During all the “windshield time” I had while combining #crop13, I found myself thinking about all the blessings in my life.  Today, in the midst of this 30 Days of Thanks, I’ve decided to share my Top 10 list publicly.

10. Democracy.  Those who read my “Musings of a Pig Farmer” blog regularly might find it ironic that the U.S. government makes the Top 10 List of Things for Which I’m thankful.  I’ve certainly written my fair share of critiques about regulations and aired my concerns about the Farm Bill.  While it’s far from perfect, I believe America has the world’s most fair political system.

9. Food Choice.  I am thankful for the many, many choices of food we have in this country from gluten-free and organic to local foods.  Americans are blessed with the world’s safest, least expensive, and most abundant food supply.  We spend about 10% of our annual incomes on food, which is quite low when compared to other countries.  For the most part, Americans are able to choose foods for enjoyment rather than necessity alone.

8. Freedom.  I am thankful for the freedom we cherish in this country: free speech, freedom to bear arms, freedom of religion… and the list goes on.  It’s important to protect these freedoms and to stand up for our convictions.

7. Technology and Innovation.  I am so thankful to live during this time in history.  Just think of all the technology and innovations we enjoy!  People often reminisce about the “good ol’ days,” yet they forget how tough they really were.  I remember doing farm work in the winter without a heated tractor cab!  I remember when we didn’t have central heat, so we warmed our frozen hands and feet by the potbellied stove.  I even remember the time before we had central plumbing…  Enough said!  While much of the Midwest enjoys a long legacy of agricultural success, but technology is redefining agriculture.  We must continue to embrace technology to help grow enough food to meet global demand.

6. Pride in America.  I’m so thankful for the good old US of A, the melting pot of the world.  The exchange of ideas and blending of cultures is what has made this country great.  Synergy was created.  As an old farmer, “synergy” makes me think of corn hybrids and the strength that comes from breeding different corn plants together.  I’m proud of those who pioneered – and continue to innovate – our food systems.

5. Clean Air and Water.  I am thankful for our clean air and water. Yeah, I know some folks will not agree with me on this one.  After all the reading I have done about the Dust Bowl – and reflecting upon how we farmed in the sixties and seventies – I know we have greatly improved our air and water quality.  If you compare our environment to that in other developing countries, hands down, we are ahead!

4. Military Service.  Yesterday was Veterans’ Day, a day to recognize past and present members of the military.  Honestly, I believe they deserve our thanks each and every day.  I also want to be sure and recognize their family members, who are often overlooked.  A soldier’s family most certainly makes a sacrifice when they’re loved ones are serving.  Those on the home front are filled with worry and anxiety, plus are left to take care of all the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities that the solider isn’t able to do while on active duty.  Yes, military families deserve our thanks and praise!

3. Grandkids.  I am very thankful for my grandkids!  Everyone is different and unique.  I enjoy watching them discover their passions.  They give me direction and purpose, and sometimes they make me use of ALL my faith!

2. Kids.  At one time in my life, I was very afraid I would not have a family.  On my 30th birthday, I married Janice and had an instant family.  What a blessing.  I love you guys!

1. The Love of my Life.  The number one thing for which I am thankful is the love of my wife, Janice!  How she puts up with all my quirks and my farming habit, I do not understand.  She is the one who has led me to my faith, and without her, there would be none of the other numbers on this list.  Love ya, Babe!

I’m feeling so grateful and humble right now.  There is so much more I could write about each item on my Top 10 List.  There are also many things for which I’m grateful that I didn’t even list.  What are you most thankful for? (more…)

Guest Blog by Aaron Putze
Director of External Relations & Coordinator
Iowa Food & Family Project, Iowa Soybean Association

I have fond memories of growing up on the farm near West Bend, Iowa (Palo Alto County). Strangely, perhaps, most are work related: walking beans, picking up rocks, detasseling, sorting hogs for market and spending warm (make that “hot”) summer afternoons baling hay and straw.

OK, it’s true. Memories – just like wine – often improve with age.

Truth be told, the work was indeed hard. But it wasn’t unbearable. Keeping busy generates results and few things are more satisfying than accomplishment.

That lesson, forged with sweat and accompanied by dirt under the nails, has clung.

So, too, has my appetite for local food.

Like the Casey’s pizza our family enjoys every Saturday night. Or the Hellmann’s mayonnaise that tops our sandwiches. Or the steak from Fareway, pork loin purchased at the West Des Moines Costco or Cold Cut Combo served by Subway®.

Local food? Surprised?

Don’t be.

Sure, most people equate “local” with a trip to the farmers’ market or the apple plucked from the backyard tree. But “local” is so much more, especially if you live in Iowa, as much of the food and food ingredients we enjoy are sourced from farms next door or just down the road.

Take the jar of Hellmann’s. You’ll find one in nearly 40 million homes. The primary ingredient (by far) in this $1 billion brand for Unilever is soybean oil. Almost all of these soybeans are grown by farmers located within a 60-mile radius of Des Moines. In addition, most of the eggs used to make Hellmann’s (ingredient no. 3 on the label) are sourced from Iowa egg farms. Just two more reasons why Iowa is among the nation’s leader in the production of soybeans and eggs.

The Hawkeye State also ranks first in pork production. While consumers worldwide have become very fond of this lean, white meat, ample servings of chops, bacon and loins are baked, grilled, fried and savored close to home. In fact, the odds are in your favor that the pork you buy at Costco and Fareway or enjoyed at your neighborhood Applebees was sourced from an Iowa farm owned and managed by an Iowa farm family who shares your passion for wholesome food, a quality environment and community vitality.

