technorati blog:

Technorati Profile

I am traveling home today from a meeting in New York, a PR conference. The focus was getting the story of agriculture told effectively. While waiting in the airport, I overheard two business professionals talk about how expensive milk is. They went on to discuss how the price of corn has nothing to do with the price of milk.

This is a perfect example of why we need to tell our story every chance we get. We take for granted that people know cows eat corn, or that cows produce milk.

As farmeers and ranchers, it is our responsibility to make sure our neighbors, rural and urban, understand what we do on our farms and ranches. We need to show them our farms and ranches touch their lives too, and what an important role we play in feeding America.

Together, we can change the image of agriculture, one story at a time. Never under estimate the power of one! Go tell your story and help our consumers remember the important role we play in our country. Afterall, Farmers and Ranchers are the backbone of America.

Micorsoft has launched a new initiative called i'm: http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/

According to the Microsoft website, every time you start a conversation in Microsoft Messenger using i’m, "Microsoft shares a portion of the program's advertising revenue with some of the world's most effective organizations dedicated to social causes." The site goes on to say, "We've set no cap on the amount we'll donate to each organization. The sky's the limit. There's no charge, so join now and put our money where your mouth is."

Sounds great, right? I clicked on the "Choose the Organization" link and to my surprise, I discovered some of the organizations they are donating money to include the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Sierra Club. The HSUS targets animal agriculture but many people get confused by their name, they think their donations are going to save abused or neglected puppies and cats. However, their dollars are being used to target animal agriculture, which threatens American farmers and ranchers. The Sierra Club has been involved in similar causes that have been detrimental to agriculture.

What can we do? Contact Microsoft and urge them to remove these sites from their donation list. Everyone needs food to survive, and American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, most abundant food supply in the world. Let's tell Microsoft to support American farmers and ranchers.

Although the Senate didn't take action last week on the immigration bill, AFBF is not sitting idly by watching time pass. Today, AFBF posted a comment on The Hill's blog http://blog.thehill.com regarding this issue. AFBF points out farmers contribute 9 BILLION DOLLARS worth of business to the U.S. economy yearly, and without a viable immigration bill this money will likely leave our country. If this money leaves the U.S. it will go to foreign economies and foreign farmers. Check out AFBF's response at The Hill Blog, then contact your Senator and urge them to support this important piece of legislation!

Agriculture is a diversified industry that allows uniqueness and creativity to exist and succeed. In agriculture, there are many different types of farms ranging from livestock to row crop, to organic or non-organic, even agri-tourism, the list can go on and on. But all of these farms have one thing in common; they help feed our great nation.

Many times you will hear people try to persuade an audience that one type of farming is better than the other. Nothing could be further from the truth. The truth is we need all types of farms to keep agriculture successful. Diversity creates competition, and competition is good for our markets. If every vegetable farmer grew organic vegetables, what would happen to the organic vegetable market for the farmer? It would lose its competitive edge and organic farmers would earn less for their vegetables. And then the question would rise if there would be enough acres available to provide the United States with organic vegetables? Would previously planted crops be replaced with vegetables? If so, who would produce the crop that was replaced? A foreign farmer? And what if some consumers insisted on having non-organic vegetables, where would they find them? A foreign farmer?

It’s true, thirty years ago there were more people engaged in farming. These farmers were farming more acres than today’s farmers, but we produce more per acre today than we did thirty years ago, thanks to improved technology. Why do we have fewer acres in agriculture? It’s called progress, and as progress occurred in our country, it will occur in other countries as well.

If American Farmers decide to join in the fight to destroy each other, we are giving the activist groups exactly what they want. Not only will we be allowing these groups to divide and conquer US Agriculture, we are giving foreign farmers a competitive edge to provide our consumers with their food and fiber. If our food comes from a foreign country, how safe will it be?

“Just Say No” to attacking diversity in agriculture. Allow our farmers to have the freedom to choose their style of farming. Let’s keep American Agriculture unique and creative, let’s keep our freedom.