HSUS Revealed!

This video was created by Missouri Farmers Care.

Celebrating National Ag Week

It seems only appropriate that spring break falls during National Ag Week and I have been able to go home and spend some time on the farm. I have been helping my dad with chores and rode with him to town to sell market hogs yesterday. The weather has been beautiful- today it is going to be near 60 degrees! Thank goodness the snow is finally melting and it is beginning to feel like spring.

During National Ag Week I hope you take the time to tell your agricultural story and thank a farmer. They work hard everyday taking care of the crops and livestock. Here are some facts and figures about agriculture in Iowa:

Each year, Iowa farmers produce approximately ...

• 8.2 million turkeys
• 148,000 pounds of cheese
• 3.8 million cattle
• 1,230 million pounds of wool
• 2.1 billion bushels of corn
• 13.8 billion eggs
• 4.13 billion pounds of milk
• 17.3 million hogs
• 235,000 sheep
• 525 million bushels of soybeans

• Iowa has 92,600 farms, 4,000 more than the state had in 2006.
• The state ranks seventh nationally in cattle, tenth in sheep and lamb production and twelfth in milk production.
• Iowa is the top producing state in corn, soybeans, pork, and eggs
• Iowa’s 39 ethanol plants produce a total of 3.27 billion gallons of ethanol annually, more per year than any other state. 
• Thirty nine percent of Iowa’s corn is used to produce ethanol.

For more facts about Iowa's agriculture check out these websites:

Iowa Farm Bureau

Iowa Pork Producers Association

Iowa Beef Industry Council

Iowa Corn Growers Association

Iowa Turkey Federation

Check This Out!

My friend Elizabeth Burns Thompson was featured in a blog today! Check it out here.

Different Points of View

This is getting posted a bit later than it should have. I had all the intentions to get it up earlier this week but life happens and I had been distracted by a few other things, mainly completing a project by Monday. Anyways, that is done and it's back into the regular routine for me.

Two weeks ago I attended a lecture on campus entitled DNA at the Dinner table and the focus of this lectures was on the global politics of genetically modified food. I will admit I wasn't sure what to expect from this lecture, it was sponsored by the biology program and I was nervous that it would be heavy with biological terms. Thankfully this wasn't the case and I felt that this was a worth while lecture. 

Lisa Weasel was the speaker and she has traveled the world trying to understand why people are either for or against GMO is our food chain.

To give you a bit of background about GMO usage

• 25 countries plant GMO crops
• The top three countires are:
• The US (64 million hecters of GMO crops)
• Brazil (21.4 million hecters)
• Argentina (21.3 million hecters)
• In the US
• 93% of soybeans planted are GMO
• Cotton: 93%
• Corn: 86%

As you can see the US heavily relys on GMO's in crop production, in Europe that is not the case.
Six European countires have banned GMO's. When I traveled to Greece last spring I noticed this as well. We were discussing with several producers about increasing yeild and the advantages of technology but non were too excited about the idea of using GMO's. Generally speaking, in America, we are willing to try anything unless it is proven to be harmful, in Europe they are not willing to try anything untill it is proven safe.

An interesting point that Lisa brought up was the fact that people have voted Monsanto (which beat out BP) as the "most evil" company. This is just what she has found through her studies.

Like I said, this was an interesting lecture and that brought up several points I hadn't realized before.