Many Americans cannot even describe a GMO, or genetically modified organism, yet a vocal minority wants them banned. Last week GMO Free USA singled out four female members of the Senate Agricultural Committee, urging them “as mothers” to stop any legislation that would pre-empt Vermont’s mandatory labeling law. Fear is pre-empting common sense and science!

Now Congress is once again considering GMO labeling. I’d like to help our elected officials get the facts…

As a farmer, I’m very familiar with genetics. My farming career has spanned more than 40 years, so I have seen how the genetics of my crops and livestock have continually improved. When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, we were constantly battling insects and weeds in our crops. We used pesticides that were tremendously helpful but not environmentally friendly.

New seed technology and plant genetics allow farmers to use safer pesticides at greatly reduced rates. I use much less fertilizer per pound of grain raised today as compared to when I started farming on my own in the 1970s. We now measure our pesticides in ounces instead of gallons. I also use much less water and energy to raise a crop, so production agriculture today makes fewer demands on our environment.

The livestock I raise have been feed GMO feed for 20+ years, and my pigs have made spectacular improvements in how they grow! If there was a problem with GMOs, it would surely been evident in my operation. We eat the meat we produce because I know that GMOs are extremely safe! In fact, there has not been one illness or death anywhere attributed to GMOs!

Labels are to warn us of a danger, or the nutrition in our food. I personally would like to see a ban on all food labels, which have really turned into a marketing ploy. (Have you seen Dirck Steimel’s recent article about consumers’ food confusion? Consumers are seeking foods labeled with the word “natural,” even though it’s one of the most ambiguous food marketing terms. Now the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reportedly pondering whether to define the word “natural” as it applies to food.)

If we must label foods – and it sounds like Congress must act to prevent a patchwork of state food labeling laws from being enacted this year – then I say “Yes” to science-based standards and “No” to anti-GMO. Studies have shown that state GMO food and seed labeling laws, like the one that would go into effect this July in Vermont, will cost American families hundreds of dollars more in groceries each year. Without bioengineered crops, the price of food would be 5 to 10% higher than it is now. (Click here to read a recent Forbes article, detailing the real cost of eliminating GMOS.)

U.S. Senate Agriculture Chairman Pat Roberts has introduced a commonsense food-labeling proposal that will bring consistency and transparency to the marketplace. Food labels affect both farmers and consumers, so I urge you to take action today! Please contact your elected representatives in support of Senator Roberts’ proposal that would preempt state GMO food and seed labeling efforts and require USDA to set a standard for voluntary on-package disclosure.

Do you enjoy eating nutritious, affordable food? Then I strongly urge you to take action to enact a fair and reasonable standard for GMO labeling! American farmers and consumers need Congress to bring transparency and consistency to the marketplace while protecting consumers’ food choice.

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The lush, green hills where Red Angus cows and calves graze today in the Salinas Valley is a stark contrast to the picture here at the height of the California megadrought. Zero rain fell in January 2014, making it the driest in 135 years of recordkeeping. January is typically California’s wettest month of the year, and about eight inches fell in Salina last month.

“Each day I truly feel blessed that we have gotten moisture,” says Celeste Settrini, a fourth generation rancher who raises cattle with her brother, John. “We’re far from out of the woods in our drought situation, but it’s such a comfort knowing there is water in our ponds and green grass growing. If rains continue to come, then we will be in decent shape for the year ahead.”

There’s nothing like scarcity to make a person appreciate what they have. Two years ago rain was so scarce that Celeste asked friends to join her for a day of reflection, prayer and fasting during a virtual event called “Havesting Faith.” Farmers, ranchers and non-farming friends from across the nation came together to pray for rain in California.

“I truly could not believe the response from the Harvesting Faith event!” says Celeste. “Hundreds upon hundreds of people ‘liked’ our event on Facebook. We all came together to share stories and to pray for relief. I was on radio segments. There were stories written about it – this event was bigger than anything I ever imagined. It made me feel so good that farmers and ranchers from across America came together to pray for relief.”

Prayers were answered shortly thereafter. Celeste remembers being on a walk when dark clouds formed. “It looked really stormy and I thought, ‘Wow. I think God is listening to all of us,” she said. “It rained that day, although not a lot. It gave me the hope needed to realize that, yes, prayers are answered. God will take care of us in His time, so we must remain patient and hopeful.”

