A farmer has been described (at least by Paul Harvey in his “So God Made a Farmer” speech) as “somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery…”

This week I feel like the farm broadcaster’s legendary speech should be amended to read: “… somebody with shoulders broad enough to carry the weight of the world but humble enough to know he can’t do it alone. Somebody with the acrobatic artistry to juggle eight balls for eight days without dropping a single one.”

One of the issues that’s currently weighing heavily on my heart and mind is the vote by Des Moines Water Works to sue three Iowa counties over nitrates. On Monday of this week, Iowa farmers and the Iowa Soybean Association spoke out against the intent to sue. Yesterday, Iowa farmer and cattle producer Dan Hanrahan posted follow up comments on his blog where he writes:

“Soil and water quality have always been a concern and a focus of many producers’ efforts. If anything has changed… it is Des Moines Water Works’ approach to the problem. I believe you would find LD Mc Mullen (Stowe’s predecessor as director of Des Moines Water Works) was a proponent of the collaborative approach and built many relationships in that regard with the community upstream. Stowe has ended many of those and seems to be intent on going it alone. At the end of the day the challenge for improved water quality is such a complicated issue, I don’t see how it is going to take anything less than all of us working together to find a solution.”

With many fellow Iowa farmers sharing their stories about soil conservation and water quality efforts this week, it frees me up to talk about some other projects in which I’m involved. Winter, although considered the “off season” for farmers, is one of my busiest times of the year. I have pig chores to do, regardless of the season. I also have year-long responsibilities and obligations to my family and my community, which includes attending meetings for everything from church to the local chamber.

Winter is truly the meeting season. This week has reminded me of a circus performer who juggles three, four or more objects in the air at the same time. The trick is, of course, not to let a single ball drop. This week I felt like I had eight balls in the air, and I really don’t want to drop a single thing! It’s a week filled with many meetings and events that I am really proud to be a part of, but each more meeting has given more projects to coordinate.

Please understand that I’m not “playing the violin” here. I know community involvement (and over commitment) isn’t a farmer-specific problem. I do, however, want to give you a snapshot of what my week is like:

• Sunday, January 11, I was ordained as an elder of our church.
• Monday was filled with many phone calls, as I worked to tie up loose ends for this week’s events. I had two meetings Monday night, a political responsibility at 5 PM and a church meeting at 7 PM.
• Today will start with the Franklin County social media breakfast on the importance of using hash tags, followed by some more detail work for the Greater Franklin County Chamber’s inaugural Town & Country Expo (#towncountry).
• Tomorrow I’ll travel to the Des Moines airport to where I’ll greet California cattle baroness, Celeste Settrini, who will keynote Thursday’s Expo. I also have a few errands to run before that evening’s Meet & Greet. This day will pass way too quickly!
• Thursday is a BIG event! The Town & Country Expo, which is FREE and OPEN to the public, will take place inside the convention center on the fairgrounds in Hampton, from 10 AM until 3 PM. At 6 PM, I have a county Farm Bureau board meeting.

P.S. One of my grandsons is wrestling on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday evenings. I can only be at one place at a time, and I have to tell you that I’m always feel guilty when I have to miss something!

• Friday will bring a very early trip to the airport and a good bye to Celeste.
• Saturday there is another wrestling tournament, plus a kick off banquet for a membership drive.
• Sunday, January 18, I’ll return to church for an all-day event that I have helped plan for nearly a year. “Walk through the Old Testament” is a hands-on, interactive learning experience that begins at 9 AM with the service at Bethel Reformed Church in Aplington. You don’t have to be a member to attend, so let me know if you’re interested!

Meeting season to me is very important, yet I just need to remember to include those near and dear to me. This week I was reminded that as one works so hard to serve the greater good, those closest to you may not be getting the attention they deserve. My church and my family deserve more of my attention. My farm operation needs more of my attention, too. I feel called to promote agriculture and share my farm story because I want to help consumers understand what farmers are about and why they farm the way they do.

Advocating can be a juggling act in itself… Here’s to eight days of not dropping the ball!

Talk at the water coolers and comments on Facebook have been heavily focused on ABC’s “The Bachelor” since last Monday’s premiere. Even if you’re not a fan of this reality show, chances are you know the 19th edition features Iowa farmer and Iowa State University alumnus, Chris Soules.

