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.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Truth About Uncured Meats

When you’re at the grocery store, do you ever feel like all you see is greenwashed logos and brands? It’s hard to find anything that’s not “all natural” or non-GMO. We’ve talked about labels before, and how they can be misleading. For example, meat is always gluten free, but now tons of meat products have a gluten-free label on them. Some consumers likely don’t realize that all meat has always been gluten free, and they pay extra for that little banner. One of the most misleading labels-in my opinion at least-is the “uncured” label on processed meats. What do you think of when you see that label on your lunch meat or bacon? I assume  most people, when they see this label, think Oh, there’s not as many chemicals! It’s gotta be better. More natural. Maybe even healthier! The good news is, I was really impressed with how accurate the first few Google results were when I looked up the differences between uncured and cured bacon. I saw only a few statements that uncured bacon ...
Post a Comment
Read more
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Savvy Shopper's Guide to: Organic Food

Hey everyone! I am going to begin a 4 post series called the Savvy Shoppers Guide. It will include facts on organic, locally grown, all natural, and free range products that you buy. This way you will be able to make savvy shopping decisions when you purchase groceries! You will also be able to understand why we have conventional agriculture and why we need to continue with conventional ag even if you choose to opt for non-conventional. Today we will be covering organic food items. So first I would like to say that I do not believe that there are any food safety advantages that come from producing organic foods. In fact, in 2002 Alex Avery, research director for the Center of Global Food Issues stated that natural and organic foods are eight times more likely to be recalled than conventionally produced foods 1 . The USDA has found that drug residues in ALL beef, not just organic, to be virtually zero 2 . Of course all foods from animals naturally have hormones. While organicall...
Post a Comment
Read more