The Agrarian's Alcove

What do you think of when you hear the words farmer or farming?  Do you see a little red barn with the typical farm animals? One pig, one work horse, a cow, maybe a few chickens and a barn cat right? Now, what do you think of when you hear factory farming? Industrial agriculture? That's a completely different picture right? Which one would you go for?  Today, society wants to go backwards. To simpler times, where technology isn't running the world. Where a small farm to feed your family and neighborhood would be enough. That idea isn't realistic though. For an agriculture advocate, someone who understands and supports modern agriculture, they would go for what the media calls "factory farming." They want the huge towering industry where technology rules and scares the living fire out of society. But what is it that scares people? Is it the technology? The concern for animal welfare? The speed and efficiency with which these farms are producing food? Let...

Lately, on my street, flyers have been taped up advocating vegan-ism. Most people who adopt herbivorous diets (either vegan or vegetarian) do so out of concern for animal welfare. First off,  I believe in animal welfare whole-heartedly.  However, I do not believe in going vegan. Guidelines developed by Temple Grandin were implemented into the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Temple Grandin does not only talk about methods of slaughter but also other animal handling methods. She has done research on the correlation  between stress on slaughter animals and their meat quality. These studies show that if an animal is in either long term, or short term stress the meat quality will be low. When this happens in cattle, meat is typically very dark, firm and dry. In pigs, it is pale soft and exudative (very watery and almost slimy). If this happens, the meat is not marketable and money is lost in the industry. Animal welfare is not a foreign subject to people of agricult...

Welcome to The Agrarian's Alcove! Let me start off by sharing some of my goals. This blog is for anyone and everyone who loves agriculture, has concerns or questions about agriculture, or anyone who wants to know where their food comes from. My goal is to educate you and consumers everywhere. To let you know the truth about modern agriculture. Media today can give some pretty convincing arguments on GMOs (genetically modified organisms), animal welfare, and the "crooked" motives of our farmers today, but don't worry! I'll give it to you straight, with research to back it up. Today I'd like to start with the topic, myAGstory. It's a concept that was introduced by Donnie Smith at the 2014 National FFA convention. Donnie is the CEO of Tyson, yes the Tyson you know for making frozen chicken nuggets. His commencement speech ( found here ) is one of the best ag preaches I've ever heard. It's an 18 minute speech, which may discourage some of you, but I ...