovers for two people who couldn't possibly eat said leftovers in a normal amount of time before the food will be unappetizing, stinky and/or unpleasurable to the digestive system.

Hence, this post was born.

Food wastage occurs in a lot of different ways. I'm sure you're thinking, "Buzzard, you idiot. Food wastage occurs when good food is thrown away." Idiot, I am not. Food wastage, and this comes from the Drover's article, varies depending on the setting/income level of the country of origin. For example, my trashcan is an example of how food is wasted in a first-world or developed country. Sometimes, I throw away perfectly good green beans. But I am not going to save four or five bites of canned green beans when the Ninja refuses to finish them (he is my human garbage can). I am a human-being, not perfect. Did you know that up to HALF of the food that is purchased in Europe and the US is thrown away? Half, people. One 8 oz sirloin is thrown away for every pound of steak purchased. I am extremely embarrassed of that fact - one in seven people in the world go hungry every night and we are throwing away 1/2 of our food. If you're not embarrassed, you're part of the problem. Don't come whining to me about not being able to afford food if you throw out 1/2 your grocery cart every week.

However, food wastage in Malawi or a similar less than developed country is different because that loss occurs during harvest, when advanced technology isn't available to yield optimum levels. Wastage also occurs through improper storage or unfortunately, the all too common problem of a lack of infrastructure. This means the food is produced but the roads, government etc are so broken down that the food can't get to the people. Very sad. The more the developed the country, the further down the line the wastage occurs. Here, I drew you a picture:

 

 How about those epic graph drawing skills? Thanks Ag Economics degree, you're coming in handy after all.

The reason this is all very important is of course, that we are projected to have a population of 9.5 billion by 2075. Or if you don't want to look that far into the future, 9 billion by 2050. We are going to need a lot of water, land and other non-renewable resources to feed all these hungry future-people.

Which is where my post from Monday comes in - by cutting down larger cuts of meat we can continue to utilize the efficiency of the beef industry (smaller herds but bigger cattle) without sacrificing any valuable protein to the garbage can. And if science is allowed to prevail and keep making advancements, I believe that the ingenious folks at John Deere, Monsanto, Pioneer etc can find ways to produce more with less.

Of course, it's not just on the shoulders of engineers and beef producers. You, yes you, can help with the whole feed the world mantra. Buying/preparing smaller portions. Saving (and eating) leftovers. Making your kids clean their plates or save their leftovers too (never too young to help the planet). Anyone else have any ideas or suggestions on how to make our food supply more efficient from a consumer stand point?

How's that for tying several different trains of thinking into one post? That was exhausting...

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

p.s. I hope that Jessie Vipham is impressed with my graph and that I have officially kind-of used my Ag Econ degree.

Winter is nearing

and even though the temperatures have cooled down significantly from the 100+ days during the summer there is a key element of fall/winter missing....

MOISTURE.

The last time it rained in Manhattan, KS was about a month ago. Normally in the eastern part of Kansas, it rains quite often in the fall. We've seen nary a drop for several weeks and the forecast doesn't look good. We also haven't seen any snow or sleet, which would both be welcome at this time.

You may be asking why I am pointing out this obvious dilemma but for some it may not be so clear. Even though it's not hot, winter wheat still needs moisture so that cattle can graze during this mild weather. Livestock still need to drink during cold months. For those who aren't part of agriculture, let me assure you that water is an essential need on every single agricultural operation. And the longer we go without rain/sleet/snow, the longer producers carry the stress of the drought on their shoulders.

So when you say your prayers at night, please send up an extra two or three for moisture for our ag producers.

Or you could do a rain dance. If you need help coming up with moves, this guy might be able to help.



Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

I Don't Want to Live Without Meat in 2050

I just read an article on Yahoo! that said the world may be forced into vegetarianism by the year 2050, according to some scientists at the Stockholm International Water Institute in Sweden. Here is a link to the article -- http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/vegetarian-2050-190426669.html.

Hell no. I refuse to live in a society where there is no meat. I would starve. Literally. If I didn't die of energy depletion first. 

There's a few things I want to point out on this...

- Cattle spend about 75% of their life eating grass in pastures. In the Flint Hills, where I live, if there were no cattle grazing this land it wouldn't be used. Rolling hills with lots of rock aren't viable for crop production. So putting those acres into crop production isn't realistic.

- Another point that the author makes, who does a very poor job of presenting an unbiased story, is that we can't really produce more food. Wrong! We can produce more food - farmers and ranchers are becoming more productive every year and if legislators in D.C. would listen to producers who have real experience instead of listening to lobbyists, they would know that we can continue to improve our efficiency with science, technology and gasp! the help of GMO's.

