Every Day is National Agriculture Day

Every Day is Agriculture Day

Happy National Agriculture Day! On March 15th, universities, organizations and individuals from across the United States will celebrate the role that agriculture plays in our everyday lives. Having an agricultural background, the strangest phrase that I’ve ever been told is, “I really don’t have any connection to agriculture at all.” Knowing the diversity of agriculture, and everything that it has to offer, I think it’s important that we know that we all play a role in agriculture and that we all should be celebrating Agriculture Day!

The first thought that comes to most individuals minds when you bring up the word “agriculture” is the idea of the farmer, driving a tractor through his fields. Though this is an important aspect, more than 21 million workers in America (or about 15% of the workforce) is employed in the agricultural industry. Opportunities include careers in Park and Recreation Management, health-care and pharmaceutical packaging and food science.

This is also a great time for consumers to get involved in the agricultural industry because it provides a variety of choices. Grass-fed or grain-fed, all natural or organic, we are able to take advantage of each option because the hard working farmers and ranchers who dedicate themselves to our industry. Not only are these farmers and ranchers producing a variety of products for us to enjoy, there are also producing more with less. According the American Farm Bureau, today’s farmers produce 262 percent more food with 2 percent fewer inputs (labor, seeds, feed, fertilizer, etc.), compared with 1950.

Not only should we be celebrating agriculture in the United States, but worldwide as well. This past January, I was able to travel to South Africa with the National FFA Organization. During our 10 day stay, we were able to tour many different agricultural operations, including a family owned dairy, and even one of the top 5 producing farms in the country! My travels made me realize that agriculture is advancing all over the world!

Even though March 15th may be the official day of National Agriculture Day, it’s important that we celebrate the industry that feeds the our nation, and every nation around the world, everyday. So whether it’s sitting down to a meal, putting on that cotton shirt, or planting a new set of flowers to mark the beginning of spring, go out, and celebrate agriculture!

If you’d like to learn more about National Agriculture Day, visit (http://www.agday.org)

Yours truly,

Kyler Langvardt

A Bit More Than Just Planting Seeds

I will admit that prior to three weeks ago, I never had much experience with planting crops – I grew up on a cattle farm – and I still don’t a lot of experience with it now. But after submitting a project for my crop science class, I have a deeper respect for those that grow crops for a living. 

Let's see, the rows have 15 inches between them and three inches between each plant. Wait, why is there so much math in farming?

photo courtesy: SumaGroulX

For my project, a few of my classmates and I were assigned a field and were given a description of what the farmer has done in the past, as well as problems that he has run into recently. Our group had to take on the role of consultants to the farmer and provide educated suggestions for what he should do in the coming year. While none of us were experts on the subject, we ended up submitting a 12-page proposal, highlighting as much information as we could. 

Among the most important information, we had to detail:

• Different types of soil in the field
• Varieties of seeds for the crops that we were planting
• How much fertilizer should be used to keep the plants growing and healthy
• How we should plant the seeds in the ground, how far apart the rows of crops would be and how many seeds we planned to use
• Estimated costs for everything that we would use

I don’t know about you, but what I knew about growing crops was just a fraction of what we covered in this assignment. I even called a family friend that sells different types of seed, asking for his advice and recommendations.

At times, I think it can be easy to assume that the typical procedure for growing crops is to stick the seed in the ground and pray for rain. That might be the most simplistic view of it, at least. When looking at every angle of it, however, it really looks like a science. Farmers have to know what they are doing to ensure that everything on the farm will work out day to day, month to month and year to year. They also have to be able to adapt, which I found out as I had to provide backup solutions to our group’s original suggestions just in case they would not work out.

Have you ever seen a planting season or harvest? Have you seen the farm equipment going down the road early in the morning? Just imagine how long farmers spend out in the field, and then think about how much time is spent out of the field, double and triple-checking everything to make sure that their plants and land not only survive, but thrive.

I may not find myself plowing up the ground or applying fertilizer any time soon, but when I see a farmer out in the field I will know that he has been up for longer than me, and will probably stay up longer than me, more than likely thinking of what more he could do than just putting seeds in the dirt and praying for rain.

Until next time,

Chance

At the End of the Day, It's All About the People

This past weekend I took a vacation from school. Not to some exotic location with warm sandy beaches but to a place I can call home in Southwest Iowa, 4K Farms. Being an Oregon native, going to school in Kansas can be difficult at times since I don’t get to go home as often as I’d like.  However, the generosity and hospitality of the Swanson family has become one of the things that keeps me in the Midwest. That and the pigs. This Saturday was filled with pigs, puppies, and time spent with lots of good people. 


