Realizations: I'm not an Agvocate???

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The following is my response to the wonderfully written article by @justfarmers: Agvocate or Agtivist?

Most of my reach is other farmers; I suppose by that definition, I am an agtivist. I sometimes play devils advocate on issues because I want people to think about the issues for themselves rather than going with the status quo. I'm not preachy as your chart suggests, but I do suppose that my methods seem as if I'm "preaching to the choir". I realize that there are many viewpoints in agriculture...that some modern farming methods are seen as unreasonable by some and revolutionary by others. But should I be attacked by these "advocates" because I don't reach as big of a crowd as they do and because my message is geared towards farmers rather than consumers? I agree wholeheartedly with your blogpost. People who take the attitude that "either you're with me or you're against me" are no better than PETA, because they are closed minded and cannot see past their own agenda. This is where their message becomes propaganda rather than actually doing any good.

But back to me, I still am trying to get "advocates" to see that there are more than one side to a story, and they should not be so paranoid and angry when one person's story is different than their own. For example, one person has the opinion that factory farming is not a good method of raising pigs. But the mainstream agvocates advocate that it's very efficient, safe, and effective. The agvocate should not get so angry with an agtivist who's against factory farming. It's just another side to the story, right? The whole reason everyone was angry with Chipotle's was because they expanded their audience to the consumer. To an agvocate, this is unacceptable, because it puts a part of the agriculture story in a bad light. But should agvocates be the police on what consumers think and believe? They will say that the agtivist is lying and saying untrue things because of the negativity they've been put in. Sometimes, rightly so, because it IS untrue. However, not all things are said under false pretenses. Yet, the ag community still gets the knee jerk reaction when someone in the world of ag takes the opposite side of the fence.

I'm sorry for my long response. Next time I'll try to keep it down to a few sentences. I think your blogpost is a wonderfully written, and I agree with everything you say. But not all agtivists are as closed minded as PETA, and not all agvocates have the whole story.

Government Debt is Your Debt

Government spending (Photo credit: 401K)
While I am a conservative, I think the Clinton was best when it came to ag spending policies. The farm economy was improving, and by the year 2000 (the end of his term), the budget surplus was as much as 200 billion dollars.
But after the Bush Administration's Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (dubbed by the Wall Street Journal a "10 year $173.5 billion bucket of slop")agriculture budget spending skyrocketed. It sometimes increased by $25 billion a pop. It was enough to almost immediately put the budget in a deficit of negative $150 billion.
Where some divisions of ag got more than enough money to run, others like the Grassland Reserve Program (GRP) had to turn down program applicants due to lack of support. And despite the increase in conservation programs, more than 22 million acres of native grassland was lost in 2005.
In 2005, despite the fact that pretax farm profits made a record of $72 billion, the government still gave them $25 billion in "aid", 50% more than they gave families on welfare.
Flash forward to today, another Democrat, President Barack Obama has been in office for almost a full term. Has federal spending decreased? Are we anywhere near coming out of a budget deficit? The answer is no. But with the 2012 Farm Bill coming up, we better keep in mind that increased government spending doesn't necessarily help agriculture. Remember, Government Debt is the people's debt. As a tax payer, it is now on my generation's shoulders to bail out the government. I feel like I shouldn't have to, but I must.
But first, some policies need changing. Some attitudes towards finances needs changing. The USDA needs to redefine it's purpose. As a very independent person, I don't want to have to be dependent on the government for my next paycheck. Once they start doing that, they own me, my farm, and my life. So when we argue and fuss once the Farm Bill starts being formulated in Congress, lets keep in mind that bigger doesn't always equal better. I guess we sometimes forget that because sometimes they become a faceless entity from Washington D.C. that runs the agriculture in America. We need to remember: the America's Department of Agriculture is OUR Department of Agriculture.
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Sources:
Historical Tables, Budget of the U.S. Government, Fiscal Year 2007; Congressional Budget Office.

Imhoff, Daniel. "Chapter 9: Freedom to Farm and the Legacy of Record Payoffs." Foodfight: The Citizen's Guide to a Food and Farm Bill. Healdsburg, CA: Watershed Media, 2007. 53-55. Print.

Corn Fields Environmentally Beneficial???

