Celebrity Spotlight - Russ Parsons "The Californian Cook"

It's not everyday that you will find a West Coast chef that is willing to go to bat for modern agriculture. Russ Parsons, the Los Angeles Times food editor known as "The Californian Cook," is one of the best friends agriculture could have in a farm-removed market.

Take some time and check out his work at the Los Angles Times. One of the first articles I read from Parsons was The facts about food and farming. This article alone was enough to make me consider this guy as the next TheBeefUEat.com Celebrity Spotlight, but it gets better.

Parsons wasn't afraid to stand directly in the line of fire and take on the organic versus natural debate with his story 'Organic' debate goes on, naturally. Then, he stepped back into the fire with 'Organic' label doesn't guarantee quality or taste.

He came back for an encore when the recession started cutting into consumer steak budgets with Smart steak cuts for lean times.

It doesn't take long to realize that Parsons knows food and farming, and he wants consumers to understand both of those worlds as well as he does.

When I pursued an agricultural communications degree, I spent more than my fair share of time working in the university's journalism school. The push from professors was to always get the next big story, and that generally was translated as stiring up controversy and intrigue.

Balance was generally thrown out the window as young journalists were more willing to make a big bang than sustain a beautiful tune. I hope more journalists pay attention to the success and dedicated following of Russ Parsons.