Max feeding a boar a Gatorade

When I hopped in the farm truck on Saturday morning, I knew it would be a long day of work. As Drake, the neighbor farm help, and I started in the farrowing house (where the sows and piglets are), we fed the sows and checked on the babies while carrying on a conversation on how his high school football season went. We continued from barn to barn, to the Double L nursery where we found a sick pig that would need treated. Part of being an excellent caretaker of livestock involves spotting out the animals that aren’t acting “normal” and nursing them back to good health.

I then got to climb from pen to pen with Kirk (my Iowa dad), his friend from Missouri, Jesse, and Jesse’s five-year old son, Max. We spent this time looking at the young pigs, sorting through gilts and sows, and discussing pedigrees with genetic lines that go back to the early nineties. While many people would think that sounds crazy, standing there listening to the conversations taking place, I got to see two individuals talk with passion in their eyes about the swine industry and ways to help it progress. Even little Max was in on it. He came walking over to us after looking at the pens and pens of boars to say “Kirk, you have some very impressive boars.” I just smiled and laughed, thinking that the ordinary 5-year old probably doesn’t talk about boars everyday. 

It takes many moving parts to get the best picture

The main task of the day was to take pictures of some of the elite breeding stock on the farm.  We would wash the pigs and then take them to a big grassy area to capture the perfect shot. It takes a lot of patience, creativity and perfect timing to get those photos, but the end result is highly satisfying. Several hours and over 400 photos later, it was time to call it a day for the pig photo shoot.

As the sun began to set on Saturday evening, Jerra (my Iowa mom) and I worked on feeding the pigs their second meal of the day while the boys snuck in one last picture of a boar before the sun was all the way gone.  After finishing up the evening chores, we gathered in the kitchen where Jerra had whipped up my favorite lasagna and cherry pie. Exhausted from a long day at the farm, and full from supper, we all talked late into the night about hogs, dogs and the livestock industry. One quote that resonated with me came from a conversation Kirk had had a few years back with another swine enthusiast. He said “When leaders begin to follow, the breed will fail to progress.” I think that line is one that could be taken and applied to many different aspects of life.



Kirk feeding sows at the bunk

Sunday I rode around in the farm truck with Kirk to work on morning chores before I headed back to Manhattan. The life conversations in between bedding down pens and vaccinating piglets are when some of the most valuable advice is given.

As I sit on here on Monday back at school and reflecting on the weekend, I can’t help but realize I have been blessed to have the weekend I did. It’s not very often that you find a warm sunny Iowa day in mid November, with views of harvested corn fields, all while being surrounded by people that share the same passion as you. A wise person once told me “Don’t let school get in the way of your education.” I didn’t know what that meant at the time it was said to me, but after this weekend I finally do. The classroom is a valuable place to pick up facts, but it’s the unscripted days that I have spent in Iowa outside the walls of a classroom that I have learned the most.  At the end of the day, agriculture is a way of life, and it’s the people that make it worthwhile.

Until next time,
Kiah

 

 

           

Not the Farmer's Daughter

Riding my horse Daisy

Hello to all you FFT readers! My name is Cheyanne Evans and I’m new to the Food For Thought scene. I am currently a sophomore at K-State in Animal Science & Industry with a focus in production management. However, my true passion is with the swine industry. By now I’m sure most of you caught that I didn’t grow up farming by the title of the post. I grew up in a very small town about an hour north of Manhattan. I didn’t have farm animals to and take care of growing up, but what I did have was a passion for animals and a love for the earth. Then when I was a freshman in high school my family bought two horses and a farm and that when everything changed for me. I got involved with 4-H (showing horses)  and FFA and started helping with the local farmers around me to experience what it was like to be a farmer. Some people think you have to be raised to be a farmer or that you have to till dirt and plant seeds or maybe we all have cows but that’s not completely true. I hope I help show you that anyone can get involved and can be a farmer if they want to.



Holding a grower hog

Growing up I had dogs and cats which I loved, but I always wanted horses, cows, and every other farm animal you can name. Living in town, it wasn’t easy to have all these animals.  We also had a large garden that we would grow different kinds of vegetables that we would eat or can all summer long. This was not enough for me though, so I begged and pleaded with my parents to buy a horse, but they did the next best thing. They bought a small farm house on a little two acre patch and two ponies for me. I was in seventh heaven. Later we expanded our farm, we got chickens, ducks and pygmy goats. This is when all the real chores of having a farm kicked in I had to get up early every morning and go out and feed all of these animals before I ate breakfast and sometimes before the sun had come up along with getting ready for school. We may not have had cows or even crops to worry about but taking care of any kind of animal is time consuming. Fast forwarding to the bigger step toward becoming the farmer I always wanted to be, after high school I started dating a hog farmer’s son and this was a huge change from the farm I lived on with my family.

