Friday Video - Iowa Corn Indy 250 - The Only Difference Is The Speed Limit!

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 will be held on June 23, 2012.  Iowa Corn is excited to partner with Marco Andretti and Andretti Autosport to promote the Iowa Corn Indy 250 and E85.  

Take a look and see why Marco Andretti uses E85!

"It Comes From Where!?" Ag Education in Today's Youth

Pop quiz!  Where does ham come from?  To most of us this answer is fairly obvious; pigs, ham comes from pigs.  When asked this question however, a group of Kindergarten through 5^th graders at an after school program in Sioux Falls South Dakota almost unanimously yelled…TURKEYS.  When I first heard this story from my fiancé, who was asking the students agriculture related questions, my instinct was to blame the students’ urban upbringing.  With a population of about 154,000 people, with an additional 228,000 in the metropolitan area, Sioux Falls is a much different place than my hometown of Ashton, Iowa with its population of 450.  Kids from urban areas, such as Sioux Falls, rarely ever see livestock of any kind, unless they visit the “farm area” at a local zoo.  To me, it made perfect sense that these students would harbor misconceptions about agriculture.

For a while, I didn’t give much thought to the matter, until a friend, who serves as a National Collegiate Agricultural Ambassador, told me another story that cut a little deeper.  While visiting an elementary class in Story City, she asked the class where chocolate milk came from.  Some the class understood that to get chocolate milk you needed to mix milk and chocolate.  The majority of the class thought the process was much more simple and efficient; just get it from a brown cow.  These students from Story City, Iowa, with a population just over 3,000 in the very heart of our rural state, believed that brown cows produced chocolate milk.  As we talked, she began telling me more and more stories of students from small Iowa schools that were clueless or misinformed about agriculture.

Many people’s reaction would be, “So what?”  Or, “It doesn’t matter, they’re just kids.  They’re not expected to know this stuff.” But the fact that so many students today come up with an endless list of misconceptions is something that bothers me.  Maybe it is the budding Agriculture Educator in me, but the thought of so many students going through school not knowing where their food, clothes, and even some of their toys come from concerns me.  The scariest fact to me, however, is the number students that reach adulthood without ever learning the facts about agriculture.  Just hearing about two college students who were convinced that hens could not possibly lay eggs without a roosters or the college professor who proclaimed to his students that corn being injected into cows was bad for them and farmers should not use it (I could not make this up) worries me.

Paul Schickler, President of Pioneer Hi-Bred, makes an interesting point in a recent article for The Huffington Post.  He points out that the farmers who will be feeding the additional 2 billion people in 2050 are thirteen today.  He goes on to point out another issue, of young students, less and less are interested in returning to the farm and agriculture in general.  So what can be done to ensure that the next generation of agriculturalists has the same knowledge and passion to take an active role in agriculture? Start young.

This may seem obvious, and there are current programs that address the issue, but are the current programs enough?  There are many great agriculture education programs geared towards K-12 students in America.  Programs like Agriculture in the Classroom and many others reach hundreds of thousands of students each year.  The Agriculture in the Classroom program in Wisconsin, for example, reached in excess of 55,000 students in 2006.  This number was extremely impressive at first, until I realized that this was only 6% of the more than 875,000 enrolled in Wisconsin’s public schools.  The biggest obstacle for these organizations is manpower.

As the current generation of agriculturalists, we must start preparing the next wave for the challenges they will face in agriculture.  Whether that be donating time and resources to the current youth education programs that so heavily rely on volunteer labor, starting our own programs, or something as drastic as working to get agriculture education as a part of elementary school curriculum, it’s going to take action on our part.  The next time we hear young students claim that ham comes from turkeys, chocolate milk comes from brown cows, or something even more outrageous, we must remember that they may be the ones responsible for feeding us, our children, or our grandchildren in the not so distant future.

Friday Family Recipe -Domino's Pizza

Domino's Pizza as a farm family recipe might sound odd, but not this weekend. This weekend farmers across America are joining together to thank Domino's Pizza for supporting them and choosing to consider the welfare of animals over a resolution from The Humane Society Of The United States (HSUS).

In April, HSUS proposed a resolution to Domino's shareholders that would require its pork suppliers to stop using gestation stalls. Eighty percent of shareholders voted against the resolution. A Domino’s spokesperson says the company relies on animal experts to determine the best way to raise an animal that’s used for food.

When you pick up your pizza or get it delivered be sure give this sheet to the Domino’s employee to thank them.

What's All The Hype - Labeling GMO's

This is part of series of articles called, What’s All the Hype?  The goal of this series is to answer questions about food and how it is raised and grown.  If you have a topic that you have questions about, please leave it in the comments section.

Last week I saw a tweet about a petition in California that might be on the ballot in November.  This petition was requesting labeling of all foods made with GMO corn, soybeans, canola, or other biotech crops to specify that they were “produced with genetic engineering.”  You also may have seen that Kashi announced they would only be using grains from non-GMO sources, so I started researching biotech crops.

What are GMO and Biotech Crops?

The World Health Organization defines GMOs or genetically modified organisms (I know another science term!) as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, including between nonrelated species. This technology is called biotechnology (and it is also a way to create a plant hybrid).

Farmers have been creating plant hybrids for just about as long as we have been growing plants!  Farmers are always finding ways to develop an even better seed to be used for crops in the future. As a matter of fact, just about all of our food crops have been modified through human selection over the past 10,000 years through plant breeding.

Biotechnology is basically the same thing – only it’s done in the lab at the DNA level. Selecting traits at this level is much more efficient, faster and allows for greater improvements than conventional plant breeding.   Biotech also allows farmers to use seeds that are equipped to withstand extremes in weather and insects, which could wipe out a crop.

