Consumer-farmer gap evident - December 12, 2011

December 12, 2011

Consumer/farmer gap evident

Consumers are highly interested in agriculture and food production, and consumers respect farmers, although both consumers and farmers agree that farmers do not have a good reputation, according to a "Farm Perspective Study" conducted by BASF Corp.

The study, which interviewed 6,000 consumers and 1,800 farmers in six countries, outlined the way consumers and farmers view farming and food production and the challenges facing farmers and food producers in the 21st century.

The interviews were conducted in the U.S., Brazil, France, Germany, Spain and India.

Both consumers and farmers viewed farming as a vocation, with farmers being dedicated to food production, supporting rural communities and cultures and caring for the land, according to the study.

More than 80% of farmers described themselves as "caretakers of the land" and "stewards of the land."

However, only 50-60% of consumers embraced those descriptors, and many consumers -- 23% in the U.S. and Germany and 38-43% in Brazil, France and India -- actually blamed farmers for environmental problems.

Protein-rich dairy protects bones during weight loss

New research suggests that a calorie-restricted diet higher in protein -- mostly from dairy foods -- and lower in carbohydrates, coupled with daily exercise, has a major positive impact on bone health in overweight and obese young women.

The study, published online in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that bone health improvements were particularly evident due to the high density of bone-supporting nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D and dairy-based protein.

For 16 weeks, three groups of overweight and obese but otherwise healthy premenopausal women each consumed either low, medium or high amounts of dairy foods plus higher or lower amounts of protein and carbohydrates. Calcium and vitamin D levels were also graded from low to high across the groups in conjunction with the dairy foods they consumed.

The women exercised seven days per week, a routine that included aerobic exercise every day and two additional workouts of circuit weightlifting per week.

No steroids equals stronger corn, says Purdue researcher

A Purdue University researcher has taken corn off steroids and found that the results might lead to improvements in corn and other crops.

Burkhard Schulz, Purdue assistant professor of horticulture and landscape architecture, wanted to understand the relationship between brassinosteroids -- a natural plant steroid hormone -- and plant architecture, specifically plant height, according to the Purdue news release.

Schulz said corn could benefit by becoming shorter and sturdier, but the mechanisms that control those traits are not completely understood.

"It is essential to change the architecture of plants to minimize how much land we need to produce food and fuels," said Schulz, whose findings were published in the early online version of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "If you can find a natural mutation or mechanism that gives you what you need, you are much better off than using transgenic techniques that could be difficult to get approval for."

Schulz found that when corn loses the ability to produce brassinosteroids, it becomes a dwarf, as he suspected, but another feature caught him off guard: The plants without the naturally occurring steroids could not make male organs; instead, they had kernels where the tassels should be.

That could be a cost-saving discovery for the seed industry. Hybrid seed producers must painstakingly remove the male pollen-producing tassels from each plant so they do not pollinate themselves. Schulz said maize plants that produce only female organs would eliminate the detasseling step.

In Our Opinion...

Days of ignoring issues are over

By Andy Vance

Exactly 52 weeks ago, I wrote my first column for Feedstuffs. In it, I described my frustration with the incumbent Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack relative to the ongoing negotiations over the free trade agreement with South Korea.

In my parting shot, I offered this observation:

"The role of mainstream production agriculture at (the U.S. Department of Agriculture) and in the next farm bill is of significant concern to farmers and ranchers, particularly in light of the bill's presumed budgetary challenges. Having a secretary of agriculture notorious for his ambivalence toward USDA's traditional mission and constituency during a farm bill debate is concerning enough. Observing an erosion of that secretary's clout and the importance of his department within the Administration is downright alarming."

More than a few ounces of digital ink have been spilled discussing the delicate balance USDA keeps in serving the traditional production agriculture constituency while at the same time attempting to integrate others within the food and nutrition sphere.

My thoughts today turn to the opposite extreme: the role of the regulatory agency in modern society.

To the casual observer reading agricultural trade publications, it might appear that agriculture is a well-regulated industry. To the farmer, rancher or processer, however, it more likely feels like agriculture is overregulated.

Read more

Ag students speak out for ag

By Mark Klaus

It has been a few years now since I was in college, but my brain holds many memories of the lessons learned and of the time spent with friends.

