Two weeks ago, I stayed with my son Corey and his kids in Pleasant Hill because they live close to Des Moines where I was attending meetings.  I had barely settled into his home when Corey turned to me and said, “You have to do something about the school lunches!”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture backed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 to “make real reforms to the school lunch and breakfast programs by improving the critical nutrition and hunger safety net for millions of children.”  Unintended consequences resulted, however.  Many school children were starving by the end of the school day, and schools nationwide were burdened with $75 million in implementation costs.

Public outcry led to the USDA relaxing the rules in December, but the federal government still regulates how our kids are fed.  Kids in our schools are about as diverse as farmers!  Some kids have higher metabolism rates.  Other kids are very active in sports.  There are differences between kids and their nutritional needs: you have skinny kids, muscular kids, tall kids, short kids – kind of like snowflakes, no two kids are alike.  So how can a one-size-fits-all school lunch program be right for all of our kids?

The Administration needs to remember that most kids eat one third of their calories in school.  Quite a few kids are eating two thirds of their calories in school.  And if we were entirely honest, we’d have to admit that some kids consume all of their daily calories within the walls of the school building because parents no longer bear all the responsibility for providing for their children.

How did it get to this point?  School programs have evolved.  As nuclear families and religion went by the wayside, schools began to take on additional responsibilities.  We have come to depend on our schools to not only teach our kids but to feed them, as well.  With this trend in mind, I believe more emphasis needs to be put on teaching nutrition rather than shoving certain menu items down kids’ throats (pun intended).  All kids are different, so what they eat needs to be different!  It’s just common sense.

The good news is that parents and grandparents have another opportunity to help restore common sense to the school lunch program.  The Sensible School Lunch Act, introduced on March 1, would ensurethat school lunch regulations are both effective and reasonable.  It would permanently lift the cap on proteins and grains in school lunches while continuing to promote increased amounts of fruits and vegetables.

This bill was introduced by Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of senators including: Mark Pryor, D-Ark.; Jerry Moran, R-Kan.; James Inhofe, R-Okla.; John Thune, R-S.D., Dan Coats, R-Ind.; Pat Roberts, R-Kan.; Tim Johnson, D-S.D.; and Mary Landrieu, D-La.  A companion bill is expected to be introduced soon in. the U.S. House of Representatives.

Contact your two state senators and your U.S. Congressmen in support of the Sensible School Lunch Act.  You might also want to “like” the Sensible School Lunches page on Facebook

I’m talking 1994 – hey!

Jason Aldean’s hit single, “1994,” is prompting country fans like me to reminisce about the year when musicians like Billy Ray Cyrus made a fashion statement with a mullet, Justin Bieber was born, the OJ Simpson trial was headline news and a gallon of gas cost $1.09.  Also during that time, Joe Diffie was a platinum recording artist.

Diffie’s music greatly influenced Aldean, who was a high school senior in 1994.  That’s why lyrics to “1994” reference at least eight of Diffie’s hits including: “Pickup Man,” “Honky Tonk Attitude,” “So Help Me Girl,” “Third Rock from the Sun,” “C-O-U-N-T-R-Y” and more.

Country music stars like Luke Bryan, Keith Urban and Dierks Bently have joined in the fun by posting photos of themselves, circa 1994.  Although these musicians are in a class of their own, I thought it would be fun to share a few photos from the Latham family album today on TheFieldPosition.com.

I also wanted to highlight a few historical events that greatly shaped the agricultural community including the seed industry:

• Amendments to the Plant Variety Protection Act strengthened intellectual property rights, which provided more protection for companies to develop new seed varieties.
• Roundup Ready® Soybeans were being widely tested in the United States.
• The American Farm Bureau celebrated its 75^th anniversary as a new era began and private property rights were challenged.  Production practices were scrutinized, and environmental challenges surfaced.

Fast forward nearly two decades, farming practices are still coming under scrutiny and some people are still debating the merits of biotech seeds.  But you can’t dispute the fact that today’s farmers grow more food, using barely half the energy and fewer resources for every bushel of grain, gallon of milk, egg and pound of meat.

The next time you reflect upon “the good ol’ days,” I hope you’ll keep in mind these facts on farming and the environment:

• Due to seed improvements, better conservation practices and proper fertilization methods over the last 20 years, soybean yields have increased by more nearly 30%.  Corn yields have increased six times since 1940.
• No-till acreage for corn in 2010 was 30% and as more acres in the United States are planted to corn than any other crop, more corn is in no-till production than any other crop.
• No-till acreage in the U.S. has increased for corn, cotton, rice and soybeans by about 1.5% per year since 2000.

Recently, my Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds marketing colleagues and I traveled to Rochester, Minnesota, for the first ever AgChat Upper Midwest Regional Conference. The goal of the conference was to teach participating farmers and industry contributors how to communicate with consumers by using social media platforms to tell our agriculture stories.

I have to admit, when I signed up for this conference, I was wearing my “seed company hat.”  I wasn’t thinking about how I could tell an ag story from the voice of SkyView Farms, which my husband and I own.  We plant crops and raise cows, and honestly, I couldn’t see any of our friends or family members wanting to read about that since they’re also engaged in farming.  And then I had a light bulb moment…

“Your story may seem ordinary to you, but it’s extraordinary to someone else,” said conference speaker Jenny Dewey, whose family operates the Chico Locker & Sausage Co.  She pointed out that day-to-day operations are interesting to the majority of Americans who don’t experience it daily.  It’s so important for those of us who understand food and fiber production to tell our stories.

