By Gene Hall

I attended a meeting this week that featured a panel of the so called “mommy bloggers.” The rise of this form of communication is a positive development for the marketing of food products and for agriculture itself.  I had to leave for the airport and did not have time to visit individually with the panel.  I don’t have permission to use their names, and I won’t.  I’ll tell you this, though. Without exception they were smart, articulate and focused on a surprising degree of journalistic integrity in what they do.  Perhaps I should not have been surprised, but these ladies are very careful in sourcing what they write about.

Alike in these and other positive aspects, this particular group of mommy bloggers was diverse in other ways. They relayed to our group their shopping plans, and make no mistake, there was intense planning and budgeting involved.  Most of them spoke of their decision to be stay-at-home moms and how couponing and intense budgeting made that possible.  Raising the kids at home fulfills other of their important life goals. There’s a whole lot to admire there.

This group also demonstrates the wide array of food decisions made every day by the great and diverse food shopping public.

Take organic food for example. For some of the mommy bloggers, it was and is first choice. They buy organic first. Others in the group buy some organic but their food choices are budget driven and they buy conventionally grown food as well. One stated that organic was “just not a priority” for her. All of them spoke of their concern for the health of their families and believe they are doing their best in that regard. I think so too.

In looking up their blogs later, it’s clear that all of them are fair about what they write and advocate. There is some awfully good shopping advice on those on-line pages. I know that farmers and ranchers should reach out to this group of communicators. Some of that is already happening.

Mommy blogging is a positive development in terms of helping the public understand their food buying decisions and the source of the food we feed our families—a key goal of the farm and ranch community.

I enjoyed the presentation, but I am left wondering: Why is it we never hear about “daddy bloggers?” 

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By Gene Hall

Mike wrote earlier in the week about that baby born Monday. That little tyke pushed the world’s population to 7 billion. Of course, we don’t know exactly who he or she was, but it’s instructive to speculate on what that life might be like.

Much depends on where the child was born. If it was in the wealthier and technologically astute west, especially in the U.S., then the future contains more promise, though not free of trials. If the child was born outside that fortunate realm, the future is cloudier.

The thing is, we’ve seen nothing yet. When that child turns 38, in the year 2050, there will be 2 billion more souls to keep him company—a world population of 9 billion. The potential toll on resources is almost beyond comprehension. The challenges of feeding that baby and everyone will be daunting and perhaps even desperate.

We have to feed them—ideally, all of them—and we have to do it sustainably. I hesitate to use the word “sustainable.” These days it has far more meaning politically than agriculturally. I use the word to mean we have to produce more food than we ever have before in a way that preserves the resources that make it possible.

The first definition of sustainability that comes up in Webster’s is, “capable of being sustained.” While modern agriculture may not have achieved that goal in all of its thousands of applications, it’s moving toward it with astonishing speed.

I wrote about that in a previous blog. While modern agriculture is not the utopian vision that is all some will accept, it is sustainable in most respects. We are producing much more food and fiber on essentially the same amount of acres in use in 1950, despite losing some of the best lands to urban expansion.

Here are the rules for my definition of sustainable. First, the production unit has to be economically sustainable. A farmer has to make enough money to live well and send his kids to college. The same goes for the people and companies who provide inputs and process the product. Forget the notion that food production is so high and so noble that it should be an altruistic mission. It has to be a capitalist endeavor—not Wall Street capitalism—but the kind Adam Smith wrote about.

My second rule is that every effort should be made to reduce expensive chemical crop inputs—without reducing production. If you read the previous blog, you know this is already happening. It began in the laboratory and is being perfected on farms and ranches. Why use more than is needed of something that is so expensive?

The third rule is that the potential of technology must be enthusiastically embraced in our sustainable model. We can’t feed those 9 billion souls without it. This includes the political hot button of biotechnology. Why would we turn our back on an exhaustively researched technology that increases yield, brings previously unproductive land under cultivation and reduces the need for chemicals and increasingly scarce water?