Feeding the pigs marshmallows

Hog farming is messy and sometimes smelly work, but it is so rewarding in its own ways. For me, the reward was watching piglets that were coming from the nursery to the finishing building and watching them grow and become adult pigs. I will tell you being a hog farmer isn’t an easy job. You work very hard to keep your stock healthy and growing like they should, and then you send them to be harvested to feed people around the country. It seems like you work so hard for nothing, but when you look at the bigger picture you realize it is something . You just helped feed a family or kids at school. That’s something, you helped a bigger cause! This is where I found my calling, I could raise animals that I loved to help people not go hungry. Many people think farmers look at their livestock as something to make a profit and that they don’t care otherwise, but it’s deeper than that. They love these animals and it’s a way of life but it’s never easy when you have an animal that is sick or injured. On the lighter side if you think you want to work with agriculture in anyway go for it. Find a local farmer that’s willing to let you spend a couple days on the farm see what they do, how they do it and why do it. Be ready to put your hand in the dirt and get dirty because it’s and experience that you will remember for the rest of your life.

Thanks for reading!
Cheyenne

National Ag Day 2015: What Does Agriculture Mean to You?

A spring wheat field in Kansas.

Happy National Agriculture Day! Here's a quick question for your Wednesday coffee break:

When you think of agriculture, what comes to mind?

Do you think of a pasture full of cows? A waving wheat field? Apple orchards? I tend to think of a rolling wheat field, because I hail from the Wheat State. However, do the people of agriculture ever cross your mind?

What's cuter than a baby pig?

I hope that you think of people when you think of agriculture, because the people who produce the food we eat are very important. That doesn't mean they are more important than doctors, teachers or firefighters but they still do play a vital role in our society. In fact, many agriculture producers are also teachers, firefighters, lawyers or students. All of these different people may help produce food in a unique way. A teacher may help his/her family raise cattle after the last bell rings. Similarly, many farmers or ranchers volunteer in their communities as firefighters, school board members or community leaders.

Agriculture is not a cookie cutter industry.

It's a complex chain of producers, consumers, retailers, agribusinesses, families and friends all working together to produce food for a growing world. Working with communities to provide good food that leads to healthy lifestyles. Working in conjunction with public health leaders, educators, public policy officials and many others to move forward with feeding the world. See a pattern? We are a nation working together, hand-in-hand, to feed the world. Pretty daunting task.

Today, on National Ag Day, I challenge you to think about agriculture and how you fit into our U.S. food chain. Do you make informed food decisions? Do you help produce food? Do you market, sell, distribute, promote or eat food? If so, you have an important role and should celebrate National Agriculture Day as a food enthusiast and agriculture impressionist.

Just some Food For Thought!
~ Buzzard ~

USDA Ag Census - Geeking Out Over Agriculture

Big ranches. Small farms. Community supported agriculture programs. All of these are outlets where food is planted and raised for American citizens and, in many cases, the world.

But unless you live near a rural community, it can be really difficult to find a farm or ranch to visit in order to learn more about the food you eat, the farms that produce it and more importantly, the farmers and ranchers raising and producing it.

To make the vast endeavor of learning about your food a bit more manageable, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has recently published the results of the 2012 Ag Census. Yes, I am aware it is 2014 but the USDA collects, combines and categorizes millions and millions of data points so it takes a while to make it easy to share.

A new facet to the Ag Census data are the easy-to-read infographics. Generally, if an individual wanted to look up how many operations in the U.S. specialized in beef cattle (619,000 according to the census), that person would have to scroll through pages of reports, Excel files and other documents looking for the exact right piece of information. However, this year the USDA has created some really nifty infographics that highlight some important and key components of American agriculture.


Click to enlarge
Source: USDA Ag Census 

You can see in the infographic above many answers to questions regarding current agriculture issues. For example, more than 57,000 farms or ranches employ the use of alternative energy sources (wind, water, etc). How cool is that?! Farmers and ranchers using alternative energy to produce food for the world in an environmentally sustainable way!
 
