National Pork Board Responds to Jonathan Safran Foer

Amanda Nolz

13-books-eating-animals Last week, I was watching the Ellen DeGeneres Show because I knew she would be interviewing Jonathan Safran Foer, the author of “Eating Animals,” a gruesome attack against animal agriculture and a strong testimony for a vegan lifestyle. Recently, the National Pork Board responded to Foer’s statements, especially when he falsely linked H1N1 to a hog farm in North Carolina. Read on to learn more about this ongoing debate. To read the entire article and watch the video, link to the New York Times.

“This swine flu that’s now an epidemic, they’ve been able to trace it back to a farm in North Carolina,” he said. “A hog farm. Nobody knows this. Nobody talks about it. We’ve been told this lie that it came from Mexico.”

But Liz Wagstrom, a staff veterinarian at the National Pork Board, said the claim that the novel 2009 H1N1 virus originally came from swine farms in North Carolina is “patently false.” Researchers at that time did find an H3N2 flu virus in pigs there, she said, but it had a different genetic architecture than the current H1N1 pandemic virus circulating around the world. And those trying to link the H1N1 to factory farming “are using a scare tactic to try to cast a negative light on modern pork production,” Ms. Wagstrom said.

Pork, Research, Swine

“Environmentally Friendly” Food Myths Debunked

Amanda Nolz

Harvest-Pasture Head into a grocery store these days and consumers are offered aisles upon aisles of food choices. It’s been said that annually, food producers raise enough food to feed 144 people. With this efficiency, consumers can enjoy their favorite foods in abundance. As a result of our food surplus, new food options have become available, and as a result, conventional agriculture is under attack in favor of natural, organic and locally grown options. While I think it’s great and noble that consumers are trying to do better for themselves and the environment, I believe sometimes these food claims can be misleading. Apparently, others agree with me, as well.

In a recent meeting, Jude Capper, Ph.D., assistant professor of dairy sciences at Washington State University, told his audience of animal nutrition specialists that, “as a food industry, we must use a whole-system approach and assess environmental impact per gallon of milk, pound of beef or dozen eggs, not per farm or per acre.” Read on to learn more about his views on 1940’s agriculture verses today’s advanced food production.

As consumers increasingly aim to make environmentally responsible food purchases, they need to base their decision on sound science. However, according to a presenter at the 71st Cornell Nutrition Conference held in Syracuse, N.Y., the ‘intuitively correct’ food choice is often the least environmentally friendly option.

“Consumer demand for milk, meat and eggs is going to increase as the population continues to grow,” Capper says. “Therefore, the vital role of improved productivity and efficiency in reducing environmental impact must be conveyed to government, food retailers and consumers.”

Agribusiness, Technology

One Pass Biomass From AGCO

Chuck Zimmerman

AGCO Biomass One PassAGCO is one of the companies working on a prototype biomass harvest/transport system. At POET’s Project LIBERTY Field Day they demonstrated a pulled behind baler system to harvest corn cobs and stover.

Dean Morrell, Product Marketing Manager for Hay and Forage Harvesting, was on site and talked with me about their system. He says it’s a one pass system which utilizes combine technology and durable large square baler technology. He says the material doesn’t touch the ground and makes for a very clean bale product. They had to do some major customization on the equipment and they have two units out working in the field as part of the development process.

You can listen to my interview with Dean below.

POET Project LIBERTY Field Day Photo Album

Audio, Biofuels, Corn, Equipment, Ethanol, Technology

R&D At Fluidigm

Chuck Zimmerman

Fluidigm Andy MayWhen it comes to research and development at Fluidigm Corporation, one of the key people involved is Andy May. In my interview with him he puts the high level technology Fluidigm develops into easy to understand terms. You’ll find out why this is necessary when we get into the whole DNA sequencing issue and how Fluidigm has pioneered some of the latest mechanisms to work with it. Forward a link to the interview to your favorite R&D’er!

Andy says there are two main products they’ve been developing. One of them is called Slingshot which he says is a very accurate method of measuring concentrations of DNA samples. The other product, which his group is focused on, is called AccessArray which streamlines the preparation of small regions of DNA for sequencing using the current generation of sequencing platforms. He says there has been a huge change in the technology used for DNA sequencing in recent years and people are looking for new ways and improved methods for introducing samples into those instruments. Like the whole Fluidigm System, these products help streamline the work flow and in fact are more production devices than just measurement devices.

The new Fluidigm products have been developed in conjunction with early access clients and several systems have been sold and are now available via general release.