Multiple generations of American farmers and ranchers have remained on the same land for decades by practicing this kind of sustainability. They’ve made unproductive lands bloom. By practicing crop rotation, rotational grazing, low- and no-till farming, integrated pest management and other techniques, they’ve left the land as good or better than when it was first charged to them. They’ve steadily reduced the use of the practices and chemicals so many find objectionable.

Many times over the years, experts have warned of the population bomb, predicting coming famine. Each time, modern agriculture has forestalled that calamity. But the bomb is still ticking. Can we feed them all? Yes, if we make the right decisions. 

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By Mike Barnett

Nobody cares that the American farmer puts a huge dent in global hunger. 

Well, “nobody” isn’t exactly correct. But 40 percent of those surveyed in a recent analysis of consumer trust by the Center for Food Integrity said they strongly disagree that it’s the United States' responsibility to feed a hungry world.

That's disturbing in light of the drought and famine in Africa that's affecting millions.

Has the American consumer turned callous?

I hate to say yes, but it’s easy to think in that direction.

It's been generations since we've had true hunger in America. I’m talking distended belly hunger, people dying because they don't have enough to eat.

Our food in America comes from the grocery store. Or so consumers think.  Shelves are nearly always stocked and we get angry when the item we want is unavailable. There's a fast food restaurant on every corner serving huge portions for the asking. When you consider the cost of homes and cars and fuel and all those other "necessities" of American life, food is cheap.

Obesity runs rampant in our society. The only distended bellies in America are those who let another notch out of their belt because they eat too much.

How can we recognize the suffering of true global hunger when we can't relate?

It troubles me because one of the main messages agriculture has used for decades is our ability to feed a hungry globe. Take away that argument and it gives strong support to those who want to do away with modern agriculture techniques. Take away those modern tools and we’ll see true global hunger.

Guess it’s time for a new message. In the meantime, American farmers will continue to be the most productive in the world. They will continue to produce abundant, affordable food.  And they’ll continue to feed the world.

To heck with what the survey says.

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By Mike Barnett

Moms and dads should be concerned about fat kids. So should the government. Obesity rates are soaring. Millions of dollars have been spent to conduct thousands of studies to examine why one-third of children ages 6 to 19 are overweight.

Add another study to the mix and $2 million in taxpayer dollars down the drain. USDA announced a grant to five San Antonio schools last week for cafeteria cams to figure out what and how much kids eat at school. The high-tech wonder will snap photos of lunch trays before students check out at the register. It will take another picture when they finish eating. The calorie counting camera will identify the food, capture the nutrient levels and measure what the students have eaten.

Do we really need a high tech surveillance system to figure this out? It's pretty obvious to me. When kids have a choice between a greasy hamburger and a turkey wrap or cheese enchilada versus a tuna sandwich, the greasy hamburger and cheese enchilada–nine times out of ten–is going off the tray and into the mouth.

The goal of the program is to teach parents that a steady diet of high-sugar, high-fat and high-salt foods is bad for you. Duh. I think most moms and dads know that. Study after study shows that high calorie intake and little exercise leads to obesity.

Yet many continue to feed their kiddos a steady diet of cookies, salty snacks and Big Macs. Many let their kids retire to their rooms for hours on the Xbox and PlayStation instead of getting them outside in the fresh air for play and exercise.

Obesity in children and adults is a serious problem that is fat on studies and short on solutions. Spending another $2 million to expose the obvious is pointless.

It's all about choices, both for parents at home and administration in schools. Parents need to take the responsibility to provide a diet rich in lean meats, fruits, vegetables and whole grains–sans the salt–to their children. School districts should do the same.

Bad choices will be made when bad options are presented.

The data is there to add the carrots and nix the fries.

The willpower isn't.

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By Gene Hall

When it comes to healthy diets, mom was right. Eat your vegetables.

I personally believe that if food choices had not become so political, we all would taking mom’s advice and would probably eat better.

