Farm Size Dialogue Gives All A Voice

Chuck Zimmerman

usfra-boston-13-bjergaU.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance once again brought up a hot topic in the agriculture and food industry for experts and industry leaders to discuss. Farm size was the topic for last week’s Boston Food Dialogues. And the man with maybe the toughest job for the day was Alan Bjerga, who’s role was moderator.

Alan is the author of “Endless Appetites: How the Commodities Casino Creates Hunger and Unrest” and agriculture policy reporter for Bloomberg News. After the dialogues concluded, Chuck picked his brain and asked for his insights into the farm size conversation.

“What’s striking is to take a look at how people with different perspectives on agriculture are all grasping towards solutions for the same problems. Where you see agriculture often depends on where you sit on both the value chain and nationwide. There are a lot of different structures to agriculture and agricultural operations within this country and as you see this evolution in consumer takes and marketplace demands everybody is coming at these problems from a different direction. Having a chance to get these different people on a platform to discuss these areas doesn’t necessarily lead to a solution, but it lets people exchange ideas and learn different options and thoughts that are out there. And that’s a key step.”

Alan emphasized how food matters to people and is very personal. What American farmers do is going to continue to be important because we are the leading food producer and exporter. Alan stated that unless you talk with the parties that are affected, than how are we suppose to understand there their concerns.

Listen to Chuck’s interview with Alan here: Interview with Alan Bjerga

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, Food, USFRA

Small Farms Serve Niche Market

Chuck Zimmerman

usfra-boston-13-cruzA fourth generation fruit and vegetable farmer, Jamie Cruz, is the owner/grower of Springdell Farm in Littleton, Massachusetts. Jamie served as a panelist for the Boston Food Dialogues.

The family farm also raises hogs, cattle, poultry, sheep and goats. They proudly sell 99% of their products through their farm stand, various CSA programs, local restaurants and farmers markets.

“The increase demand for local food has really helped us. Here where we are it is a make it or break it for some of the local farmers in the area. So we are very fortunate that the family farms in the area are thriving and we are lucky to have that consumer base.”

Farm size was the topic for the days conversation and Chuck asked Jamie what her thoughts were on the issue.

“Our average farm is about 60 acres here. We have some farms farming as small as an acre and producing food off of it. Is the size of farms an issue? I don’t see so myself personally, but I do see how some of the consumers have some confusing information in front of them about farm size outside of Massachusetts.”

Jamie goes on to share that farm size doesn’t matter when talking about food safety, stewardship, animal welfare and the care of employees. She believes that small farms serve their purpose in niche markets and large farms are able to supply the grocery stores.

Listen to Chuck’s complete interview with Jamie here: Interview with Jamie Cruz

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, Food, USFRA

The Young Agrarian Community

Chuck Zimmerman

ZimmCast 416Hello and welcome to the ZimmCast. In this week’s program we’re going to talk about Young Agrarians. During the 2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation conference you met Sara Dent from a presentation she did at our opening reception.

Young AgrariansNow meet Sara in a more personal way via a conversation we had at the close of the CFWF conference. My focus was to learn more about how Young Agrarians got started and what their goals are. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Listen to this week’s program here: Young Agrarians

Here’s what a young agrarian is: A new entrant into agriculture. Someone from the country to the city who values food, farming, nature and community.

Thanks to our ZimmCast sponsor, GROWMARK, locally owned, globally strong, for their support.

2013 Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, International, ZimmCast

GROWMARK Supports Kleckner Fellowship

Cindy Zimmerman

One of the many ways that GROWMARK participates in the World Food Prize Borlaug Dialogue is through support of the Truth About Trade and Technology (TATT)Kleckner Fellowship.

wfp13-karenGROWMARK Corporate Relations Specialist Karen Jones attended the World Food Prize events for the first time this year, the first time they have helped sponsor the fellowship, which was created last year in honor of retiring TATT chairman Dean Kleckner. “Just being here for the first time has been pretty amazing because there are so many people here all united under the same goal to talk about and try to solve some of these problems that affect our global neighbors,” she said.

Karen says the cooperative also supports the efforts of Farmers Feeding the World. Interview with GROWMARK's Karen Jones

raviThe Kleckner Fellowship and Trade & Technology Advancement Award was awarded this year to Indian farmer Ravichandran “Ravi” Vanchinathan. The Kleckner Fellowship was endowed to support at least one global farmer’s participation each year in the Global Farmer Roundtable and Ravi was the first. The Kleckner Trade & Technology Advancement Award recognizes “strong leadership, vision, and resolve in advancing the rights of all farmers to choose the technology and tools that will improve the quality, quantity, and availability of agricultural products around the world.”