In a recent interview with the ISU alumni magazine, Iowa’s most recognizable bachelor answers five questions. Soules’ notoriety certainly provides him with a worldwide stage to advocate for agriculture, and he hopes people understand that most modern farms are still run as family businesses. In fact, 98% of all U.S. farms are family owned. Soules says, “The people who run those family businesses are not just farmers, they are also business people who have a lot of pride in what they do.”

There is something to be said for the person who not only puts food on the table for his own family but feeds 155 people worldwide! One way Americans can gain a better understanding of the hard work and dedication it takes to be a successful farmer is to get a real look inside Soules’ life. Will Hollywood producers accurately portray our great state or its “bread and butter” industry?

From what I saw during last Monday’s premiere, misperceptions abound. That’s why I put together this list of things I believe all the bachelorettes should learn about Iowa agriculture and life in our state:

1. Your life will drastically change when you marry a farmer. Chris Soules is a farmer, and he can’t “relocate” his ground. Hopefully, the woman who chooses to marry him wants to become his partner in life – and that includes being a supportive farm wife. As Prairie Californian Jenny Rohrich writes in her blog post, 10 Ways Marrying a Farmer Will Change Your Life, “Date nights during planting and harvest = time in the tractor or combine with your husband. Dates during any other time of the year besides winter = checking crops. If you want to see him or spend time with him, this is where you will be.”
2. Pork fuels Iowa’s economy. Iowa is the number one pork producing state in the nation. Chris’ farm plus approximately 6,265 more Iowa hog farms produce 49 million hogs per year and employ nearly 40,290 Iowans. We invite all the bachelorettes and The Bachelor fans to learn more about Chris’s role in hog production by following the hashtag #RealPigFarming in social media. This tag is meant to bring together the many ways that hogs are raised on farms across the country and show how farmers focus on management and care of their animals.
3. Most farmers don’t use a moldboard plow; they practice conservation tillage. Ninety percent of Iowa’s crop land is farmed using some form of conservation practices. Since 1987, farmers have applied conservation methods that have reduced wind and water erosion on American crop land by more than a third (33%). The Iowa Farm Bureau, an organization in which Chris is actively involved, has launched an initiative called Conservation Counts to help more farmers implement new conservation methods. These methods include soil testing, nutrient management planning, tillage and crop residue management, crop rotation and precision agriculture techniques.
4. Iowa is nicknamed the Tall Corn State. (Kansas is nicknamed the Sunflower State, although North Dakota leads the nation in sunflower production.) Iowa leads the nation in corn, soybean, pork and egg production. Here’s a little known fact: There are 20 times the number of chickens in Iowa as there are people! For more facts about Iowa, including our capitol city and state bird, click here. Be sure to also note the average January temperature here is 15°F, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself facing blizzards with wind chills of 30 below (yes, negative) zero!
5. Iowa is the Hawkeye State but a CyclONE nation! Chris Soules gives a “politically correct” answer by saying he graduated from Iowa State and is a Cyclone fan but also cheers for the Hawkeyes. But bachelorettes should take note that Soules is the exception, not the rule. Most Iowans root for one team or the other because, well, bragging rights are at stake! If a woman is going to immigrate to Northeast Iowa, she needs to know about the Cy-Hawk Series. She’d be well served to study these tips for hosting a spirited tailgate.

The girls whom Chris is getting to know in California don’t appear to have been “picked fresh off the farm,” but that’s not to say that one of them can’t or won’t play an important role on his Northeast Iowa farm someday. Hopefully, this season of The Bachelor will open these girls’ eyes and allow all of America to enjoy a real look at agriculture in Iowa. Like Chris stated in his interview for the ISU Alumni Association’s magazine, VISIONS, we’d love for viewers to see how important Iowa agriculture it is to our state, our country and our world food supply.

P.S. Watch for Part 2 of this series to post one week from today on Monday, January 19!

More Iowans are starting the New Year with the know-how to eat healthier and with more confidence that farmers are doing a good job growing their food, according to recent findings of an Iowa Food & Family Project (Iowa FFP) survey.

The Consumer Pulse Survey, conducted by Campaign HQ of Brooklyn, polled 353 health-conscious Iowans who make the majority of their household’s food purchases. Respondents were asked about a variety of food topics, their familiarity with the Iowa FFP and how that familiarity changes their perceptions about today’s farms and food system.

Ninety-five percent of respondents said they are “very” and “somewhat” knowledgeable about how the food they purchase is produced, up 6 percentage points from last year’s poll and up 9 points from the previous year. The survey also found 81 percent of people have a positive impression about farming.