Over breakfast this morning, I read a New York Times piece reprinted in our Waco Tribune Herald. Americans, said author Kim Severson and her sources, are still not eating their vegetables. 

After billions of dollars spent by the food industry and government; after the media has done everything possible to shame us into eating vegetables—we still order up fries instead of salads. The article is very good and it’s pretty hard to find an article in the Times on food and agriculture that’s not biased or endorsing something really silly.

We should all eat our vegetables. I have three sons. The oldest is 30, the other two in their twenties. One pretty much refuses to eat many vegetables. The other two really like them but their consumption is crimped by their busy lifestyle. My wife and I fall into that latter category sometimes.

Part of the problem is taste. It takes awhile to appreciate the flavor of raw vegetables, like I do, and to prepare the cooked version properly. Some people seek out organic, which can be harder to find and is more expensive. I don’t worry about that. Of course, “out of the can” is not the best argument for vegetable flavor, but sometimes that’s necessary, too. Like mom said, we need to eat—and we need for our children to eat—generous portions of vegetables every day.

Another problem: the argument often comes down to “eat vegetables OR meat.” This is where politics creeps in. Some nutrition guidelines put meat in the same category as sugar and sweets, which is nonsense. Vegetables and lean grilled meat, side-by-side, encourages me to eat both. Meat is an efficient delivery system for many essential nutrients, but leaving off the vegetables is a mistake in more ways than one.

The old conventional sandwich can be a platform for increased vegetable consumption. How about low fat deli meats of your choice, with layers of cucumbers, onions and peppers? I recommend it. Try it with no chips. Steaming is another very good way to prepare and enjoy vegetables.

My favorite way to get meat and veggies together is my trusty old gas grill. A gas grill, in good working order, is a nice boost to healthy eating. I’m not saying a charcoal grill is bad, just that it’s more work. Either way, grilling is a healthy and delicious way to cook. Steaks, pork chops and chicken in our backyard with skewers of fresh vegetables is a great family experience. We’ve done it since the boys were very young. We often replace chips and dips with a platter of raw veggies and low cal dip as we grill.

I like to fill the skewers with cherry tomatoes, squash, zucchini, mushrooms, purple onions and other fresh vegetables. That, along with my reasonably sized portion of grilled meat, is healthy, fairly inexpensive and absolutely delicious! 

Texas ranchers and other livestock producers want you to consume their products. And like mom, they also want you to eat lots of vegetables with your meat—not instead of it.

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By Mike Barnett

Know what’s causing the political crisis in Egypt? It’s ethanol. Hunger is rampant in this Middle East country because U.S. ethanol production has caused world corn prices to go up. Higher corn prices mean U.S. farmers are taking wheat acres out of production in favor of corn. This is causing wheat prices to spike and because the U.S. exports a lot of wheat to the Middle East, the average Egyptian Joe can’t afford to eat. So he and his friends are rioting in the streets.

At least this is what a writer on Forbes website maintains. I wish I could link to the article but it disappeared over the weekend. This convoluted story reminds me of a dog I used to have, named Brainless. We were playing fetch one day when the stick I threw landed in the bed of a passing pickup. I guess Brainless is still chasing that stick. I haven’t seen him since.

That incident was a far fetch for Brainless, just as this opinion piece is a far fetch for author Christian Wolan.

Realizing an opinion is an opinion, it’s still incredible to me that the editors at Forbes ever let this one loose. I wonder if its audacity was the reason it was pulled down.

Ethanol has become a convenient whipping boy for whatever ills the world is suffering.

A couple of years ago it was the grocery wars, where ethanol was blamed for spikes in the price of food in this country and around the world.

Left unmentioned as possible sources of food inflation were increased demand caused by a booming world economy and a sky high price for energy. Guess what? When the U.S. and world economic bubble burst, so did oil and food prices.

Today the world’s economy is heating up and the price of energy is barreling skyward. Corn and wheat, as well as other commodity prices, are rising. So are food prices. Déjà vu all over again.