Through the “Harvesting Faith” event, people from all walks of life focused on the bigger picture. Many times those of us in agriculture get crossways over different production methods or are worn down by others who don’t farm but want to influence the way we do.

“We are all a part of a very large family of wonderful people,” says Celeste. “I personally believe there are no better people on the planet than farmers and ranchers. We need to reach out and ask for help when we need it, not be afraid to share our thoughts with our off-farm friends, stand up for what we do and celebrate the good of American Agriculture. No matter what method you use to produce food for this growing nation YOU are an important part of that, big or small. Take pride in that and realize that you are a part of the bigger picture.”

Celeste and her brother, John, have worked side-by-side daily since 2013 when a series of life events prompted her to leave a 20-year career as an ag commodities broker. They share day-to-day responsibilities for everything from feeding and working cattle to fixing fence and selecting breeding stock.

“We’re always together. Where one is strong, the other assists and vice versus. As the ‘chatter box’ of the family, I enjoy being involved in cattlemen’s groups and anything pertaining to promoting or preserving our way of life,” says Celeste.

Promoting agriculture and the people engaged in this industry is so much of a passion for Celeste that she started CS Connections. This boutique agency serves clients in the rodeo, stock show and agricultural industries. Services include social media management, website creation, as well as collateral and print ad design.

A typical day for Celeste means waking up at 5 am and firing up her laptop. After answering emails and updating social media for about two hours, she leaves the home ranch and travels about 10 minutes away to the hills where she will either feed or take stock of the cattle.

These days Celeste is riding through the fields, checking on mamas and their babies, She also keeps her eyes open for troughs or fences that must be mended. Around noon, she returns home and settles into her office where she resumes work for CS Connections.

“A series of events led me to start my promotions business and run cattle. This is exactly where I want to be!” says Celeste. “It took a while to get here, so my advice to others is, ‘Don’t ever give up!’ Keep following your bliss.”

Always smile. Be kind. Work hard. Stay humble. And never stop learning.

That’s how Kim Bremmer of Greenwood, Wisc., has been signing off from her weekly radio program for 13 weeks.

Last January Kim resigned from her full-time job as a dairy nutritionist to launch Ag Inspirations. Her mission is to inspire farmers to tell their stories, connect consumers with where their food comes from, and represent the great successes in American agriculture today. She travels the country speaking to a number of different groups about modern agriculture.

“Sharing the message about the people and places in Rural America is a step toward re-connecting people to their food,” says Kim. “An industry that feeds you is an industry worth fighting for!”

Ag Inspirations Radio airs at aginspirations.com and through Loos Tales on more than 100 stations nationwide with 3 million listeners on-air and online. Recently I had the honor of being interviewed by Kim, so I turned the table on her and did an interview for TheFieldPosition.

Because Kim is one of the warmest and wittiest people I’ve ever met, I decided to tell her story in her own words by taking a Q&A approach to today’s blog. I hope you enjoy “sitting down” with this agvocate as much as I did!

Q: How did you start advocating? A friend of mine needed help in a CommonGround booth four years ago, and isn’t that what we do?  A girlfriend calls and we help when and where we are needed.

Q: Why did you decide to take the leap and start Ag Inspirations? I spent 15 years as a dairy nutritionist, so I know most cows eat better than people! I like to say, “If you have four compartments to your stomach, I’m your chick!” 😉

As I got more involved with volunteering for CommonGround, I wanted to do more to help inspire farmers to tell their stories and connect people with where their food comes from. I was getting more opportunities to speak to groups, but it was taking away my family time and that wasn’t fair to them. I decided to make the big leap and start my own business where I could travel, speak and share perspective from my unique “front-row seat to farming.” I had the opportunity as a dairy nutritionist to work with great farmers of all sizes and types, so I have this unique perspective to share.

Q: Why do you believe it’s important for farmers to share their farm stories? I don’t know that there has ever been a more important time to get involved in the conversation. It seems the story of agriculture is being told by everyone but farmers! There is so much misinformation about farming that it’s no wonder consumers are confused. Farmers have the most important message that matters because they care for their animals and the land like never before and continue to improve each and every day to provide safe food.  The miracle of modern agriculture is truly something we should all be proud of and it’s definitely time to speak up!