You can watch or listen to my interview with Andy below:

Agribusiness, Audio, Biotech, Research, Technology, Video

Zimfo Bytes

Melissa Sandfort

    Zimfo Bytes

  • Bayer CropScience officially opened its new Cotton Research and Development Laboratory in Lubbock, Texas.
  • New Holland’s new WORKMASTER tractors bear a trusted name, and the same important qualities that made the original WORKMASTER tractors so popular in the 1960s.
  • A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found.
  • Steve Pickle and Eddie Walley have joined SFP as regional account managers, and Jennie Martin has stepped into a newly developed position as event coordinator.
    Zimfo Bytes

    BASF Headline Harvest Report – Purdy, MO

    Cindy Zimmerman

    headline harvest kipAt least some farmers are finished with their harvest.

    BASF sent me to southwest Missouri last week to visit with a couple of farmers in Purdy about their harvest. I told you last week about world famous Kip Cullers’ harvest, today we hear from his neighbor, Curtis Schallert – who also uses Headline fungicide, by the way (no coincidence!).

    Curtis says the wet weather posed some challenges but he got it done. “We got a good start at the end of September,” he told me. “We got finished up about ten days ago with our corn before the last big rain, so compared to most we are very fortunate.”

    He grows wheat, soybeans and corn and uses Headline on most of his acres. “I started with Headline and was satisfied with the results on my wheat and soybeans and in the past few years started using it on corn,” he said. He uses Headline on select acres of his corn and estimates that he gets a 6-7 bushel per acre increase in yield for those acres.

    Here is a YouTube video of my interview with Curtis.

    BASF, Farming, Video

    Get “Mobile Updates” at Trends in Agriculture Conference

    Chuck Zimmerman

    Commodity UpdateCommodity Update is making mobile updates possible from this week’s NAMA Trends In Agriculture Conference. Sign up for yours now.

    Sign up today for Mobile Updates and maximize your Trends in Agriculture experience. It’s FREE. Registration enters you to Win an iPhone or iPod touch, your choice!

    Please note: Your privacy is of utmost importance to us. Your cell phone number will not ever be shared or sold; in fact, it will be discarded at the close of the conference.

    NAMA

    Talking Trade With NAFB This Week

    Chuck Zimmerman

    NAFB ConventionThe National Association of Farm Broadcasting Trade Talk invites keep showing up and this is the week for the convention.

    Hear the latest from NAFB President, Pam Jahnke, who quotes the prophet, Dolly Parton.

    Audio, NAFB

    Farm Bureau Helps Provide Beginning Farmer Info

    Cindy Zimmerman

    The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) is helping to support the future of agriculture by assisting in the creation of an information clearinghouse for beginning farmers.

    afbfAFBF has teamed up with the Agriculture Department’s National Agricultural Library to create the National Curriculum and Training Clearinghouse for Beginning Farmers and Ranchers. The program will help those who have decided to pursue a career in agriculture and will help support Farm Bureau’s commitment to rural development.

    “This is a great opportunity for Farm Bureau to provide information to beginning farmers on how to start and stay in farming and ranching,” said AFBF President Bob Stallman. “We are providing in-kind support to the National Ag Library with outreach, publicity, educational seminars and our annual conference where other project grants will be highlighted.”

    The clearinghouse will use the grant money to develop a Web site and databases to serve beginning farmers and ranchers, with particular focus on those categorized as underserved. The clearinghouse will provide education, training, outreach and mentoring materials to beginning farmers and ranchers across the United States. AFBF will serve as a conduit for distribution of the information.

    Read more here.

    Uncategorized

    BASF Headline Harvest Report from SW Missouri

    Cindy Zimmerman

    headline harvest kipThe harvest is running about a month behind schedule just about everywhere, including Missouri, which only had half the corn crop and a third of the soybean crop harvested as of November 1.

    BASF sent us out on the road this week to talk to some farmers about the late harvest and we started at the top, with World Soybean Yield Champion Kip Cullers of Purdy, who says this is the latest harvest he has ever seen. “We started combining corn August 12 and its now November and I’ve never combined corn in my entire life in the month of November, we should have been done a month and a half ago, and we’ve just barely started on soybeans,” Kip said.

    Nevertheless, Kip says he is still seeing good yields, thanks to Headline fungicide. “Probably 15-20 bushel an acre increase in corn and about the same in soybeans,” he said. This year in particular he notes the importance of standability in the corn that has not yet been combined. “We sprayed Headline on every acre of corn and the corn’s actually standing there waiting on us, but some of my neighbors’ corn that don’t have Headline on it and it looks like a tee-total wreck to me.”

    Here is a video interview with Kip, along with some B-roll video of him harvesting beans this week, followed by the audio from the interview. And check back for more Headline harvest reports over the next month or so.

    Audio, BASF, Soybean, Video