Fifteen percent of respondents said farmers “do things right regardless of financial benefit,” up 6 percentage points from the last poll. Sixty-one percent believe growers “balance doing what’s right” with profit, while just 14 percent think farmers are “driven solely by profit,” down 4 points from last year.

Such results indicate the Food & Family Project is having success, bridging the communications gap between producers and consumers. This year’s survey shows consumers are:

• Ten percent more confident that farmers care for the well-being of their livestock.
• Nine percent more confident that farmers protect the environment.
• Nine percent more trusting that farmers balance doing what’s right with financial considerations.

“What these numbers tell us is that we’re influencing the food influencers,” said Iowa FFP Coordinator Aaron Putze. “Those involved in the Iowa FFP have a passion for helping Iowans be healthier, happier and more informed about the food they love and the farmers who grow it. Our work is groundbreaking and the results are real, positive and measureable.”

Results like these are exactly why Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds is a proud supporter of the Iowa FFP, and why I feel honored to be a part of the Iowa FFP Advisory Team. Launched in 2011 by the Iowa Soybean Association (ISA), the Food & Family Project facilitates greater confidence among food-minded Iowans about how food is grown and acquaints them with the farmers who grow it. Watch for an exciting announcement coming soon about the third year of the Iowa FFP’s Join My Journey project!

I was going to just write about why I vaccinate pigs in today’s blog, but that was before I read the January 4^th issue of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier. On the front page of the Cedar Valley section, in a “Dr. K column,” was a question about whether adults should drink protein shakes.

There are several reasons our bodies need protein, was the reply. Then Dr. K went on to explain how and why we need to consume a certain amount of protein every day. He even said there is no difference between proteins from plants and meat. However, the “good doctor” advocated for a diet rich in plant proteins because of fat in meat. You can about imagine what I was thinking when I read that!

Folks, a mistake was made about 40 years ago when many of our ailments were blamed the consumption of too much fat. And meat was blamed as the source of that fat!

New studies show we actually need fat in our diets. Yes, we must be careful with the amount we eat and we must balance what we consume. You know I like my bacon! As with everything, we should eat in moderation. We should not, however, avoid protein from meats.

Protein helps keep hunger at bay between meals and may facilitate weight loss. Studies even show that pork can be a healthy part of a well-balanced diet. Many cuts of pork are as lean as skinless chicken. Lean pork is a great source of lean protein and many essential vitamins and other nutrients. A 3-ounce serving of pork tenderloin is an “excellent” source of protein, thiamin, vitamin B6, phosphorus and niacin and a “good” source of riboflavin, potassium and zinc.

Going back to the advice from celebrity doctors… They are not always up on the latest information. They’re not always right. Half of Dr. Oz’s medical advice is baseless or wrong.

As if the Dr. K column wasn’t enough to get me riled, I read in the same Sunday newspaper a Q&A section. Readers send in questions that are then answered by staff from the newspaper and the Waterloo library. The first question was about pot use in Colorado: “Can employees come to work with pot in their system?” I passed on reading that!

The following question asked if a couple of football players could be relatives… Ok. The next question was “Are GMO crops responsible for the growing number of people with wheat and gluten intolerance?” This answer should be a no brainer, right? Wrong! The answer printed was, “It’s hard to know for sure.” WHAT?! What “medical evidence” supports this?

There is no GMO wheat! On top of that, only about one percent of the population has a legitimate problem with gluten. The other nine percent (the growing number) only think they do! Really, 17 million people may unnecessarily believe they are gluten-sensitive.

Many people are self-diagnosing today based on the amount of information available. But one can’t always believe doctors, the media or the library. Of course, the Internet isn’t always right. So whom can you trust? Talk to people who live it! This is the very reason I talk about my corn, soybeans, and pigs. I live this every day.

I try to know the science, and the emotion behind the food I grow. Even though I don’t have first-hand experience with wheat and gluten, I read about it. I follow blogs of farmers who grow wheat. I read blogs from people involved in studying genetics. I follow people from seed companies, too. (You can trust what you read on TheFieldPosition.)

To help me as a farmer connect with consumers, I also have joined our local Chamber of Commerce. This is why I’m very involved in the Town & Country Expo that will be held January 15 in Hampton, Iowa. I want to talk to people who have questions about their food because I want “No More Food Fights“!

Come join us for the conversation. I promise I’ll listen!