Q: What is it important for farmers to try to bridge the knowledge gap with consumers? Food companies and restaurants will continue to market products.  That’s their job.  It’s not their job to educate consumers, whether we like it or not.  Unfortunately, fear sells. That’s why it’s more important than ever for farmers to speak up and share the truth. No two farms that are the same and every farmer knows what works and what doesn’t on their individual farm. My biggest fear is that people do not understand the unintended consequences of all the demands they are making on how food is grown and raised. We need to recognize that farmers are the experts on growing our food and I pray every day that I am able to help spread that message in hopes that we don’t regulate our farmers and ranchers out of business.

I truly believe that one person can make a difference, so I take every opportunity available to talk to one person.  When my kids are in trouble at our house, the punishment is going to the grocery store with mom. (I shop at 5:30 PM on Friday or Sunday after church. I’ve been known to leave sticky notes on meat packages or engage in conversations anywhere from the meat counter to the checkout line.)  I never leave without talking to at least one person!

Q: Did you grow up knowing you wanted to be involved with farming? I grew up on a farm and in 4-H, but I wasn’t interested in doing anything related to agriculture. When I was a senior in high school, my dad slipped into the manure auger at the end of our barn. He was quite lucky and only has pins in his ankle today. My senior year involved a lot of “sink or swim, figure it out” kind of moments on our farm, so our farm was the last place I wanted to return.

When I went to UW-Madison, I began with a major in medical microbiology and immunology. This was right when the show, ER, was popular, and well, I wanted to work with George Clooney! I wanted to be an ER doctor.

But it’s difficult to lose the love of agriculture – even when you don’t think you have it! It was only a matter of time before I found my way to the College of Ag and Life Sciences and began milking cows on the research farm in downtown Madison. I got involved in some really cool research as an undergraduate and met my husband in the ruminant nutrition lab. I helped him do liver biopsies when he was getting his PhD. (He admitted he liked working with me because I knew how to move cows… who knew that would be such an important life skill??!!)

An Ag Journalism degree fit nicely with my Dairy Science degree. Since it only required a few more classes, I decided to double major.

Q: Please describe why your children show dairy cattle. I believe kids who are raised on farms and those lucky enough to spend enough time on one to learn, gain invaluable life lessons about life and death and hard work. We are so fortunate that an old college roommate who has a farm lives close by. My kids, Kayla (12) and Carson (8), love spending the summer at her farm. They get animals ready for shows and help with chores.

It wouldn’t be Friday on TheFieldPosition without a featured recipe, so today Kim is sharing with us one of her favorite meals to make. This chicken and spinach salad is a great way to add color to you plate on a winter’s day. Plus, it can help you stick to that New Year’s Resolution of eating healthy with a balanced diet.

Yesterday was President’s Day, a national holiday so Americans may remember our country’s great leaders. Did you know this holiday began as a way to remember our first U.S. President George Washington after his death? Then it became a way of honoring both Washington and Lincoln, and today it has been transformed into a day to honor all past presidents.

My social media feed on President’s Day was filled with farm-related quotes by presidents. I expected quotes from Washington and Jefferson about agriculture because everyone had a connection to farming in the late 1700s and 1800s since food production required so much labor. However, I was shocked by the number of non-farming presidents who referenced the importance of agriculture. I always think of President Eisenhower as a soldier, yet I particularly like this quote of his:

“The proper role of government, however, is that of partner with the farmer – never his master. By every possible means we must develop and promote that partnership – to the end that agriculture may continue to be a sound, enduring foundation for our economy and that farm living may be a profitable and satisfying experience.” 

Cumbersome rules and regulations change the balance of the government-farmer relationship. Take for example, what I witnessed firsthand while visiting Ukraine during the Black Sea Farm Study Trip. Ukraine is, or at least could be, the bread basket of Europe!

Ukraine’s fertile soils have so much potential that is not being realized due to government intervention. I saw acres and acres not being utilized! The country is trying to come back from communist control when the government decided the land should be farmed for the common good. What I saw – and what I have read – is how villagers could grow more food in their own backyards than in the vast fertile fields. Ukrainians had control of their backyards, but the government controlled the farm fields.

