The Agrarian's Alcove

Thanks to the great responses I got from my poll, this week’s post is on none other than lab grown meat! First, we’ll discuss why lab grown meat was even a thought. Then, we’ll discuss a little about how it works. And finally, we’ll discuss what it could mean for our future. Ready to dig in? We all know PETA is against the animal agriculture industry as well as literally any other industry that has anything to do with animals. It isn’t a surprise that they offered a reward for the first person to develop lab grown (sometimes called cultured) meat and market it successfully. This is a project that has been in the making for several years. By 2012 more than 30 research teams worldwide were trying to make it happen. PETA wanted to be able to prevent animal “cruelty” by removing the animal entirely (although...this would require stem cells from animals, and lab tests so I’m not really sure what they were thinking.) Others saw test-tube meat as a means to satisfy the food source for a...

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...

I have had some people ask me about GMO’s, and to clarify some things. I have written a post about being #ProGMO and about the Non-GMO Project , but they’re from when I was first getting the blog started, and I feel like I can do better. So in researching more, I have found about a million articles on how GMO’s are bad… but guess what? All of the articles are from 2010-2015. It’s 2018 yall!!! They clearly have no new cases to make. If you go through the articles they often mention studies that are vague or seemingly biased; that say more research needs to be done, and other things that are ambiguous. I will say, I was actually impressed with this WebMD article . It was on point, unbiased, and told you to make your own decisions. So let’s take a look at what others have to say. The Natural Society website had some awful, awful things to say about GMO’s. They claim that GMO’s are linked to more than 22 diseases. The study they use is from the Journal of Organic Systems. While ...

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 ...

Visit a Farmer’s Market We all talk about the need to support local farmers, but how many times did you go the farmer’s market last year? I planned to go several times… but HEB sells “locally” grown food, and they sell a lot of items that are certified Go Texan. It was more convenient to go there, however “local” to a grocery store can mean anywhere in the state, rather than what you might think of as local. Farmer’s markets usually only sell food that are in season. Grocery stores generally sell foods all year around because larger farms can afford to grow fruits and vegetables indoors in a greenhouse. Dedicate your time once a season to visiting a farmer’s market and seeing what foods are in season. The sellers at a market love to talk about their products, how they grow them, or their favorite recipes to use them in. If you visit a farmer’s market, ask that farmer about their product! It can be a great learning experience, and it’s just a lot of fun. Plus you’re helping out your ...

Monday, August 14, 2017 6:58 PM Lately, I have been really kicking myself for the amount of food I have let go bad. I know there ways to avoid it; I know the impact it has on our environment. I also know that we are really blessed in America to have access to and availability of all this food, and yet I am taking it for granted.  I'm sure you have all heard that you can freeze almost anything, so that it doesn't go to waste. This usually is the first thing I see when I read about "how to make food last longer", or "how to save money on groceries." Today I'm going to discuss 5 ways to prevent food waste, that aren't just about using your freezer.     "Repurpose" bread, and other food We all think about upcycling and reusing material items, but how often do you think about using your food that is about to go bad in a different way than normal? When I was a kid, we would wait until we had a couple of heels of bread, or any...

Okay people, listen up! It's the beginning of the school year and we are all trying to pack the perfect healthy lunches for ourselves, our kids, and/or our significant others. So I found out recently that Dannon (yes, the company we have all gotten yogurt from at some point in our life) has teamed up with an organization and has turned a section of their company completely against GMO’s. For this segment of their business, Dannon is not even allowing the cows from which their dairy comes from to be fed GMO corn. Hooray for the Non-GMO Project right??  Wrong.  Fact: 142 types of corn are Genetically Modified.  Fact: on the Non-GMO Project website,they only mention good things about Genetically Engineered (GE) corn.  The website lists that GMO corn is more heat tolerant as well as drought stress resistant  (anyone from Texas or California appreciate that?) . Do you know what that means? It means that in a drought we can use less water to prod...

This is the last post in the Savvy Shopper series! This post has taken me awhile to write, mainly because it is hard to find unbiased facts about this specific topic. Today I am going to be discussing food from free range animals. This is a seriously growing trend with all the animal rights activists, and animal welfare . I’m going to start by defining free range, and then I’m going to try something new. I want to compare the cold-hard facts about free range animals to an article written by PETA. Saying PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is like a saying a really bad word to people in my industry. For those who don’t know, PETA really wants everyone to become a vegan. They’ve had several law suits against them, and they make law suits against several individuals and companies every year. PETA believes that animals are being enslaved to humans and don’t want people to own pets. Okay, there’s your background on PETA; with that said I am going to try my very hardest to pr...

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...

Hey everyone! This is a follow up to my previous blog Temple Grandin’s Insight: Animal Welfare . Today I’m going to be sharing what she thought about current issues. These are really important topics and most were brought up during the time that she left at the end of her talks for questions and discussion. Beta-Agonists                                  T   Problems with beta-agonists are generally dosage related                                  T   Beta-agonists should not be used in the heat. o    She doesn’t know why but she says that something funny happens in the heat. More lame cattle come in to packers. Animals start walking on their toes and shifting their weight back and forth from one foot to the other “as if the ground was hot lava.” More dead cattle come in to packers. Before b...