Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Thanksgiving Economics, Safety, and Nostalgia


Update 2016... Thanksgiving Economics 101:  I'm still not sure about feeding a family of ten on less than $50 for the big meal, but OK, that's what the latest report says. Of course, that's without alcohol and many other frills, but there is a drumstick and some dressing in the mix. The dessert in such a low cost meal must be humble pie.

Turkey Talk about Food Safety:  Despite what Julia Child might have told us during the height of her authority on all things related to home cooking, apparently we should not be washing our raw poultry in the kitchen sink. That bit of advice and more in this food safety news article


  
Thanksgiving on the Farm Rewind
Granny, Cousins, and the Real Black Friday 

I looked up the prices for 1961. I was eleven years old then, sitting at a long, crowded table in Granny Faye’s house. She wasn’t much for hosting events, but even after my grandpa died, she kept up the Thanksgiving tradition. Apparently back then she could buy turkey at 35 cents a pound, potatoes at 8 cents a pound, and two cans of pumpkin for 29 cents.

Granny’s two sons both farmed within a half mile of the home place. Farms were closer together then, and these were filled with kids—fourteen between the two families. Most of us were boys growing up under the influence of Moe, Larry, and Curly, but we managed to sit quietly during the prayer, and we appreciated the accordion-paper turkeys and pumpkins that made up the table décor. No one wrote texts or tweets as we shaped our mashed potatoes into lake beds for the gravy. Our only snap chats were when one of us would flick a small roll at a brother and call him a dork--only done when parents weren't looking.  

We had no noon football games on the black and white TV, but cousin Terry might have a beat up pigskin on his lap. We were itching to get outside to play ball—what kid really likes cranberry sauce anyway? A promise of pumpkin pie is the only thing that kept us from bolting.

I have little recall of the meal chatter, but Granny might inform us that turkeys were not always the guest of honor at Thanksgiving. “Back then,” she’d say, “we used to butcher and dress barnyard chickens for the feast. Not much fun steaming and plucking feathers on a chilly morning.” We kids had been present at poultry harvest times, so a cousin might start describing the chicken-with-its-head-cut-off ritual until he was shushed. Grossing each other out was a national pastime for us boys at that age, but the Thanksgiving table was not prime territory for it.

As the autumn sun shone through the large south windows, Dad might point out, “Even though today is perfect for football, we’ve seen Thanksgivings when the ground was covered with snow. When I was about your age, the 1940 Armistice Day blizzard surprised us all. Farmers were caught out in the cornfields, hunters were nearly frozen to death in duck blinds, and chickens were stuck solid to their roosts. No weather forecasts to warn us back then.” Even at that age, I’d seen a Thanksgiving or two when the creek banks were lined with thin ice, and the morning sun lit up frost that coated woven wire fences and corn stalks left in the field after the harvest. 

But today had the brilliant light of a slanting autumn sun, and as soon as we hit the yard, it was all pass, run, argue, punt, fumble, and argue some more as we conveniently ignored the fact that someone was cleaning up after the big event. Back then, adults were like benevolent extraterrestrials who usually stayed in their own universe—until chore time.

“The cow needs milkin’,” some galactic overlord would announce. “And the steers in the lot across the road need five buckets of grain and eight bales of hay.” No holiday shopping excuses to save us. The advertizing Madmen of the 60s hadn’t come up with Black (and Blue) Friday Frenzy, which is now morphing into Thanksgiving Brown Thursday and maybe a type of sepia-tinged Thanksgiving Week with all the sales and hype. We were bright enough kids, but the word “shopping” was not in our vocabulary, and merchants back then didn’t even think of hoisting Christmas on us until Thanksgiving was over. 

The day was for celebrating family and the harvest--and for kids playing outside in the sunshine or snow. And the evening was for eating the meal I liked best--the leftovers. Dark turkey meat, warmed-up dressing with gravy on it, Mom's homemade bread, a slice of pumpkin pie. Living was easy. 

Until the morning after Thanksgiving. No school, but Dad--the human alarm clock--would call into the bedroom, "Time to get up, boys," and after our eggs, toast, and orange juice, we put on five-buckle boots and headed to the hog house. Grunting pigs, a layer of muck, and worn pitchforks awaited us. Now that's what I call a real Black Friday.
by Dan Gogerty (top pic from midliferoadtrip.tv; paper turkey pic from blogher.com)

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Calorie Counts, Hippie Hunters, and Ag Apps


**  Calorie Count: The Food and Drug Administration announces a new calorie count rule that affects restaurants and food—from pizza to popcorn to salad bars. It was much easier in the days of Fruit Loops, Dots, and Jelly Beans--as this blog explains: The Sweet and Sour Fructose Debate.

 ** "Hippies" That Hunt:  This article claims that a new generation of hunters is taking locally sourced eating to the next level. 

** App Mania:  As this article points out, there is an app for just about anything--and this list might be helpful for anyone on the farm or in the agriculture business.