It’s not the price of tea in China or the cost of bread in Egypt or ethanol production in the U.S. that is causing the people of Cairo to riot.

They are standing up to a corrupt government which has shown little regard for its people. Many Egyptians live in rampant poverty with little hope for the future. They have had enough. They are demanding change. And it looks as if they’re going to be successful.

Meanwhile, Mr. Wolan, if you see my dog, Brainless, give me a call. He’s on endless quest chasing a phantom stick. It looks to me as if you are barking up the same tree.

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By Mike Barnett

Take one scoop of endangered species, two pinches of pesticide and two cups of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), mix well and you have a recipe for disaster for Texas agriculture and America’s farmers and ranchers.

Two environmental groups are cooking up a bitter cake for farmers and ranchers as they have sued EPA in a challenge to the agency’s agricultural pesticide regulatory program.

According to the suit, filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and the Pesticide Action Network North America, EPA did not consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Services regarding the effects of EPA-registered pesticides on endangered species. The groups claim EPA is violating the Endangered Species Act and are asking EPA to retroactively consult FWS and re-write current regulations, after putting restrictions on ag chemicals.

Most suits filed by environmental groups are targeted at one particular species in a given region. What makes this suit different—and much more dangerous—is its broad scope.

Virtually every agricultural chemical in use today is listed in that suit—which seeks protection for 214 endangered species throughout the U.S. The groups claim some 18 endangered species are threatened by pesticides in Texas alone including the Louisiana black bear, Black-capped vireo, Piping plover,  the Texas blind salamander, Peck’s Cave amphipod, the American burying beetle and others.

Bottom line: The suit, if successful, has the potential to broadly limit pesticide use and change production practices of every farmer and rancher in Texas and the United States.

Kansas Corn Growers Executive Director Jere White offered his thoughts during a DTN/Progressive Farmer interview: “If you look at the scope of the lawsuit, it is different in that it is not targeted--just when you look at the geographical distribution and the number of products involved. This is more of an assault on modern agriculture than it is about protection of endangered species.”

Think Mr. White is wrong? Read this quote from Dr. Heather Pilatic, co-director of one of the environmental groups bringing the lawsuit: “This suit thus represents a real opportunity for American agriculture: By enforcing the law and counting the real cost of pesticide use, we strengthen the case for supporting a transition toward more sustainable pest-control practices like crop rotations and beneficial insect release.”

Duh, Dr. Pilatic—as if agriculture hasn’t thought of those practices.

If these environmental groups get this cake baked, you can put Texas farmers and ranchers and American agriculture right on that endangered list with the Robber Baron Cave meshweaver and Pecos assiminea. Maybe then we can get some protection.

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By Gene Hall

This entry is about my most memorable Christmas. For the first time in writing this blog, I’m straying from our agricultural theme. I’ve written before about Christmas on the farm. Many of those were indeed memorable for a host of positive reasons. My most memorable Christmas, however, is such for reasons good and bad, seared into my mind—unforgettable.

It was Christmas Day in 1992. I was 38 years old. My youngest son was five and he was in Scott and White Hospital in Temple, Texas—recovering from cancer surgery. We had discovered his kidney cancer, known as Wilm’s Tumor, only a week before. His surgery for removal of one kidney occurred on December 21. The prognosis was good. The tumor was caught early and we’d been briefed that any person can live a long and full life with one kidney. I absorbed all that and understood it. I remained quite simply, terrified.

Our Christmas shopping for all three boys was scant. We’d explained to all of them that there were more important things to deal with this Christmas. We had not counted on the generosity of friends. My mother-in-law stayed with the other two boys but our friends from work and church arrived to take them to Christmas parties, actually buying gifts for them. 

My wife and I stayed in the hospital room with the youngest, sleeping fitfully on a foldout couch. On Christmas Eve, I was awake when the phone rang around midnight.  My seven-year-old son was running a high fever at home. A neighbor got out of bed and brought him to us in the hospital, 30 miles away, then took him back home after emergency room treatment.