Another fact that isn't necessarily cool but provides some insight into the costs behind farming: Farmers spent almost $20 BILLION on seed in 2012, which is a 66% increase from 2007.
 
There is also a tool called Quick Stats, which allows you to build a specific query. For example, if you wanted to look up the average age of the principal operator on California farms that have only one owner/operator, you could do that with a few clicks [the answer to that query is 60.7 years old, btw].

I hope you'll take the time to geek out over these cool tools that USDA has developed - I have been playing with the Quick Stats function a lot and the infographics page says that new inforgraphics will be added in the future, so I am checking that page often!

What are some questions you have about ag that you are going to research using the USDA data?

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~





Calving Season

Hello everybody! My name is Jacob Hagenmaier, and I am a veterinary medicine student at Kansas State University. I am very passionate about providing a safe, wholesome food supply as well as the great stories people involved in agriculture have to tell. One such story is calving season. Right now is the end of our spring break, and while many students across the nation spent the last week enjoying sandy beaches or snow covered mountains as the perfect getaway, my break was spent in the beautiful Flint Hills of Northeast Kansas on our family ranch. March is a busy time for many ranchers, because that is when their cows are due to calve. Calving season varies within different operations, but early fall and spring tend to be the most common. Calving season is a very intense and strenuous time for cattle ranchers. Some nights, not a wink is spent sleeping due to continually checking on the pregnant females and assisting with births if needed. Still, calving season is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling parts of being involved in beef production. All the hard work spent feeding, delivering calves, putting down straw for bedding, and monitoring herd health is well worth it to see newborn calves bursting with energy and ready to go to grass around May!

Since our herd consist of predominately cattle that are 100% black, I get especially excited to see a calf born with a little bit of color.  The bull calf pictured above tends to be my favorite this year because of the "Joker-like" face pattern -- google "Joker from Batman" and you'll see what I mean! Within 12 hours of birth, all calves on our operation are given a shot that contains minerals to boost their immune system, a pill with antibodies against causes of scours (Bovine term for diarrhea), and a tag which identifies their mother. Around mid April to the first of May, the newborn calves and their mothers will be taken to pasture to feast on the fresh grass that comes with spring.

That's all for now... I better get back to studying :/

Best,

Jacob

Agriculturists Police Themselves

The agricultural community is capable of policing themselves and taking care of issues as they arise. My father and brother, Gary and Travis Theurer, have both been involved with a local animal cruelty case close to home. This past year, the Midwest has seen some of the worst drought conditions people have faced since the Great Depression in the 1930’s. This has resulted in drastic management changes by animal caretakers in order to keep the health status high of all the animals. On our farm and ranch, the drought has resulted in selling off some of our cows to have enough grass and forage available to feed all the cows in the summer, extra supplementation in the form of hay bales, lick tanks, and range cubes, and has also resulted in consistent monitoring of water situation to ensure all cattle had access to high quality water. However in this isolated incident, one particular cattle producer did not take the proper steps.

My father was contacted by the local sheriff department to see if he would be willing to help capture the animals and bring them home and care for them. Dad immediately wanted to help because he was informed of the condition of the animals and wanted to do anything he could to nurse them back to health. My dad and brother drove up to this ranchers’ place and gathered all the cattle and hauled them home. Both my dad’s and brother’s responses were, “These are the thinnest cattle I have ever seen. I’m surprised they even have enough energy to walk. These cows need a lot of care to help them along.” At home, the cattle were fed a forage diet. We were initially worried to start the cows on a high quality grain diet because the cows have not seen enough feed and would over-eat any grain product placed in front of them resulting in metabolic acidosis causing more harm to the animal rather than good. We developed a gradual step-up ration diet that would initially meet the minimal cattle nutrition requirements needed and then increased in order to add weight to the cows to get them back towards adequate conditions. We went to gather the cows the first part of July and they have currently added approximately 300 pounds due to the water and nutrition supply my family has been able to provide to these animals. I saw these animals a few weeks after they arrived at home when I was down visiting for the weekend and I saw them again a couple weeks ago. The progress they have made has been remarkable just do to some management practices. Video of the cows and news report of the animal cruelty case can be found here:

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/Animal-Crueslty-Trail-Underway-In-Wellington-170373686.html

The reason why I chose to write this for a Food For Thought blog was just to show the ability of production agriculturists to not only care about their own animals but all of the livestock sector. The drive and passion people can have is outstanding in agriculture sector. While it was a sad and isolated event that animals suffered, people directly involved with production agriculture stepped in and tried to fix the problem the best way they could.

Until next time,

Miles Theurer