An Analog App on a Digital Farm

I guess we need an app to keep up with new ag apps--and then an app to clear our heads as the digital cloud gets thicker. Farmers and ag-related folks are taking to smartphones and apps in increasing numbers, and those of us with dumb phones slowly slide into App Envy—an anxiety complex that comes when you think everyone else is digitally tuned into the newest thing, while you’re still trying to remember your password to access voice mail messages on your archaic cell phone.
 
But no matter which digital wave you surf, apps and smartphones are transforming food production. App topics range from soil testing data to seed analysis to voice-activated email. Many farmers now keep up with markets and the weather using apps—while they might have a split screen for sports or music.
If only these apps had been available when I was growing up on the farm.  On warm summer afternoons, my brothers, cousins, and I would roam the back pastures looking for trees to climb and spots in the creek where we could build dams. No smartphones for parents to call and remind us when to get home and do chores; no stream water quality app to scare us about the toxins in the water we played in; and the only “angry birds” were the red-winged black birds that attacked us whenever we came anywhere near their nests.

When we started taking on farm jobs, we didn’t have a GPS system to guide our tractors around the fields. We either learned driving skills or we tore out a few rows of young soybean plants while we cultivated. During breaks while baling hay, we didn’t have text messaging to keep us occupied, so we listened to embellished yarns or semi-rude jokes the farmer might come up with when he handed us ice water and homemade cookies. And during evening baseball games, we didn’t even have tweets to read, so we had no idea what our friends were eating at the drive-in or buying at the record shop. We actually had to concentrate on playing the game and interacting with our friends who were there with us in person.
The digital revolution is changing agriculture for the better, but I have a feeling somewhere there is a farmer who walks out of his house unarmed, with no smartphone in hand. He pets his ten-year old collie as he walks to the feedlot to check on the cattle. After getting a few buckets of grain for the new calves, he looks over the farm while standing in the shade of the oak tree that has anchored the place for 130 years. A summer breeze ripples through the tasseling corn, a red-tailed hawk hovers over the back grove looking for mice, and the newly baled hay stacked in the nearby shed still has that intoxicating alfalfa-clover aroma. I doubt if there is an app for that. (by dan gogerty; top photo from ars/usda)

Monday, November 17, 2014

A View of Pesticide Use--New Research Released

CAST Press Release
 
The Contributions of Pesticides to Pest Management in Meeting the Global Need for Food Production by 2050 
  
Note: CAST Issue Paper #55 is available here. Information about the pesticide panel discussion and other CAST information is available at the website here.

“You Can’t Eat What Doesn’t Grow”

All agree that the world needs a safe, plentiful supply of food, and most acknowledge that global demand will grow along with the expanding population. This peer-reviewed report looks at how pesticides fit into this equation. After a data-driven examination of past developments and current uses, the authors conclude that a safe, thoughtful integration of pesticides is essential if we hope to attain an abundant food supply for a hungry world. 

The term "pesticides" has been around for centuries, and it describes many different chemicals. The term has also--at times--been maligned and misunderstood. The authors of this publication use extensive data and provide clear examples to explain that pesticide use in agriculture has
•    increased crop yield and quality,
•    lessened the workload of pest management, and
•    improved the prospects for long-term sustainable food production.

This paper gives a brief background about the use of pesticides and then a thorough look at why they have become popular and widely used. Intelligent use of pesticides has led to crop management that is more efficient, sustainable, and productive. For example, the authors produce evidence that fungicide use has helped stem the curse of soybean rust, aided with the prevention of fusarium head blight in wheat, and increased farmer income.

Along with better pest management, pesticides have helped with the development of improved agronomic practices such as no till, low till, higher plant densities, increased yields, and efficient use of water and nutrients. The authors point out that in comparison to hand weeding, herbicide use is less expensive and more effective. "By substituting for cultivation, herbicide use leads to lower fuel use, less carbon emissions, less soil erosion, and less water use."

Of course there are controversies and challenges. The authors indicate that concerns exist regarding water, soil, and atmospheric resources, as well as the need for safety during application and food processing. Regulations, testing, worker training, and other safeguards are factors that mitigate unwanted effects.

More than 800 million people in the world are food insecure, and the amount of crop yield lost each year to pests could run upwards of 30%. But many experts are optimistic about developments involving safe, efficient production methods occurring around the globe. When pesticides are effectively applied and integrated into a comprehensive approach, the world is better able to provide food for the 9 billion humans on earth in 2050.

Task Force Authors:
Stephen C. Weller (Chair), Purdue University
Albert K. Culbreath, University of Georgia
Leonard Gianessi, CropLife Foundation
Larry D. Godfrey, University of California-Davis


CAST Issue Paper 55 and its companion Ag quickCAST are available online at the CAST website, www.cast-science.org, along with many of CAST's other scientific publications. All CAST Issue Papers, Commentaries, and Ag quickCASTs are FREE.

Contacts for this Issue Paper
Dr. Stephen C. Weller-Phone: 765-494-1333; E-mail: weller@purdue.edu
Ms. Linda M. Chimenti-Phone: 515-292-2125, ext. 231; E-mail: lchimenti@cast-science.org