Celebrity Spotlight - Temple Grandin

My favorite college course was Animal Issues and Welfare. There were a number of memorable experiences in the class, and meeting Dr. Temple Grandin was certainly one of them.

I can remember sitting on the edge of my seat listening to every word. We listened as she described her challenges with autism, highlighted her philosophies on animal behavior and handling, and encouraged us as we analyzed some of the agricultural industry's biggest challenges.

Reusable Grocery Bags Contaminated With E. Coli, Other Bacteria

EDITORS NOTE: Being green isn't just something that happens on the farm, my wife and I also champion the same green efforts of our more urban friends. We recycle all of our paper, cardboard, tin and alumninum cans, glass, and plastic bags. A few years ago, we also started using reusable grocery bags. The University of Arizona report below opened my eyes, and I thought I needed to share this with my food-focused friends. I'll be washing our reusable grocery bags this week.

Reusable grocery bags can be a breeding ground for dangerous food-borne bacteria and pose a serious risk to public health, according to a joint food-safety research report issued today by the University of Arizona and Loma Linda University in California.

The study Assessment of the Potential for Cross Contamination of Food Products by Reusable Shopping Bags (PDF) randomly tested reusable grocery bags carried by shoppers in Tucson, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The study also found consumers were almost completely unaware of the need to regularly wash their bags.

National Academy of Sciences Releases Sustainable Agriculture Report

On June 29, the National Academy of Sciences released the report Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century. It highlights the extreme challenges American farmers face feeding the world. The report does a great job summarizing the enormous task facing farmers today.
Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century is available in different formats depending you your preference. You can purchase the report as a hardcopy of PDF, download a brief of the report, download an executive summary or scroll down the page a bit. You will find an option to read the report page by page.

I chose to read the news release and scanned the summary, brief and full report. Below are a few paragraphs from the new release.

"Although farming productivity has increased, nowadays farmers are being asked to do more than produce more food for a growing world population," said Julia Kornegay, chair of the committee that wrote the report, and professor and head of the department of horticultural science at North Carolina State University, Raleigh. "Many modern agricultural practices have unintended negative consequences, such as decreased water and air quality, and farmers have to consider these consequences while trying to increase production. If farmers are going to meet future demands, the U.S. agriculture system has to evolve to become sustainable and think broadly -- past the bottom line of producing the most possible."

I Couldn't Have Said It Better

Sometimes people outside of farming are much better about telling agriculture's story than people that live there everyday. A trip I took the last week in June couldn't have illustrated that point any better.

I traveled to Lubbock, Texas, organizing a one-day conference on sustainable agriculture production. It featured some great speakers, and I hope to share their presentations with you soon. The people I met traveling between Manhattan, Kansas, and Lubbock couldn't have been more different.

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.

How to Talk to a Consumer

How many of you know how to pick the perfect cut of beef for your meals but never offer your expertise to consumers at the meat case?

I pride myself on being handy, thrifty, and in general, a pretty good consumer, especially when it comes to beef. However, I'm not as good at sharing my tricks with others, and it's a shame. In a society that's consumer driven, we need smarter consumers.

The main reason for starting this blog was to help everyone be better beef consumers and advocates, and that starts with changing my attitude.

You Aren't a Farmer Without a Farm

I am old enough to know that sometimes you need to step back from life's chaos and simply focus on your priorities. Last month was one of those moments, and unfortunately, that meant letting the blog go idle for a few weeks.

My biggest priority was family with the passing of my grandfather on April 24. It's been more than a month since his funeral, and I still struggle to describe him to friends that never met the man. The funny thing is I can't talk about him without talking about his farm. The two topics are inseparable.