The recovery of a child from major surgery is a painful thing to experience. The whirlwind of activities, the surgery, tests, the start of chemotherapy and the ER visit by our seven-year-old had left us completely exhausted. We slept for the first time in days early that Christmas morning.

I thought the early morning activity in the room that woke me up, around 7 a.m., was more medical detail. I got up intending to get another report, but what I saw flabbergasted me. My son was awake and smiling for the first time since the surgery. Santa Claus was standing over his bed grinning and talking to him as he laid several gifts on the bed.

He was completely in character. He WAS Santa Claus.  He stayed only a minute or two and left with a “Ho-Ho-Ho and a Merry Christmas.” I sat on the bed and reflected about my friends, my neighbors and Santa. All of them taught me what Christmas really means.

 You can believe if you want that Santa was a volunteer dressed for the part. For me, in that moment, in that place, he was real. As for the friends who made sure my other sons had Christmas and the neighbor who left her family to take my son to the ER—well, Santa took several forms during that difficult Christmas week.

One more thing—this story has a happy ending. My son is now 23-years-old, a Texas A&M student and a healthy young man. He made us proud, sometimes got into trouble—and lived. He played high school baseball, went to the prom, and off to college. 

 May God’s blessings fall richly on all who read these words.  Merry Christmas to all.

By Mike Barnett

We hear a lot about obesity in Texas.

Turn on the television and you see the latest alarm story featuring an overweight man or woman waddling away from the television camera. Newspaper stories highlight high rates of obesity. Childhood obesity horror stories are chronicled on the internet.  A nation obsessed with fat leads to obesity surgery and surging sales of weight loss pills. America’s favorite diet changes weekly.

Obesity is, pardon the pun, a ballooning problem. Yet so many do too little about skyrocketing obesity rates in Texas—except make excuses. That’s human nature I guess.

We obsess over what makes us fat. Fast food restaurants are a favorite target. Another is high fructose corn syrup. The list includes huge corporations bent on profit promoting unhealthy foods that taste good; too much sugar; too many sweets; too much red meat. Something is always at fault.

The truth is, we are all right, yet we are all wrong. Food makes us fat. It doesn’t matter much if it’s bread or meat or sweets or fruits. Eat too much and you’ll pile on the pounds.

When it comes to obesity, too many fingers point in too many directions. In most cases, we need only point at ourselves.

As one who has lost and gained hundreds of pounds over the years, maybe I shouldn’t be giving advice. But I have stayed within 5 pounds of what I weigh now for the past couple of years. Actually, it’s been fairly easy.

Here are my tips for controlling weight:

1) Go ahead and eat at McDonalds. Small fry and small drink with that Quarter Pounder. Occasionally.  Moderation in anything we eat is good.

2) Take a lesson from your dog. I have a Daschund who would eat and eat and eat—if I let her. Miss Molly, if she had her way, would look like a sausage with a head attached.  I limit what she eats. I take her for walks. She stays fit and trim. I used to look like a sausage with a head attached. I practiced what I preached to my dog. It made a huge difference.

3) Mexican food is a must. We all have that food we crave. Tex-Mex is mine. I’m going to indulge every once in a while. And I’m not going to beat myself up when I do.

4) Be accountable to someone. I don’t like to promote businesses, but Weight Watchers works for me—not so much because I follow what they say, it’s because I’m paying for the privilege of having to face someone every week who’s going to shoot that “shame, shame” look if I gain two pounds.

5) Forget diets. They don’t work. Portion control works. We’ve all probably heard about the guy who lost weight on a Twinkie diet. He just didn’t eat a lot of them.

6) Forget diet books. If they worked, there wouldn’t be a market for diet books.

7) Make it a family affair. Try cooking a healthy meal instead of bringing home takeout. It will work wonders for family unity—and the waist lines.

