I have not read the propsed H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 but I’ve sure seen a lot of online discussion about it. Farm blogger Alex Tiller sent me a note to alert people to a petition site called LeaveMyFoodAlone.org.
As of March 31, 2009, we have received over 2500 signatures for the petition! (the site was launched on March 26th at 2PM) This is a great start, but we need you to keep telling people about the petition and posting links to LeaveMyFoodAlone.org on forums, blogs, and other related sites. We have also notice growing pushback from the bill supporters who are aggressively pointing out that there were some false emails circulating about the bill early on. It is true, HR875 DOES NOT outlaw farming. However, that fact doesn’t mean the bill is good legislation for small famers and growers. Keep them on point. It’s about the bill, not whether or not there was some debunked web buzz. Refer any bill supporters that you hear from to this article for a level headed argument against HR 875.
I keep seeing the Monsanto Tweeter having to point people to a post on their blog to correct misinformation about the bill. So it’s obvious the bill is touching some emotions and there’s a lot of misunderstanding about it.
Farm Fresh Blog From Iowa Farm Bureau
And another farm group blog has been born. This time it’s Iowa Farm Bureau with the Farm Fresh Blog.
Welcome to Farm Fresh, Iowa Farm Bureau’s blog about the people who bring you your food, fuel and fiber and the issues they face. With so much information available to consumers today, it can be daunting to separate fact from fiction. It is our hope that this blog can introduce you to the faces behind your food and shed some light on questions you may have about how it is grown and raised and what that means to you.
We also hope that this new blog will help readers gain a better understanding of our organization, the Iowa Farm Bureau. We are farmers, sure; but we’re also you; teachers, bankers, accountants, artists, parents, grandparents, caretakers of people, animal and land. We are 153,000 member families strong and growing. We have members from every corner of Iowa who are working together to help farmers and rural communities prosper, improve the quality of life for all Iowans, and supporting our youth.
Meet the bloggers (I love transparency). They put their comment policy right out on the homepage (more on internal page too):
Farm Fresh encourages readers to comment and engage in respectful conversation about the content posted here. We value thoughtful, polite and concise comments that reflect a variety of views. To achieve that, all comments will be moderated prior to posting.
They allow comments – hint, hint. Not everyone does. They’ve got photos on Flickr and they’re using Twitter. What do you think?
Pistachio Recall Website
Food recalls seem to be fairly frequent lately and it seems like the general public really doesn’t get good information about what is actually being recalled. I would blame that at least in part to journalists trying to be “sensational” with the effect of scaring the crap out of people who then tend to over react. Okay, got that out of my system.
There is a website now on which consumers can get factual information about the pistachio recall:
As part of ongoing collaboration with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), pistachio growers and processors today announced a new Web site — www.pistachiorecall.org — that lists specific pistachio products and brands that are confirmed safe to consume.
The Web site is produced by CAL-PURE, a co-op of California pistachio growers (“CAL-PURE”), and the Western Pistachio Association (“WPA”) and is accessible directly and via a link on the FDA Web site at www.fda.gov/pistachios. The new site is being made available in light of a pistachio recall by the processor, Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella, Inc. and Setton International, due to potential Salmonella contamination. The recall action has been taken on a precautionary basis, and the FDA reports no illnesses tied to the recalled pistachios.
Farm Podcaster Tool
The farm podcaster who is all about quality may want to look into the Tascam DR-100. This bad boy looks pretty sweet to me. I like the fact that it has built-in XLR inputs. It’s a little larger than a Marantz PMD 620 (still on sale for $100 off!) but still small form factor. Records on an SD card.
The rugged TASCAM DR-100 offers high-end recording features to musicians and engineers who demand more from their portable recorder. It features four built-in microphones, two cardioid and two omnidirectional, with analog limiting and filtering for great-sounding recordings. A pair of XLR microphone inputs with phantom power welcomes pro-grade condenser microphones, and line in and out connectors are also provided.
The DR-100 includes a rechargeable Lithium-ion battery, but can also be powered by AA batteries or an optional AC adapter. A built-in speaker allows for instant playback, and the metal enclosure includes a tripod mounting hole for recording flexibility. A wireless remote control is also included for remotely starting the recording.
Midweek With Leon The Milkman
I’ve been a fan of Leon The Milkman for a long time. Finally I got to meet him via YouTube. Leon says he’s starting Midweek With The Milkman, a video newsletter for dairy fans. Say hello to him:
New Media Soybeans
I just found out about the United Soybean Board’s podcast called, BeanCast. I had heard they were planning to produce one but I guess I missed it somehow since it looks like it started last December. It came up in conversation today. I’m glad to see another ag group taking advantage of this new media option.