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Well I've been hearing a lot about this business that one acre of corn soaks up 8 tons of harmful greenhouse gas. Excuse me if I'm a little cynical, but according to the World Resources Institute, 20% of nitrogen fertilizer applied to a crop of corn is lost to runoff. Under some conditions, up to 60% can be lost to atmospheric volatilization. I am a big supporter of agriculture, but I think that before you go and make a claim such as this, you should do a little research into the sustainability of mono-culture corn crops. Perhaps this statement is true of organic corn fields that doesn't use nitrogen fixation and strong pesticides. In conclusion, i'm not so sure if the claims that corn farms are good for the environment have any validity. Just my opinion. Comment your opinions below!

Choose My Plate and Your Nutrition

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                A few weeks ago, I received an assignment for my Introductory Nutrition Class. I was to go onto www.choosemyplate.gov and create my own “Super-Tracker” account. Okay, shouldn’t be a problem. Oh, but it was harder than I thought it would be. First, it took me forever to find the correct place to log-in. But once I was logged-in, I was completely lost. What’s the first thing I’m supposed to do here? Apparently, first I was supposed to find the right link in order to put in my weight, height, age, and whether I want to lose or gain weight. You’d think that a program that advertises easy-to-use software would kinda be, I don’t know….easy to use?

                Once I found the link and recorded all the necessary information they needed, I was flooded with page after page of recommended dietary guidelines, recommended physical activities, how much calories I need to eat per day, how much food I need to eat in order to achieve those calories, and more. After the feeling of being overwhelmed got the best of me, I logged off and decided to work on it later.

                After three days of procrastination, I decided to give it another try. This time, I wasn’t flooded with all kinds of information and was given three choices: to compare calories in my favorite foods, to record the food I ate that day, and to record the type of exercise I did and for how long. I chose to record my food. I put in that I ate cheerios for breakfast with a cup of milk, and that banana I had with two tablespoons of Nutella. The chart refreshed and showed that I had eaten 448 kcalories of food. Not bad, I thought. This shouldn’t be hard, all I have to do is eat enough food to reach my recommended 2600 calories. But then I noticed something else. Apparently, I have to diversify my meals enough so that I eat certain amounts of different kinds of food. For example, I have eat up to 9 ounces of grains. Shouldn’t be hard, I thought. But as I quickly realized, you have to eat a lot of bread, pasta, and crackers to reach the recommended amount (even if all you eat is whole grain).

Below in chart number 1, is the recommended dietary guideline for myself.

1.)    Daily recommended calories and food amounts for a 22 year old male with moderate physical activity who is underweight (130lb.). Goal: 140 lb.

Calories	2600 Kcal.
Grains	9 oz.
Vegetables	3 ½ cups
Fruits	2 cups
Dairy	3 cups
Protein foods	6 ½ oz.
Oils	8 tsp.

My professor’s assignment required that I create a one day meal plan based on the above guidelines. Shouldn’t be hard, I thought. Boy was I wrong. I spend 3 hours trying to add enough food to the plan that wouldn’t put me over or under the recommended amounts of each food group. I was determined to have foods from all of the groups in the food pyramid…er…I mean…plate.

2.)    My Ideal Meal Plan based on the recommended food guide above.

Food	Amount	Where fits in guidelines	Calories
Breakfast
Pancakes	2 (5inches ea.)	2oz Grains	90
Chocolate Milk	1 cup	1 cup Dairy	208
Eggs	2 large eggs	2 oz. Protein	184
Morning Snack
Strawberries (with sugar	1 cup	1 cup Fruits	76
Yogurt (whole milk)	½ cup	½ cup Dairy	135
Lunch
Whole grain bread	2 slices	2 oz. Grains	138
Cooked Broccoli w/ butter	1 ¾ cup	2 cup Vegetables	181
American Cheese	1 oz.	½ cup Dairy	95
Lunch Meat	2 oz.	2 oz. Proteins	224
(Cont.)
Afternoon Snack
Assorted Veggies (baby carrots, celery, etc.)	½ cup	½ cup Vegetables	26
Whole Wheat Crackers	5 crackers	1 oz. Grains	126
Whole Wheat Bread	1 slice	1 oz. Grains	69
Vegetable Juice	½ cup	½ cup Vegetables	36
Dinner
Pasta	1 ¼ cup	2 ½ oz. Grains	363
Toast	½ slice	½ oz. Grains	35
Fruit Juice	1 cup	1 cup Fruit	130
Chocolate Milk	1 cup	1 cup Dairy	208
Steak	½ small steak	2 ½ oz. Protein	181
			Total: 2,505 kcal.