Casey’s is “famous for pizza” and the numbers prove it. Casey’s Homemade Pizza to Go, introduced in 1985, bakes and serves nearly 15 million pizzas annually. It’s the nation’s 6^th largest pizza chain and uses almost 12 million pounds of cheese annually. Casey’s also tops its pizzas with a whole lot of sausage, ham, beef and pepperoni – tasty meats prepared by a company in Ames.

The list goes on. My family is on the go and hardly a week goes by that Subway isn’t on the menu. It’s good, fast and yes, local. West Liberty Foods in West Liberty, Iowa, is the supplier of fresh turkey to Subway. Enjoy a Cold Cut Combo and you’re enjoying delicious turkey sourced from an Iowa farm.

And if you’re lovin’ local, add McDonald’s to the list of patrons. Each year, the restaurant purchases more than $500 million of quality ingredients sourced from Iowa’s farms including 1 billion eggs (Egg McMuffins are a favorite!), more than 16 million pounds of beef, 140 million pounds of pork, 2 million bushels of corn and more than 12 million bushels of soybeans.

Yes, local food is popular these days. In a survey of 500 Iowans conducted this fall on behalf of the Iowa Food & Family Project (www.iowafoodandfamily.com), participants overwhelmingly agreed that “local” food is “better” food.

As Iowans, we don’t have to go far to find it.

Putze serves as director of communications for the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA). He also coordinates the Iowa Food & Family Project, an initiative launched in 2011 by the ISA that better acquaints Iowans with farmers and how the food they enjoy is grown, prepared and served. He can be contacted at aputze@iasoybeans.com.

“Tell your story or someone else will – and you might not like it!” is a line often used by Larry Sailer, who writes “Musings of a Pig Farmer” each Tuesday for TheFieldPosition.com. When told by the wrong person, stories about production agriculture can be downright frightening! Misinformation and half-truths lead to fire storms.

“Social media fires” break out often when it comes to hot agricultural issues, said keynote speaker Katie Pinke, author of the Pinke Post during the Upper Midwest Regional AgChat Conference. Katie said that when it comes to ag issues, we all must work together to put these fires out with “social media water.” Simply put, the more voices there are telling the truth about agriculture, the better the chances of debunking the misconception.

Click here to read the full blog about how to understand and be understood while telling your agriculture story.

Latham’s homegrown labor force worked to grow a family farm into a regional seed business

Soybeans are delivered straight from the growers’ fields to Latham headquarters where we then condition the soybeans and store the seed

“Some people don’t understand the science behind the (GMO) technology, and what you don’t understand, you normally fear,” writes Suzie Wilde, who blogs at I Kissed a Farmer.

I couldn’t agree more.  Fear causes people to make decisions and act in ways that defy common sense and common decency.  For example, vandals destroyed a “Golden Rice” trial on Aug. 8, 2013, in the Phillipines.  “Golden Rice” is a rice variety in which rice grains accumulate B-carotene.  This rice variety has been ready for use since the turn of the 21st century, yet it is still not available to farmers.

Meanwhile, literally millions of people who live in poverty suffer from Vitamin A deficiency resulting in compromised immune systems.  Severe Vitamin A deficiency also results in blindness, and nearly 50% of the half-million children who are blinded by it die within a year.  From 1.9 to 2.8 million deaths could be prevented annually if Golden Rice were available in these poverty stricken areas!  We know these deaths could be prevented, yet we’re letting fear of the unknown prohibit us from helping these poor people.

Fear of the unknown is also causing agriculture to come under attack on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai, known as the Garden Island.  Activists from the mainland are funding a campaign to remove four seed and technology companies from Kauai.  The anti-GMO groups are citing pesticides as the reason, but their real agenda is to advance their battle against all GMO crops.

If seed companies are forced from the Hawaiian Islands, it will have a negative effect on our seeds in the Midwest.  It will slow-down the time new hybrids and varieties reach market as research facilities in Hawaii speed up hybrid development from 10 or 12 years to just 3 to 5 years.

Why does this matter?  It matters because new corn hybrids are higher yielding than older hybrids.  The average “life” of a hybrid seed corn product today is less than three years because these hybrids are replaced by higher-yielding products or products that have the potential due partly to protection mechanisms they have against insects and disease.

If Zambian farmers had access to seed with better defenses against weeds, pests and weather extremes, their living standards would rise considerably.  Kelvin Kamfwa says his parents, just like millions of subsistence farmers in Zambia, struggle to survive.  He knows firsthand that better seeds equal better life.

Access to GM crops would provide youth with options and opportunity in a country where flushing toliets and education are considered luxury.  Activists say they’re protecting human health and the planet when they protest biotechnology and GMOs, but Kamfwa says protestors are really condemning millions to lifelong poverty.

GM crops can help farmers worldwide rise above poverty through heartier, healthier plants and increased yields.  It’s a fact that seed technology advancements have allowed farmers to make significant yield increases in recent years.  In 1912, U.S. corn yields averaged just 20 bushels per acre (bu/A).  Iowa corn yields averaged nearly 200 bu/A in 2009.  This week I visited an Iowa farmer, who achieved whole-farm averages of 300+ bu/A; one of his test plots produced a yield of 414 bu/A.

Just think how many more people can be fed with corn yielding 400 bu/A as compared to 20 bu/A!  As Dr. Robb Fraley, who’s often referred to as Father of Biotechnology says, “GM crops are the least size-sensitive of any crop. Small farmers, as well as large farmers, can use them.  They are just seeds, and any farmer knows what to do with a seed.”

While not everyone will agree with my viewpoint, I feel “helping farmers feed and fuel the world” is a noble mission.  I can rest easier at night, knowing the seed technology and trait companies with which we work are helping advance agriculture around the globe.

Please do your own research on the topic of GM crops.  Below are links to a few resources:

• Why do farmers plant GMO Crops?
• GMO Answers
• Size Doesn’t Determine Worth
• Squandered Golden Opportunity