2013 TATT Global Farmer Roundtable photos


2013 World Food Prize photos

Audio, Cooperatives, GROWMARK, World Food Prize

Rep. Kristi Noem Unplugged

Cindy Zimmerman

kristiRep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) took advantage of last Thursday’s bonus day off from Congress to head back west and meet with some of her peeps at the AgFirst Farmers Cooperative in Aurora, SD.

Noem, who is a member of the farm bill conference committee scheduled to begin meeting this week, kicked back with a couple of the coop members and talked informally about differences between the House and Senate bills. She also talks about the value of ethanol production to cattle producers in her state.

As a farmer and rancher herself, Rep. Noem looks relaxed and comfortable in her jeans and boots with her normally perfectly-styled locks hidden under a ball cap.

Ethanol, Farm Bill, Video

Big and Small Farms Working Together

Chuck Zimmerman

Leah BeyerShe’s a mother running on empty. She’s Leah Beyer. Let the Beyer Beware. That all becomes clear when you click on through to the other side.

Leah was a panelist at the Boston Food Dialogues and the first one I interviewed. She’s a farm mom who grows corn and soybean with her husband in Indiana. They are “retired” dairy farmers. I asked her about her thoughts on the subject of farm size. She says, “I think a lot of times people in the media or people in the general public who aren’t connected with agriculture try to put up vs. as in big vs small. From my experience it’s big and small together.” She’s got some great examples you might not think of when it comes to this subject.

You can listen to my interview with Leah here: Interview with Leah Beyer

Follow Leah on Twitter @BeyerBeware

Boston Food Dialogues Photo Album

Ag Groups, Audio, Farming, Food, USFRA

Support inTANDEM Marketing Grant Application

Chuck Zimmerman

inTANDEM MarketinginTANDEM Marketing is a rural marketing agency looking to expand. They could use some help with their online application for a Chase Mission Main Street Grant.

inTANDEM marketing’s sole purpose is assisting small businesses in rural agricultural communities with their marketing needs to help them be successful and, in turn, the community sustainable.

inTANDEM marketing serves a diverse client base located in rural Iowa. Clients include those that are part of both agriculture service and production and those that directly impact economic development of the region. They realize the value of partnering ag and local small business to create a stronger rural communities. They are not the big guys in the big city…they are the guys that are located in and, focused on, making a difference in rural Iowa.

The reason inTANDEM Marketing wants to expand is to meet the demand of their client base and provide marketing expertise to more rural Iowa businesses. If they receive one of the 12 grants being offered, inTANDEM can position themselves for growth and plans to hire 2 – 3 new local team members. In order for applications to be considered, businesses need to receive 250 votes of support. To show them your support go to: https://www.missionmainstreetgrants.com/business/detail/8362 and vote.

Agencies

Anti-GMO Activist on Display

Chuck Zimmerman

Here’s an interesting video clip of Michael Pollan doing an interview. For those of you who don’t know of him, he’s a very anti-GMO activist who claims to be a journalist. This clip pretty well negates the journalist part when he brags about writing for the New York Times, “But when I wrote about food I never had to give equal time to the other side. I could say whatever I thought and offer my own conclusions.”

It’s also interesting to hear him lament about the “industry” finally fighting back against the kind of misinformation he propagates. He specifically mentions the Food Dialogues like the one that took place yesterday in Boston.

There’s a good Forbes article about this interview you might enjoy.

Food, USFRA, Video, Wackos

Zimfo Bytes

Talia Goes

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Alltech welcomes the best and brightest graduates from all over the world to apply for the second annual Alltech Career Development Program, which officially launched, Oct. 23.
  • Max Armstrong’s Tractor App on iTunes & Google Play, originally released in August, now has an update available.
  • A recent St. Norbert Strategic Research Institute poll commissioned by Cooperative Network has revealed that Wisconsin and Minnesota citizens prefer to get their electric and telephone services from cooperatives over investor-owned utilities.
  • Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced 14 awards for projects to bring broadband to unserved rural communities.
Zimfo Bytes

AGree’s Video on Food and Agriculture Systems

Talia Goes

AGree seeks to identify the most critical issues facing the global food and agriculture system and through a collaborative process that challenges leaders from diverse communities, build consensus around solutions. This short animated video describes AGree’s origins, principles and plans for a food and agriculture system that meets future demand for food while conserving and enhancing water, soil, and habitat; improving nutrition and public health; and strengthening farms and communities to improve livelihoods.

The AGree story — Animated Video from AGree on Vimeo.

Agribusiness, Video