8) Be a couch potato…on an exercise bike. Many of us don’t exercise because it’s boring. Exercise in front of the television. You can watch food commercials and lose weight!

9) Take your doctor’s advice. Unless they are obese.

10) Take ten steps. Take ten more. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Weight control—limiting intake; burning calories—it’s all about mind over matter. Mind what you put in your mouth. It matters.

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By Gene Hall

I heard recently from one of those adult 4-H leaders who make this program so great for Texas kids, rural and urban alike. I’m not going to reveal any names or locations because animal rights and environmental extremists can get a little testy when their sacred cows get gored by folks like me, who are agnostics with regard to their green religion.

My friend took a group of kids to one of those places where you learn how to help underdeveloped countries establish subsistence farming. There is good work being done there and in other places like them. If only they could turn off the propaganda machine when they make their presentations to impressionable kids!

The kids had an up close and personal experience with a composting toilet, which engendered a new appreciation for indoor plumbing.

Part of the trip was to learn about sustainable agriculture. That is great, though “sustainable” has become one of the most loaded words in our political vocabulary, meaning whatever you want it to. The same can be said of “factory farm.”

The group was met by a really nice young volunteer who self-described as a farmer. This is literally true, because they were growing things. According to my 4-H friend, they employ some great ideas for growing more with less, so that people who work internationally can share these practices with those struggling to feed themselves and enable those people to have a higher quality of life. My friend said, “It really was great.”

But then, the propaganda machine tripped into gear. The self-described farmer launched into an attack on “factory farms” and “big agriculture.” The approach was subtle, but I’ve heard it thousands of times. “Cow’s milk isn't as good for humans as goat milk, rabbit meat is a more eco-friendly meat to raise, and then he said that they have steers on the farm who are only grass-fed beef because cattle sent to feedlots are "force-fed corn the last 5 months or so of their lives and then get sick and have to be given lots of antibiotics."

All of this is, of course, complete nonsense. Anyone who has ever tried to “force feed” corn to a cow could lose a finger or two. Cows love the stuff, and it’s good for their purpose of becoming quality beef. There was no mention that though cows are treated with medicine, including antibiotics, when they get sick, there is no epidemic raging around feedlots or dairy farms. 

It’s becoming an article of faith among anti-agriculture activists that corn makes cows sick. This is a lie, though not everyone who repeats it knows. And of course, every medicine given for completely normal ailments must be discontinued long before the animal becomes food or gives milk. But, as I’ve learned, extremists who take medicine when they get sick are inexplicably opposed to healthy cows.

The “farmer” was not lying, but had ingested the extremist talking points and disgorged them faithfully and robotically. The trouble was, this was a group of rural kids. Some of them were farm kids—real American style farms—and they knew better.

My friend was concerned. She is a farm wife and knew they’d just been shoveled a load of organic fertilizer. She said, “I was so livid, but I knew that I had to hold my tongue in order to avoid a tacky debate in front of an impressionable group of youth, cause I know myself and there was no way to avoid getting a tad bit tacky in this setting. I was just waiting for the ‘farmer’ to say that cattle were responsible for the greenhouse gas emissions all by themselves, but fortunately, he didn't go there.” The 4-H Club manager said she would address these things with her group at a later time as some were probably really confused because they feed out steers and cattle for show.

But this story has a happy ending. “So last night, at the Club meeting, some of the kids gave a report on their experience,” my friend said.

This report included “them being grossed out by the toilet,”  “there was a farmer wearing skinny jeans,” and (here is the big one...I hope you are ready for this) "We who are involved in agriculture need to do a better job telling our story with the public because there are people out there making it look bad and it isn't. The ‘farmer’ said cattle are force fed corn and this just isn't true."

“WOW!!!” my friend exclaimed. “My 4-H members realize that they have to tell their own stories and let people know that agriculture isn't as bad as people like our tour guide think it is.”

Not every group who stands in front of this activist “farmer” will know facts from compost.  So all of us in agriculture have to get busy doing what these kids are doing—setting the record straight.

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