Coming from the farm life and a community with a small population had kept me quite sheltered from the outside world. One of the most important lessons I learned while in college was how to interact with people with a wide variety of life experiences. That helped me tremendously after college, when I went to work in the meat industry and was exposed to many different cultures and to people who were originally from all points across the globe.

I do not remember any protests while I was in school. Neither do I recall any makeshift "camps" set up across campus where people passed out leaflets promoting some cause with which I might have been unfamiliar.

I do recall being in a debate class with other students from the College of Agriculture. Debating with students who were mostly my friends prevented issues from escalating and proceeding into the parking lot.

FSIS inspection data - 'Too much information?'

By Dr. Richard Raymond

On Nov. 30, 2011, the National Research Council released a report that analyzed the potential benefits and pitfalls of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety & Inspection Service (FSIS) publicly releasing raw inspection data for meat, poultry and egg products plants under their regulatory authority.

The report was requested by FSIS as part of the current Administration's desire to be "more open and transparent".

The release has provided much fodder for blogs and following discussions, and also prompted a conference call with industry and reporters. The response from industry and former industry members has been as expected, all the way to predicting plants will close and we will end up importing most of our food.

I do agree with most who say the public will only be more confused if all non-proprietary inspection data is released in raw form. Plus, this information would be so massive as to be almost useless as no one has the time to sift through all this information. Even FSIS would tell you it struggles to analyze this much data to make constructive changes.

I also agree that the release of raw Non-compliance Reports (NRs) would be confusing at best, and most likely worthless. There is just too much individual variation between districts and even between inspectors within a district.

Read more

Research shows milk fights tumors

A South Dakota State University (SDSU) study is helping to provide a better understanding of the potential use of fermented milk products to lower the risk of colon tumors.

Associate professor Ashraf Hassan of SDSU's dairy science department and graduate student Darshan Purohit focused partly on the chemopreventive properties of milk fermented with lactic cultures that produce exopolysaccharides (EPS).

Some strains of lactic acid bacteria used in making fermented milks produce EPS -- polymers, usually high in molecular weight, that are made up of sugar residues and are secreted by microorganisms such as bacteria.

EPS is associated with factors such as the smoothness and creaminess of fermented milk products, and some may also have chemopreventive properties, meaning they can prevent tumor development.

"Reports in the literature showed chemopreventive activities of polysaccharides from mushrooms. Since the structure of such polysaccharides is somehow similar to that in the bacterial EPS, we expected bacterial EPS to show similar activities," Hassan said.

Food & Farm

with Ray Bowman

Food & Farm is dedicated to providing fact-based information about your food and those that produce it.

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Dixon Harper joins us to talk about - what else - Farm Broadcasting!
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Justin MacCarthy's shares his thought on global beef from the Alltech Global 500 meeting.
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Dairy team studying cow comfort solutions

At the University of Kentucky Coldstream Dairy Research Farm, the staff, students and faculty have been putting a lot of effort into making the milking cows more comfortable by using bigger stalls, rotating grooming brushes and waterbeds.

"Our interest is in creating happy farmers and happy cows simultaneously," University of Kentucky assistant dairy extension professor Jeffrey Bewley said. "Providing cows with a comfortable environment is important for their well-being.

"The solutions we are studying show potential for reducing problem cows and increasing production and cow longevity," he added. "Thus, they may benefit the dairy farmer, too. As consumers become more in tune with the lives of production animals, it is important that we look for these win-win situations."

Read more

Plains carbon storage studied

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released the first in a series of regional studies measuring the amount of carbon stored in U.S. ecosystems.

Published Dec. 6 by DOI's U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the study examined the current and projected future carbon storage in the Great Plains region as part of a nationwide assessment.

"This is truly groundbreaking research that, for the first time, takes a landscape-level look at how our lands naturally store carbon and explores how we can encourage this capability in ways that enhance our stewardship of natural resources," DOI deputy secretary David J. Hayes said. "Our landscapes are helping us to absorb carbon emissions that would otherwise contribute to atmospheric warming."

According to the announcement, this is the first regional report applying a comprehensive methodology USGS designed in 2010 to assess how much carbon is stored in various ecosystems, such as wetlands, forests and rangelands. The study covers an area of the U.S. that includes parts of 14 states from eastern Montana to southern Texas and eastern Iowa.

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