Skip to main content

Welcome! #myAGstory

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 want to encourage you to listen, especially if you love agriculture or don't understand why I'm writing this. If there are any topics you want me to cover, leave them in the comments, or email me. I want you to support agriculture, so we are able to feed the growing population. My goal is to build consumer confidence. My responsibility, however, is to share #myAGstory and take back the story of agriculture.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Does Meat Cause Cancer?

So, in light of the recent chaotic news about meat being a potential carcinogen I have been asked to do a post about it. First off, let’s talk about what the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) really said. The IARC ranks the potential of cancer causing agents in 5 categories 1 : ·          Group 1: Carcinogenic to humans ·          Group 2A: Probably carcinogenic to humans ·          Group 2B: Possibly carcinogenic to humans ·          Group 3: Unclassifiable as to carcinogenicity in humans ·          Group 4: Probably not carcinogenic to humans Now, according to the press release, red meat is considered as Group 2A, probably carcinogenic to humans. Now, please don’t stop reading here and thinking your suspicions were confirmed.  According to the arti...

The Agrarian's Alcove Celebrates: Earth Day

Good morning Agrarians!! Happy Earth Day ! Hopefully you are out celebrating with fun Earth Day crafts and free activities! I always loved Earth Day activities as a kid. So when I started hearing about the activities this year, I wondered how this all got started. It’s a huge event that happens each year, and is celebrated in more than 190 countries! More than one billion people celebrate Earth Day. If we go back to the very first Earth Day, in April 1970 we see lots of protesters with their signs held high. The 70’s were a time of great protests. If you look at pictures of the first earth day, you will see children wearing shirts that say “Let me grow up!”, large handmade signs with snappy slogans, and people doing generally weird things...like walking around in gas masks. So obviously this was a classic grassroots protest. If you think our world is dirty now, you should have seen it before Earth Day. Rivers were LITERALLY catching fire when someone tossed a cigarette into them...
Alright, let’s face it. It’s a new year. And if you’re in college in the US, then most of you are going back to school this week. But whether you’re a mom, a college kid, or a single adult, we ALL have to grocery shop. With the New Year I know many people have resolutions to eat healthier, cleaner, or maybe to just cut back on spending so much money on food! In 2013 people spent over $717 million on food **at home (no restaurants)** in the US alone. I imagine that with the trends in organic and natural foods rising, we will surpass $730 million mark if we haven’t already (find the charts here ). So, welcome to my second post in the series of The Savvy Shopper’s Guide series. You can read the first post here . Let me start by clearing up some confusion. I think people get confused by the labels “natural,” “naturally raised,” and “organic.” Some people I have spoken to, thought they were all very similar or meant the same thing. They are not the same thing. To be organic, produce...