AgWired

When we got married, my mother thought it was odd that I wasn’t putting china and crystal glassware on our registry. Gone are the days of formal dining rooms, china hutches, “good” dishes and expensive glassware. At least at my house anyway.

If you peer inside our kitchen cabinets, you’ll instead see plastic cups with lids, plastic plates and refillable cups from a gas station. Yes, we have ceramic place-settings and glass drinkware, but since we have an almost 3-year-old, the dinner table is usually adorned with non-breakable items.

This is a cut-glass condiment set, made for vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper. I can picture this as the centerpiece on a beautiful table with a hand-made lace tablecloth, where the silver has been polished, the butter is neatly placed on its own silver platter, and the girls wear dresses to dinner.

Definitely not the dinner scene at my house.

Don’t get me wrong – we sit down and eat dinner as a family, we enforce table manners, and if I’m at home, the TV isn’t allowed to be on while we eat. We just have wooden salt and pepper shakers and the butter comes in a plastic tub.

This condiment set reminds me of a more formal time, where prim and proper were the foundational manners of every good girl. I guess if I preserve some of that mindset, it’s that we sit down as a family and have meaningful conversation. That’s what will stand the test of time in my mind, not the container the salt and pepper were in.

Until we walk again …

I just got my copy of The Food Security Reader. It is “The Best of Truth About Trade & Technology” with the foreword written by Dean Kleckner and edited by Mary Boote. I have only just skimmed it but if you like what you find at TATT then you will like reading through the stories told in this book. The TATT board has dedicated the book to Dr. Norman Borlaug.

From the start, Truth about Trade & Technology has spread its message of hope and growth. We began a weekly column, produced a weekly economic analysis, launched a website, spoke to journalists, appeared on radio and television, and attended meetings in the United States and abroad. More than a decade later, we can report many successes, such as the passage of new free-trade agreements and the growing acceptance of biotech crops. Yet plenty of tests await us: Agricultural trade remains badly distorted and biotechnology continues to face substantial resistance in Europe and many developing nations. As old battles end, new ones emerge–and our work remains as important and daunting as ever. The Food Security Reader is a chronicle of what we’ve done, a collection of our best columns on a wide range of subjects. Contributors include Michael Allen, Jeff Bidstrup, Mary Boote, Gilbert Arap Bor, Tim Burrack, Reg Clause, Maria Gabriela Cruz, Rosalie Ellasus, Bill Horan, Ken Kamiya, Carol Keiser-Long, Dean Kleckner, Cheryl Koompin, Rajesh Kumar, Darrell McAlexander, Jim McCarthy, Paul Rasgorshek, John Reifsteck, Tim Recker, John Rigolizzo, Jr., Ted Sheely, Al Skogen, and Terry Wanzek.

You can order the book on Amazon.