This past weekend I attended a County Farm Bureau meeting near St. Louis. While visiting with some Young Farmers, their daughter spoke up about a magazine a friend had given to her. This magazine said it was bad to raise animals in modern barns, and that people shouldn't eat meat. This young girl's friend was also a vegetarian.

It's startling to see how activist groups are trying to shape young minds with misinformation. This young girl was smart enough to know the difference between right and wrong, thanks to her roots with agriculture. But so many other kids don't have this knowledge available to them to make an informed decision.

As parents, we try to protect our kids from bad influences. This is a bigger challenge today than when I was a growing up. Many activist groups have websites geared toward young kids, they even have games on their website to help drive their messages home to kids. Many parents don't realize these websites are a threat and allow their kids to view them on the internet. Some parents are blocking these websites on the internet hoping to protect their kids from the false information. But blocking these websites won't stop these groups, they have email newsletters for kids to sign up for, as well as magazines.

One way we can help stop this threat is Accurate Ag Books & Ag in the Classroom. Local Farm Bureau members can take a few hours out of their day and travel to a nearby school and read an accurate book about agriculture. This will give kids who have no contact with agriculture the opportunity to meet a farmer or rancher and learn what agriculture is really about. It's our responsibility to help our young kids understand agriculture. We can no longer afford to let the activist groups shape today's young minds.

What would the majority of Americans be doing on a hot, humid, calm, Sunday afternoon in the middle of July? The average American was probably not doing what I was doing a few weeks ago. After attending church, I walked outside, and it was so hot, that it almost took my breath away.

The first thing I thought of was what affect this hot weather was having on my sow herd. Instead of being able to have a nice Sunday dinner with my family and taking my Sunday afternoon nap, I went to check on my sows. Everything looked o.k. until I got to the part of the barn that housed the sows that were due to farrow the next week. As you can imagine, those sows were pretty miserable due to being so pregnant. I spent the next hour watering them down to get them cooled off.

That is how it works on the farm with livestock. Sometimes, livestock take priority over family time. I’m not complaining, because this is the life that I chose to live. Livestock is a top priority for farmers and we take great efforts to ensure their well being.

If you would like to know more about how American Farmers care for their livestock, visit this website www.conversationsoncare.com, the Conversations on Animal Care Web site.

Yesterday I visited the photo gallery at Agritalk and found pictures of a tour the United Soybean Board took to Mexico called the "See For Yourself" tour. It was intriguing to look at these photos, and shocking to see how modernized agriculture is becoming in Mexico. There is a photo of a modernized feed mill, which is completely automated by computers, and is state of the art. This mill was very clean, well designed, and is using dried distillers grain, a co-product of Ethanol.

There were also pictures taken from inside a modern chicken barn, which housed 1.2 million layers. The building was completely automated and extremely clean. There were also pictures taken at a dairy, which was modernized as well. The photos showed the cows being milked on the carousel, and it too was very clean. The group also visited a fish farm, and toured the greenhouses which they housed the fish in to control temperature. The fish farm was also very clean and modernized.

These photos were proof that Mexico is making advancements in agriculture, and learning that technology helps improve conditions not only for the animals, but for food safety as well.

While the activist groups are busy trying to destroy agriculture in the United States, Mexico is gaining ground in becoming more efficient and productive in agriculture by implementing technology on their farms. If the activist groups run agriculture out of the United States by banning the use of egg laying hen cages, veal stalls, and sow gestation stalls, Mexico will be ready and willing to pick up the slack.

This is another reason why we as farmers and ranchers need to be out telling our story everyday! Direct people you visit with to go to this site and see what is happening in Mexico. Together, we can keep agriculture thriving in this country, and our food supply home grown!

Many understand that agriculture holds a profound presence in rural communities and contributes greatly to industry, productivity, and sustainability. Agriculture is also vital to urbanized areas that are surrounded by rural communities. Among the many avenues being pursued by Farm Bureau members to enhance community and consumer education on agricultural products and issues, is the recent “Save Our Food” campaign launched by Virginia Farm Bureau (saveourfood.org). Following closely on the heels of a Cooperative Extension study of the economic impact of buying local produce on counties around the Commonwealth and an endorsement by Governor Tim Kaine of the August 3-9 National Farmers Market Week, the Virginia Department of Agriculture challenged residents to eat locally for one day during this time.

The county in which I reside is rural, with roughly 30,000 residents occupying 550 square miles. The county in which I serve Farm Bureau board positions, by comparison, touts itself as primarily urban (78%) with over 88,000 residents in 250 square miles. Interestingly, the state’s oldest year-round daily farmers market is in the hub city of this locale. Research reveals that if every household in the county spent $10 a week on locally produced foods, the economic impact over a year would exceed $24 million. Great fact and potential, but there are not enough farms in the county to supply that type of demand. A press conference held Friday was attended by Farm Bureau personnel from the state capital, local producers and consumers, and a multitude of press. The resulting coverage that was actually aired was poor, to say the least, and the newspaper did a slightly better job. NO mention was made of where to network with local producers and seek information, however, and online comments have already hit the network sites asking why locations of markets were not mentioned.

So, in an attempt to share a wealth of local agriculture and preserve farms, and subsequently our food, an information gap could ultimately backfire on the whole event and its purpose. Rural communities cannot exist without agriculture, and urban communities are beautified and enriched by it. If we can’t network and educate efficiently, however, our future survival is adversely impacted. My farm is across the street from Wal-Mart and at an intersection that sees 35,000 vehicles a day. Why am I asked on a regular basis where we are located? Are people so caught up in their routines that they forget to absorb their surroundings? Sounds like time for a letter to the editor…

The retailers, the foodservice operators, and the processor are as concerned about providing you a safe product as they are about serving great tasting food. Because meat is a perishable product, it's not only potentially dangerous to you the consumer if handled improperly, but very expensive to waste.

A few simple rules that retailers, operators, and processors have to remember and ones you should also remember at home are: Keep it Cold, Keep it Clean, Keep it Moving.

A few tips to remember:
-Defrost foods in a refrigerator...never at room temperature.
-NEVER use the same knife or other utensils or cutting boards for raw and cooked products.
-Cook fresh ground beef within 2 to 3 days.
-The National Cattlemen's Beef Association recommends cooking ground beef to an internal temperature of 160 degree F. (Throw the old myth of cooking till the juices run clear out the window.)