A couple of things hit me though when I looked at it. It’s not clear that I can subscribe to the podcast. It says I can subscribe to the blog though. I wonder if people will understand that the blog rss feed is okay to use in iTunes for example. The BeanCast is being produced by well known farm broadcaster David Russell but the site doesn’t say who David is. David works for Brownfield of course but I’m not sure everyone knows that. Might be good to disclose that information since he doesn’t work for the United Soybean Board.
I like the fact that they are posting each episode onto a blog. There are a lot of good reasons to do this starting with search engine optimization and online archiving. They’re also posting it as both a click to download option or play in a flash player. This provides choices to the visitor and I’ve found that to be much appreciated, especially if you hope someone else will “pass it along.”
I tried to find the BeanCast in the iTunes podcast library and instead found a trademarked “The Beancast: A Marketing Podcast” by Cool Bean Productions. There’s also a Beancaster.com podcast which is about financial information. No BeanCast for USB though. The iTunes directory is a good place to be found for people who are key word searching for podcasts since it’s probably the biggest online directory of podcasts that I know of anyway.
Zimfo Bytes
- Through a collaboration of 830 veterinarians, animal health suppliers and Pfizer Animal Health, nearly $500,000 has been donated to local FFA chapters across the country. Through purchases of Pfizer Animal Health’s vaccines, veterinarians and animal health suppliers were able to donate to a local FFA chapter of their choice.
- Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. announced Lumax and Lexar herbicides and Quilt fungicide have received federal registration for use in grain sorghum from the EPA.
- For his career as a pioneer in corn breeding, A. Forrest Troyer is one of this year’s recipients of the prestigious Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture.
- Makhteshim Agan of North America, Inc. has promoted Troy Bettner to the position of southern regional business manager. Previously he served as the company’s senior product manager, fungicides.
Earth Baby and Better Baby Bums
I saw this today in the National Biodiesel Board’s e-newsletter and thought it was cute and funny and environmentally friendly.
Corn-based diapers have apparently been around for a couple of years now, first made by a Swedish company called Nature Baby Care, but they are getting a bit more buzz lately. If you search around on the web, you will find a number of different brands eco-friendly diapers and other websites specializing in places to find them – like Better Baby Bums, for example. You gotta love that name!
According to BBB, the Nature Baby Care diapers were “the first ECO-friendly high-performance diaper, based on new green technology, protected by a Swedish patent. The diaper is soft, thin, comfortable and with perfect sizing. It’s performance is as good as the best ”traditional” diapers. It has an exclusive 100 % chlorine free absorbent material and the material against the baby’s skin is based on corn instead of plastic like traditional diapers, 100% compostable, breathable and extremely kind for the baby. The packaging is 100 % compostable and based on corn.”
Then there are companies like Earth Baby, based (where else?) in California, which offers “compostable diaper service” utilizing corn-based diapers. They claim they have composted over 9,600 pounds of diapers to date – turning them into nutrient-rich top soil in as little as 14 weeks.
Talk about new uses for corn!
Dupont Fellow Receives Award
Dr. George Lahm has just been named to receive a big award.
One of the most accomplished researchers in the crop protection industry, DuPont Fellow George Lahm, Ph.D., has been named to receive the 2009 Kenneth A. Spencer Award for Outstanding Achievement in Food and Agricultural Chemistry. He received the award for his meritorious contributions to agricultural and food chemistry, including his contributions to the discovery of the two newest DuPont blockbuster insect control products, DuPont™ Rynaxypyr® and Cyazypyr™.
Lahm joined DuPont in 1980 and has led major discovery efforts in the company’s agricultural business, including work on innovative insecticides that increase the marketable value of fruits, vegetables and other crops, by reducing losses due to insects for growers throughout the world.
Lahm was selected to receive the Kenneth A. Spencer Award from a nationwide pool of candidates by a 12-person jury of American Chemical Society members representing industry, education and research. He will receive his award at an October 2009 symposium organized in his honor by the American Chemical Society. Founded in 1955, the award is administered by the Kansas City Section of the American Chemical Society and supported by a gift from the Kenneth A. and Helen F. Spencer Foundation. George Levitt, another DuPont Crop Protection researcher, received the Spencer Award in 1991 for his discovery of sulfonylurea herbicides.
Cellulosic Ethanol To Bridge The Gap
Commercializing Gasification/Fermentation Technology was the topic of comments made by Mark Dietzen, INEOS Bio, at the Farm Foundation Transition To A Bio Economy Conference.
He says that they have a practical technology that they’re in the process of implementing to be online by 2011 to produce cellulosic ethanol. He thinks that it will help bridge the gap between what’s possible with crop based ethanol and allow the substitution of a larger percentage of gasoline with a bio based fuel.
You can listen to my interview with Mark here: ff-global-09-dietzen.mp3
You can download the interview with this link (mp3).
You can find photos from the conference here:
Transition To A Bio Economy Conference: Global & Trade Issues Photo Album