Now I see this idea that “all must be done for the common good,” making its way across the United States. Our government wants to control all that we do, and property rights are being infringed upon. Environmentalists are pressuring people in power to make laws and rules with adverse effects on farmers’ livelihoods. Imagine how you’d feel if you were in our shoes. Say, for instance, your only source of income comes from the grass and a small garden in your backyard.

You must grow enough food to feed your family plus sell excess food to earn money for all the things you want. Your “backyard” puts a roof over your head, as well pays for your kids’ clothing and your car. However, this lawn and garden is regulated by a bureaucrat sitting behind a desk in Washington, D. C. She’s telling her employees that you’re polluting the environment and using too much water to grow your crops.

As if you don’t have enough to worry about, your neighbors are growing so much food that you’re forced to sell your produce for what it costs you to grow it. Now the government lady is saying you need to control all the rain water falling on your backyard. As the water passes through the ground, which you have worked so hard to make fertile enough to grow a crop, some of that fertility leaches. You aren’t making any profit from your backyard lawn and garden, but you’re required to build a system to stop that pollution! As a result of potential environmental impacts, you must complete a management plan. It’s so complicated that you hire someone to help you complete it.

Not only are your bills mounting, but your crop is being threatened. Weeds are competing with your garden plants for nutrients and water, but your plants’ needs must be sacrificed due to an endangered species of butterfly that was found in your backyard. The butterfly feeds on the milkweeds, so you must let your garden go to weeds.

Your backyard “farm” is costing you more to operate than you’re making. Will you make it through this season or will you look for a job in town with Obamacare as a benefit?

Hopefully, this hypothetical situation helps you understand the situation facing America’s farmers and small business owners. Entrepreneurship and innovation made our country great. It’s what allowed us to “live the American dream.”

Today our American way of life is being threatened. Some candidates for U.S. president believe everyone deserves to have equal things. Some believe incomes should be equal no matter how hard one works or doesn’t work. I remember seeing how that worked in Eastern Europe… it didn’t!

The U.S. Constitution gives everyone an equal chance, not equal outcomes. Social equality reduces the will to work. We’ve seen a cultural shift in the way we’re raising future generations by rewarding them for everything. Not everyone deserves a prize! If you didn’t work for a ribbon, why should you get the same ribbon as the kid who worked hard and achieved better results?

Farming is hard work that requires long hours in sometimes very trying conditions. Let’s not take away all incentive! Let’s remember what built America and what makes our nation great.

Back to thinking about President’s Day… Elections matter. Be an informed citizen and make your vote count!

For the fourth year in a row, Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds has partnered with two other Iowa companies to support the Cyclone Charity Stripe. This promotion raises money for every free throw that the Iowa State Cyclones Men’s Basketball team makes during the basketball season, and donations benefit the American Cancer Society through Coaches vs. Cancer.

Coaches vs. Cancer was championed by Norm Stewart, former head coach of the University of Missouri men’s basketball program.  As a cancer survivor and member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), Stewart challenged fans to pledge a dollar amount for points made by his team.  The American Cancer Society and the NABC adopted that concept in 1993, transforming it into a nationwide effort “to provide help and hope to people facing cancer.”

Providing help and hope to people facing cancer is something our family is passionate about due to first-hand experience. On February 20, 2010, former Latham Seeds’ president Bill Latham underwent a stem cell transplant to battle Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML). That transplant was extended his life more than five years, and we are grateful for the great care he received until he lost his earthly battle July 31, 2015.

Bill, father of John and Chris, was an avid Cyclone supporter and a season ticket holder for both football and basketball. He would have loved the will to win on display last Saturday when the 14th-ranked Cyclones defeated No. 24 Texas in an 85-75 victory in a packed Hilton Coliseum. In the first half, Georges Niang scored 13 consecutive ISU points, including three consecutive 3-point baskets.

During a break in the action last Saturday, three Iowa companies were recognized for their support of the Cyclone Charity Stripe. Latham Seeds is proud to support this great cause for four consecutive years. Click below for a season-by-season recap of our donations:

· 2015

· 2014

· 2013