Special Blog Edition: Readers’ Findings
I’m getting ready to head to Kansas City to speak to the North American Limousin Junior Association’s Board of Directors this weekend, and I’m excited to meet with my peers in the beef industry to share ideas and get fired up about the future of agriculture! The best part about this blog is being able to meet and connect with so many of you. I learn so much from hearing your thoughts and taking part in the forums in the comments section, and I’m very grateful for the lasting friendships I’m gaining from my work with BEEF Magazine. In the spirit of building friendships and networking with industry leaders, today’s blog post is a special edition compiled by the email alerts I receive from the readers throughout the week. Of course, I have a few things to share, as well, but today’s blog post is dedicated to all of you. I’m so lucky to have such passionate and articulate colleagues in food production, and I encourage you to keep sending your comments, emails and suggestions for the future.
Well, let’s get started, shall we? I will kick things off with the first news information of interest. I saw on Twitter that HSUS is hosting a Twitpoll that asks this question, “What’s the animal welfare issue that you are most passionate about?” Options include: fur, animal fighting, wildlife abuse and hunting, factory farming, puppy mills, the seal hunt, animal testing, horse slaughter, pet overpopulation or other. I hate to promote ANYTHING that HSUS is doing, but I thought it was worth sharing that factory farming is the leading concern with 28% of the votes and horse slaughter has 8% of the votes. What do we do about the nasty word, factory farming? How can we improve our image in the eyes of the consumers? How do we regain their trust?
Karen McMahon, editor of Farm Industry News, passed along this article that could help us to improve our image online. The article titled, Planting cyber seeds, was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The article is about how Monsanto has used social networking sites to discuss important issues and tackle consumer concerns.
Next, cattle producer Bob from Missouri sent me radio personality Glenn Beck’s thoughts, Environmentalists beef on beef. Known for his punchy lines and no fear attitude, Beck predicts in this audio piece that we will soon experience meat restrictions, so head to McDonald’s while you still can!
Finally, our last reader, Tricia, sent me an interesting vegan blog titled, “Free-Range is Not the Answer.” Tricia says that while this blog entry is a “mixed bag of valid and invalid points,” it is worth reading to better understand how vegans view our industry. This would be a great place to tell the animal agriculture story! If you have time, be sure to join the other cattlemen that have commented and leave your thoughts at this vegan blog!
Of course, I can’t forget another reader’s suggestion to provide quick facts as a toolkit for producers. I love this idea! If you missed yesterday’s first Quick Beef Fact, you can find it here. Thanks again for all of the comments and suggestions! I appreciate your participation in this forum! Have a great day!
Quick Beef Fact: Today’s U.S. farmer feeds approximately 144 people around the world each year. In the United States, consumers spend less disposable income on groceries than any other place in the world.
April 2nd, 2009 at 8:47 am
Yesterday we took our 7 year old to the California Academy of Science’s building in San Francisco. It is a very “green” exhibit which is important to many people and there was one area which discussed global warming and one of the proposals was one day a week to avoid beef and dairy because of bovine methane factor relating ozone depletion and the fact that grain fed bovines ass opposed to grass fed bovines add more methane. I really concerns me that we are a target in a venue seen by so many (as our 7 year old put it so correctly) “City Folk” visit each year when the larger more scary contributors to the ozone problem are the new and emerging 3rd world countries that have geared up manufacturing factories with little regard to pollution like China and India and others who are just discovering a new market for their products the United States. This is where people need to be focusing their attention not at our fragile beef industry.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Thanks for incorporating my idea into your blog! I can’t wait to whip this fact out in conversation with some fellow graduate students in the market analysis room!!!
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
As a lifetime food producer I have had to re-examine how I view the farm and ranch production of food here in the U.S. because of what I see around me today. I see a country who spends more than its share on health care but yet suffers from many diseases in which the most serious are on the rise. I see a country whose grocery stores are stacked above head high with boxes of food yet more persons are on food stamps and welfare now than any time in history with the claim of low income. This brings me to what I see when I read your “Quick Beef Fact” today. There is tremendous fault in that statement you wrote. If one farmer is responsible for the feeding of 144 other persons there is no way, no matter whether he is Super Farmer or not, can provide a high level of attention to the things that really matter in producing food, it is not just farming he is doing. He is providing nurishment, or I should say he should be. This leads to the error in your second part of your Beef Fact. Consumers get what they pay for when they spend less disposable income on food than any other place in the world. When I was running over 950 cow/calf pairs I was not able to do a good job at much of anything, much less have a concern about the quality of my product to the end user. The guy that no tills 10,000 acres of corn each year has no time to be concerned about quality he is providing the consumer. Your time in history is unfornate that it has negligently taught you that this form of agriculture is something to be proud of. After almost 40 years of ranching I am now able to see that we have been taught wrong about food production. Please take time to look objectively. You are at a position to make a difference not just be some company’s yes girl.
April 7th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Thanks for your comments, everybody! I appreciate your insights and continued support of this blog. And, Jodi, your idea is a hit! I hope I’m on target for what you were thinking of. If there are beef facts you would like to read about, please let me know! Thanks again for your idea!
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