- I'd really like to see the study that cites 70% of all water is for agriculture - I want to see how this data is presented. Notice that doesn't say 'animal agriculture' just agriculture in general. Furthermore, I don't know of a cause that is more important than food production that we should be funneling water towards - aside from drinking water. Maybe we should start reusing water from purification plants for water in our toilets, yard spouts, washing machines and dishwashers.

These are just my opinions - but I'd love to hear yours.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

Real quick addendum: Cutting meat completely out of production is NOT going to feed the people who are starving in other countries. The infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa needs to improve, for example. There could be 4 tons of food arrive to major societal hubs in food deprived countries but if there is no way for the food to be moved to rural, impoverished areas or if the local government uses food provisions as a way to control people, then all the food aid in the world won't help. There is more than just food production at the center of those issues - it's a web of underlying causes that need to be addressed to stop world hunger.

I'm Farming and I Grow It - Kansas Boys Go Viral

I'm Farming and I Grow It

Really? Does it get much catchier than that? I bet you have the LMFAO song stuck in your head now but good luck remembering the old lyrics after you've heard the much funnier and pro-ag version.

This video has been shared by about every ag blogger on the face of the Earth but I was at a conference this whole week and am behind the times (as usual) and am just now getting to it. So without further ado, I give you I'm Farming and I Grow It.


Why is this video so awesome? Let me count the ways:

1. The  Peterson boys are from KANSAS. I don't need to remind you of my undying faith, love and support of all things Kansas. So proud of our rich, traditional heritage of agriculture and smart kids!

2. The video has over 800,000 views. Holy crap - can you say viral? UPDATE: THE VIDEO NOW HAS OVER 1,000,000 VIEWS!  Update again: 1.6 million views in three days!

3. It was featured on Good Morning America and also on http://www.cnn.com/!


4. There are over 1500 comments and from what I could tell, only one negative one. Surprise surprise making fun of their cut-off shirts. The rest are thanking the Peterson boys for bringing attention to farming and for their hard work producing food.

5. The Kansas City Star featured an article about them. Good work boys.

6. Another update: the Peterson Farm Bros are on Facebook so go like them and Greg Peterson is on Twitter (@GregPeterson33) - they are headed to New York for Fox News!

 Is it stuck in your head now? Good. I also hope that the visions of hard working farmers and ranchers is stuck there too.

Way to go Kansas boys!

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~  

A+ Agriculture Ambassador - Miss America

By now I'm guessing that you've at some point heard that Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan, is very pro-ag. She grew up in Nebraska while raising cattle with her family and has stayed true to her roots during her tenure as Miss America. Bravo.

Last week, I talked about the pros and cons of Food Day and mentioned a website called www.realfarmersrealfood. This new website is a partnership between Animal Agriculture Alliance and Miss America which aims to provide the real facts about food production in the U.S. and narrow the gap between the rural producer and urban consumer.

In an interview with AAA, Ms. Scanlan said, "most Americans do not understand the connection between the thousands of family farms across the country and their own dinner. Real Farmers Real Food is a positive reminder for each of us to take time to appreciate the many people who make our safe, abundant, and affordable food supply a reality."
Visitors to the website can:
- Sign a pledge in support of agriculture's diversity and consumer choice
- Read and share an op-ed showcasing American agriculture by the Alliance's current chairperson, Chris Ashworth, a veterinarian and rancher
- Learn about common myths and facts about farming
- View a collection of farm tours on video

The unveiling of the website come just days before Food Day, which was dubbed "a campaign that downplays the importance of modern agriculture and unfairly criticizes the way of life of many food producers" by many in agriculture.
Ms. Scanlan also 'starred' in a one-minute video where she says, "Not everybody farms, but everybody has to eat."


Miss America hasn't just recently begun her quest for ag - she has been featured in many other publications for her efforts in advocacy. Check out these links:
- Fox News Op-Ed by Miss America, Teresa Scanlan
- Why Miss America Support Agriculture
- Miss America Advocates for Agriculture - media interview at Nebraska State Fair
- Miss America Speak to the Benefit of Modern Agriculture

Have I mentioned that Miss America is visiting Kansas in the VERY NEAR future? I haven't - allow me to do so now.

Food For Thought, a grass roots group that I am very proud to be a member of, will be hosting Miss America on November 15 at 7 pm at Kansas State University. She will be the 2011 Fall Upson Lecture Series speaker and will speak as to the importance of modern agriculture to the global food supply. You should definitely be there in McCain Auditorium on November 15! Admission is free and Food For Thought will be conducting a canned food drive to benefit the Flint Hills Breadbasket.

Hopefully, having such an influential and well-spoken advocate for agriculture will open many people's eyes to the truths about agriculture. For more information on Miss America's visit to K-State, feel free to contact me or any other Food For Thought member. Hope you'll be able to make it.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~