As you can see, even with all the food I put in my meal plan, I still only reached 2,505 calories. That’s 95 calories less than my goal. Not bad, I think. But then I looked back on the list. Something is wrong…terribly wrong. This list is huge! Surely the USDA doesn’t expect me to eat ALL of this?! In order to meet this meal plan, I would have to eat constantly! Is there some kind of conspiracy going on here? Did the grain industry lobby the USDA to put the recommendation high? As did all the other agriculture industries? Maybe the USDA recommended dietary guidelines aren’t flawless.

After 3 or 4 days of recording my food intake, I notice a link that’s labeled “My Reports.” Upon clicking on it, I found that I could read several reports on my calorie intake, physical activity, meal summary,  and nutrients I’m eating. Below is the report of what I ate during the assignment.

3.)    What I actually eat (which is probably why I’m underweight).

	Goal	Actual
Calories	2600 Kcal.	1593 Kcal.
Grains	9 oz.	6 oz.
Vegetables	3 ½ cups	2 cups
Fruits	2 cups	1 ¾ cups
Dairy	3 cups	2 ½ cups
Protein foods	6 ½ oz.	4 oz.
Oils	8 tsp.	4 tsp.

Conclusion:

            My eating habits aren’t great. I’ve never had a good appetite and because of it, my portion sizes are almost always very small. The effects of this have even been noticed by my friends; I have low energy. This project has opened my eyes to my unhealthy eating habits. For example, a healthy protein level is 6 ½ ounces for my goal, but I’m only eating 4 ounces daily. The same can be said for all food groups; I fall below the desired calories in all food categories. My plan is to take these goals seriously and to gain weight so that I can reach a more healthy weight and energy level.

            Even though the whole website is pretty complicated, you can learn to use it over time. I’m making it a project of mine to log in at least once a day to record my eating and physical habits. Sure, I think that the food industries have caused the USDA to exaggerate their recommended intake levels, but in my case, more food isn’t a bad thing. For people trying to lose weight, however, food intakes that are exaggerated could actually make it harder to lose. But you have to start somewhere, and this website holds a lot of promise even if it is hard to navigate and understand.

            Another aspect that I really appreciate about the website is the privacy it ensures. When I was creating my account, it didn’t ask me my name or where I was from. Instead I was to put in a username, password, and my email address. For some, trying to lose weight is embarrassing, and the anonymity the website offers is great.

You have to hurry and do it now though, the USDA only gave Michelle Obama’s idea until 7-31-2012 before it expires and the website is taken down.

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Bell County Food Desert?

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Is Bell County, KY a food desert?  The definition of a food desert is an area or region in which no food is produced locally. So the answer is yes, Bell IS a food desert and the only choices for the residents are Fast-Food and Chain Store Supermarkets. No wonder the residents of Bell County aren’t eating healthy!

Someone has to say it, so here goes: Bell County does not have a locally based food economy. Sure, we have great agrarian zones, and several of our citizens claim that their profession is “farmer,” but why is it that fresh and local Bell County produce is not available? I ask a lot of questions (some of which has no answer) to get you to open your mind, and think about the importance of a local food economy.

“So why don’t the chain stores and supermarkets count as a local food economy?”—You may ask. Well the answer is simple. For starters, these giant food distributors import food from out of the region. Secondly, the money they make from the imported food is sent out of the area to a corporation who runs the chain stores. This is ideal for a capitalist on Wall Street, but not very great for the struggling local economy.

Let’s talk solutions. The only way to combat a cash swallowing monster is simply refuse to feed it. Residents of Bell County need to find ways to spend our money more locally. Food is probably the number one item bought by a household, so it would make more sense to buy your food locally. However, Bell does not sell local food! So it is up to you, me, and the leaders of Bell County to make that change.

My idea is that two Farmer’s Markets should be started in Bell County (one in Middlesboro and one in Pineville) with the hopes that farmers and farm businesses can begin to produce one or more products to sell locally. The business rule is that if there is a market for an item, there will be someone there to provide it. Farmers and Ag Businesses need to be enticed to take advantage of a food market. If anything, they can do it for the money. All the other pros to starting a Farmer’s Market will take care of themselves, such as the increased revenue in the local economy, healthier food choices, and agriculture education for both kids and adults alike.

Talk with your extension agent, local politician, or teacher (if you are in school), and explain the benefits of a locally-based food economy.

Disclaimer: I am not a supporter of Occupy Wall Street, but rather a local citizen who believes that people should educate themselves about who is really taking their best interests at heart.