The National Grange just released their third e-Book. They’re using my e-book store of preference, the Kindle Store. On Oct. 12, the National Grange released “Notes and Quotes: On the Origin of the Ritual and Early Years of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry” as a Kindle download available through Amazon’s Kindle Store. The text, written by author C. Jerome …
Pork Slogan Target of HSUS Lawsuit
One of the most successful advertising slogans in the world of food is the target of a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture filed on Monday by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The lawsuit charges that the National Pork Board “struck an unlawful backroom deal with a D.C. lobbying organization for the purchase of the iconic …
Organic Pig Farming
Here’s something you don’t see everyday. A group of agricultural journalists from many countries playing with some organic pigs. This is on the Asbergby Farm during the 2012 IFAJ Congress. We met Olle and Catharina Linder who are organic farmers raising pigs and cattle. You can see how they keep their pigs in the video. What do you think of …
USDA “Meatless Mondays” Uproar
An internal USDA Greening Update newsletter that promotes “Meatless Mondays” caused a bit of an uproar on Wednesday. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) sent out a news release linking to the newsletter and questioning USDA’s commitment to the livestock industry. The newsletter talked about various “greening” initiatives by the agency and suggested that “one simple way to reduce our …
Livestock Reports Not Sexy, Hard to Understand, and At Risk
For anyone who has ever done livestock market reports in the media, you know how complex and how intertwined they are. What happens in one market can greatly affect all of the others (including what goes on in the grain markets), and understanding these relationships is certainly not an easy task (doing markets for Chuck back during our days at …
Bailey Ballou 2012 LMA Champion Auctioneer
The 2012 Livestock Marketing Association’s (LMA) World Livestock Auctioneer Champion is Bailey Ballou of Elgin, OK. Bailey participated in a press conference call just now which I thought I’d share with you in case you couldn’t be on it or are interested in what Bailey had to say. The competition was held last Saturday in Turlock, CA. If you listen …
Locust Trace AgriScience Farm
Locust Trace AgriScience Farm is the newest career and technical high school in Lexington, Kentucky with energy and environmental being key factors in the facility design and agriculture being the educational focus. Locust Trace features spacious classrooms with adjoining labs, 6.5 acres for gardening, a state-of-the-art greenhouse with an aquaculture area for raising native fish, a soaring auditorium with a …
Animal Agriculture Alliance Summit Wrap-up
To get a wrap up of the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit I spoke with President/CEO Kay Johnson Smith. Kay was given these beautiful flowers in recognition of her service during the organization’s celebration of its 25th anniversary. Kay says this year’s Summit was a little different than normal since it focused more on how to effectively communicate with …
Advocating For Animal Agriculture
The Chairman of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, Chris Ashworth, closed out the 2012 Stakeholder Summit after introducing our final speaker. I visited with him to learn how things are going with the organization. Chris talks about the fact that they are celebrating 25 years of advocating for animal agriculture representing all animal species. He says that this past year they’ve …
Becoming Authentically Agriculture
Let’s talk “Authentically Agriculture” with Michele Payn-Knoper, Cause Matters and founder of the weekly AgChat Twitter conversation. Michele was a presenter at the 2012 Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholders Summit. Michele says her presentation title means “that agriculture really needs to do a better job of connecting on a human level.” She spoke about the values, validation and voice that’s needed …