“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 (pronounced ‘pink-e’), author of the Pinke Post.  As she spoke these words, my mind was immediately filled of thoughts about biotech crops and antibiotic use in livestock production.

Katie said that when it comes to ag issues, we all must work together to put these fires out with “social media water.”  Uh… what?  Simply put, the more voices there are telling the truth about agriculture, the better the chances of debunking the misconception.

Think of it this way…  When you’re skeptical about an issue, you Google it, right?  If a person Googles a topic or key phrase related to farming or agriculture and the only results are from people writing mistruths, it gives more credibility to that side of the story.  However, if people are blogging, posting and pinning true stories, then consumers have more sources for correct information that will put their minds at ease on the issue.

Now that you understand why it’s so important to make your voice heard, the big question lingers… where does one start?

1. The first step is to listen.  What is your audience talking about?  Where do they spend their time online?  What are they asking about?  This will fuel your topics and can also set a tone for how to respond.
2. Pick a platform.  How do you want to communicate?  This could be a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, the list goes on.  We all love TheFieldPosition, so let’s use a blog as an example.  There are several blog hosting sites out there with pros and cons.  It just comes down to personal preference and will take practice to learn the ins and outs.  Here’s a good article on options.
3. Create content.  Katie Pinke advised us to think of our content like pages in a magazine.  Topics may vary but should focus on a common theme, so your audience knows what to expect.
   1. As you write your stories, be leery of industry jargon or how your story is perceived by consumers.  Kristie Swenson of FindOurCommonGround.com shared some eye opening facts from the most recent U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance Consumer Perception study.  One example from the study is the word “abundant”.  In agriculture, we might say, “We need to strive to provide an abundant source of food for our growing population.” This is intended to convey that we will soon have more people on the planet than we can feed, so we must be proactive.  The average consumer thinks, “We have an obesity problem, we have enough food already.”  Two totally different perceptions of one sentence and there are more like it in the study.
   2. Be conversational and don’t be afraid to take a stand on issues.  Do you have an opinion on the changes to school lunch programs or use of antibiotics on farms?  Blog about how you handle it at home or on your farm.  It’s a non-defensive way to share an opinion on an issue in a relatable way.
   3. Reach out.  Find 20 non-ag blogs and comment on those blogs.  This will help draw people “beyond the choir” to hear about your positive agriculture messages.  Find a few more blogs that are related to ag topics you have in common and get involved on them.  This can help build your group of “Ag Ninjas” that can help reinforce your content through comments and sharing.

Agvocating overall is a very simple process.  It’s taking your day-to-day and putting it “out there” for people to learn.  It can be as simple as writing a story about your first newborn calf of the spring or as bold as to stand up to proposed changes in legislature.  The important take-home message is that consumers need our help understanding the “how and why” of food production.  Tell your farm story so the news reporters don’t tell it for you!  As Katie Pinke says, her mom blogs about their family farm story so Katie Couric doesn’t!

Related Posts:
Meat, a True Love Story
Social Media’s Role in Agriculture
Tell your story so Katie Couric doesn’t
Goal from #ACFR13

Just yesterday, Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds participated in the 2nd Annual Franklin County Farm Bureau Breakfast Battle.  This event, held in honor of National Food Check-Out Week, promotes the abundance and safety of our country’s food supply.  One interesting fact shared during the event was that each year National Food Check-Out Week is celebrated at the time that most Americans have earned enough of their annual income to purchase all the food they will need in a year.  How fortunate we are to have an abundance of safe and affordable food to be able to pay for it in two months’ time!

National Food Check-Out Week celebrates the time when most Americans have earned enough of their annual income to purchase enough food for one year.

Latham Seeds was one of 9 businesses participating in this event.  Battle began early last week with a “Facebook Fan Favorite” poll on Facebook.  Many of you may have seen our calls for help in voting, and we THANK YOU for the great response!  Latham Hi‑Tech Seeds was voted “fan favorite” of the event – an honor we’ve captured for the second year in a row.  Team Latham edged out the number two team this year by almost 10 votes, receiving 10 seconds off our total time.

Yesterday at 8 AM teams met at Fareway in Hampton, Iowa, to compete in additional events including a challenging round of Ag Trivia.  Each correctly answered question was worth 10 seconds off your grocery shopping time for the latter part of the competition.  While the questions were tough, the Latham team brought down one correct answer for an additional 10 seconds off our total time.

The next step of the competition required each team to draw a menu from the stack.  Our menu consisted of Chewy Granola bake for breakfast; lunch was a Creamy Egg Salad sandwich; and supper was Creamy Chicken and Vegetables.  The challenge then was to race through the store selecting each of the required ingredients while spending between $45 and $50.

This year’s competition was even more intense than last year!  While we didn’t come in first place, we did a great job of selecting items with a total of $46.66.  Nine families will receive groceries and additional monetary donations collected through this event will go to neighboring food banks.

Having another battle under our belt, team Latham is feeling experienced and has already begun training to “do battle” again in 2014!