Suzanne Shirbroun, a farmer from Farmersburg, Iowa and a CommonGround volunteer explains biotechnology in this video.

Why do Farmers Use Biotechnology Crops?

Farmers use biotechnology crops because it allows them to use less land and resources while producing more. Because of biotechnology, farmers use  fewer crop protection products.  It also allows farmers to use more soil conservation techniques such as no-till (meaning they don’t stir up the soil) to reduce erosion – ensuring that they can continue to pass their farms onto their children and grandchildren.  Most importantly, biotech crops increase the productivity and efficiency of farmers to meet an ever growing demand. 

That’s great for the farmer but how safe is it for me?

The big question that many people have about GMOs is how safe they are to eat.  All GMO foods undergo testing that looks at the gene that is being introduced in the plant and it’s affect on the plant and food.  GMOs are actually one of the most tested food products in the history of food production. 

GMO crops are regulated by three different government agencies: the Food and Drug Administration, the United States Department of Agriculture - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and the Environmental Protection Agency.  Did you know that we actually use products every day that are made through the biotechnology process? Everything from hard cheeses that we eat to medicines we take are made because of biotechnology (NC State University).

Dr. David Ertl, Technology Commercialization Manager with Iowa Corn, has had experience with regulatory approvals of GMO corn.  According to Ertl, “Biotech companies must prove to the EPA, USDA and FDA that the GMO plants and their resulting food are no different from those of conventionally produced crops. It takes years of testing to confirm that these plants and the food from them is safe and no different from non-GMO foods.  It’s a very thorough process.”

Of Course You Would Say That They Are Safe

I realize that many people may say I believe biotech crops to be safe because I work for Iowa Corn, but I am just like you and had to do the research.  Yes, there is science on both sides of GMO safety. But, I trust many of the different groups from across the world that say GMOs are safe.

Since 1992, the FDA has approved more than 50 safe biotech products.  The U.S. National Academies of Science, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, American Medical Association and American Dietetic Association have all determined that biotech crops are just as safe as crops produced in traditional methods.

For another source, I checked with Best Food Facts. They asked Dr. Wayne Parrott , Professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences University of Georgia, this question and he said: “Although there is no indication that the FDA has made a wrong call on any GM product, the point remains that we are in a global economy.  Thus, it is not just FDA who approves these foods, but also FoodCanada, the European Food Safety Authority, the Food Standards for Australia and New Zealand, and various agencies in Japan and Korea, among others.  It is one thing to say that FDA's procedures might be flawed; it is another to say every major food safety agency is flawed.  Thus far, I am not aware of any situation whereby one agency gave a GM product a clean bill of health and another failed to do so.”

But Don’t Consumers Have A Right To Know?

I do believe that consumers have a right to know what is in their food.  But ultimately labeling GMO foods, would cause more confusion for consumers.  By law if there is a nutritional difference or if a food causes allergies, they must be labeled.  Because there is no proven nutritional difference between GMOs and non-GMOs and because GMOs are proven to not cause allergies, there is not a label.

While some people say that labeling of GMO’s won’t cost the consumer or farmer, a Colorado State University Extension paper finds different.  It will be more than just the ink and paper to print the label; it will require a complex system to track from the farmer to the retailer – and every stop in between. GMO labeling has the potential to cost consumers up to 10% of their food bill a year.  That is a lot of our extra hard earned dollars to go to something that isn’t warranted. 

At a CommonGround Event last year, Dr. Ruth MacDonald, Department Chair for the Iowa State University Food Science and Human Nutrition Department also answered this question.

It’s a confusing arena out there for all of us.  We all want to purchase nutritious food that is safe.  I’m the same way. Based on all of the research I’ve done (and it’s been a lot for this article) I trust in the safety of food made with biotech foods – and you should too.  

For More Information on the Safety of GMOs

• Best Food Facts – GMOs What To Know
• Bio – Food Safety: An Important Issue For You and Your Family
• CommonGround – Weighing In On The Safety Of GMO Foods 
• CommonGround – GMO Foods 

Claire Masker grew up on a family farm in Southwest Iowa and is currently the communications manger for Iowa Corn.  She's also training for another Dam to Dam and Warrior Dash this spring.

Planting Updates from Iowa Corn Leaders - Wed., May 16, 2012

After having a 15-day interruption in planting, Wayne Humphreys of Columbus Junction in Louisa County finished planting soybeans on Monday, May 14. A few farmers in his area are still finishing planting soybeans. Other farmers are moving on to spraying corn. The early-planted soybeans are up already and looking good. He’ll start spraying corn as well soon.

Greg Eibs of Laurel in Marshall County says everyone in his area is finished or almost finished planting soybeans. There is a little bit of seed corn left to plant in his area. He and a few farmers who grow seed corn have been waiting on some hybrids to come from Hawaii. The earlier planted corn is up but he says they could use a little bit of rain.

CommonGround: The Saturday Afternoon Pit Crew

After a few rainy days, corn and soybean planting is moving at record pace across Iowa. Suzanne, one of our CommonGround volunteers, wrote this weekend how farm families, young and old, work together to get the seed in the ground.  Take a look at her great photos at http://suzannecommonground.blogspot.com/2012/05/saturday-afternoon-pit-crew.html

Friday Video - Miracle in the Cornfield

Last summer Iowa Corn Promotion Board Director Nick Leibold was involved in a near fatal farm accident. But the tragedy triggered a chain of events that many call a miracle in the cornfield.