“So God Made a Farmer”

I posted this over on my Ag on the Forefront blog, but I wanted to share with my little birdie readers, too. Please help by giving back and voting for this great Super Bowl commercial!

If you didn’t see or hear about the Dodge Ram “So God Made a Farmer” Super Bowl commercial, it is creating quite the conversation. The video features Paul Harvey’s voice sharing the poem with “tear-jerking with pride” images of the people across our country who raise our food. A great tribute to the “the farmer in all of us.”

When you watch the video on Ram’s website, the Ram Brand will make a donation to National FFA Organization (up to $1 million) and assist in local hunger and educational programs.

There is also a poll taking place over the next week for the best commercial, so vote it up on YouTube here.

If you are considering buying a Dodge vehicle, make sure your dealership knows that you appreciate their ad!

Please pass this along and God Bless farmers.

Reaction to the Oprah show

Oprah’s show on modern agriculture and going vegan wasn’t as bad as I expected, featuring Michael Pollan, Kathy Freston and Nicole Johnson-Hoffman, Manager of Cargill’s Fort Morgan Plant.

Though there were some falsifications and misconceptions thrown around about meat production, they did show the real side of meat production, and I appreciated Cargill opening their doors to show what really happens in a the processing facility.  This was graphic and the talk on twitter was that many people were turning vegan immediately. However, I’m sure a lot of them will get over the shock, realize that is how life is, and enjoy their hamburger tonight.

I posted specific quotes that were mentioned from the show yesterday on my Ag on the Forefront blog.

The best quote of the show: "My family has a dairy, so going vegan affects our livelihood." – Oprah's senior supervising producer Jill VanLokeren It was great that VanLokeren expressed the concern about how a vegan lifestyle affects her family’s livelihood. Kathy Freston later took her to Whole Foods to learn about food she could buy. She may change some of her eating habits, but she wanted them to know she was not going all vegan because of the dairy in her family.

Please click here to read more.

Oh, and this is what Hank thinks of going vegan.

 
What was your take on the show?

Responding to Oprah today: animal agriculture

This may be the first and only time I would encourage someone to watch the Oprah Winfrey show, especially after this incidence against the beef industry.

But since most of us are snowed/iced-in today, I encourage you to watch and respond to the misconceptions during Oprah Winfrey’s show on animal agriculture, CAFO’s and veganism today.

Oprah is scheduled to air a show titled "Food 201" at 3 p.m. CST, where she and 378 staffers go vegan for a “one-week challenge”.

The show will center on food production issues, and will include video about cattle feeding and slaughter, along with other food production topics. The show will feature Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma," and Kathy Freston, a vegan author and spiritual advisor. Additionally, she is having reporters on site at feedlots and meat processing plants.

This is a true insult to my family and our livelihood on the family ranch.

Click here to watch a clip from the show.

This show, along with other challenges to animal agriculture including an increase in focus on "Meatless Mondays" and the upcoming release of the film "Forks Over Knives," has created a need to advocate for food choice and to build a stronger sense of affinity between U.S. consumers and the farmers who produce their food.

Thank you to the Center for Food Integrity for the resources to respond to Oprah. You can find them on the CFI Farmer Resource Center website. In addition, the CFI Social Media Help Desk offers social media support and assistance, available at no cost to its users. Please contact the Help Desk directly at (877) 402-4CFI (4234) or at helpdesk@foodintegrity.org if you would like assistance developing a response, or responding, to an article. Make your voice heard! You can be assured that she will hear mine.

Animal welfare

Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with an atheist/vegan on Twitter and recorded the conversation on my animal advocacy blog, Ag on the Forefront.

You can click here to read the comments and be sure to share with others factual information about the agriculture industry and how/where are food is produced!

Conversing with a vegan/atheist on animal welfare