Monthly Archives: December 2012

My highlight of 2012: CNN Eatocracy


eatocracyThe comment that started it all:

I’m from a family farm with cattle, horses, and on occasion a few pigs, chickens for our own freezer. I’ve also worked in large cattle feedlots in different parts of the country. Farmers (both large and small) I’ve worked with all care about providing a quality life for their animals. There’s no other way around it. If someone doesn’t, we have a problem to work out. It’s our responsibility, and do the best we can with tools, technology, and respond to customer demands. Gestation crates were one of those tools for pig farmers.

Ryan Goodman AgricultureBack in June, I made a decision that would take my advocacy efforts to a new level. It was on this post from CNN Eatocracy covering the crate-debate. Many folks were discussing the use of gestation crates in pork production and I wanted to add my 2-cents just like I have on hundreds of other online news articles. This one was in the right place at the right time.

I am so thankful for CNN Editor Kat Kinsman in 2012. For whatever reasons when she read my comment, it sparked enough interest for a follow up and eventually open doors for myself and few other farmers to share our thoughts with the CNN Eatocracy audience.

That event turned into my first CNN Eatocracy post and several others.

cnn eatocracy july 2012I really don’t know how to say thank you enough other than to say it made my year to receive that opportunity to share a bit of the farming world and links to my many fellow ag bloggers with that audience. I am so thankful for the support of the many friends who have read my posts, left encouraging comments, and guided me in how to be a better advocate for my beliefs.

An even larger bit of gratitude goes out to those have increased their efforts to reach out and share their message of food production with our customers.

I hope 2013 brings better understanding and many more great opportunities for the agriculture community to reach out to customers and answer their questions about our food supply.

Be sure to catch up on the Top Posts and other highlights on my blog from 2012 on this previous post.

2012 Agriculture Proud in review


2012 has been a successful year, by my measures, on this blog. With more than 450 blog subscribers and more than 10,000 followers on other social media pages, I am more than biting at the bit to return to my regular blogging efforts in 2013. Graduate school and research comes first though.

2012 Blog Summary

WordPress has a nifty tool this year to help sum up 2012 for Agriculture Proud.

Here’s an excerpt:

19,000 people fit into the new Barclays Center to see Jay-Z perform. This blog was viewed about 120,000 times in 2012. If it were a concert at the Barclays Center, it would take about 6 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for agriculture degree, agriculture degrees, what is pink slime, degree in agriculture, and oklahoma drought 2012. (I see a trend there!)

Click here to see the complete report. There’s some interesting stats there.

facebook page cover.jpg

Top 12 Blog Posts of 2012

On the Agriculture Proud Facebook page (I am Agriculture Proud), I have been counting down the top 12 blog posts from 2012. In case you missed them, here’s how the year turned out…

  • #12 – Why aren’t there calves in that pasture? One of my professors shared a comical look at reproductive problems in the cow herd and several of you enjoyed the laugh. Which is your favorite? Read more in “Top 10 reasons for reproductive failure in cows and bulls”.
  •  #11 – Early this summer an Austin, Texas news station reported that GMO grass was killing cattle. The report was false but many consumers latched on to the GMO tagline. Read more in “Texas cattle died while grazing – Prussic acid information”.
  • #10 – HSUS continues to take many stabs at animal agriculture. This past October on Food Day, HSUS released an animation depicting the life of pigs in “factory farms”. I shared several links and responses from a farmers point of view. Read more in “In response to HSUS’ “A Pig’s Tail” [Video]“.
  • Image from HSUS video

    Image from HSUS video “A Pig’s Tail“

    #9 – This year HSUS persuaded several restaurant chains to take a stand on animal issues, included pork from sows housed in gestation crates. When will farmers take the initiative to start playing offense before HSUS shows up next door? Read more in “What will you do when HSUS shows up next door?”.

  • #8 – Really? Since when is it weird to iron and starch your jeans? I was actually surprised at the number of folks who took an interest in the subject. Grab the ironing board! Read more in “Why Is It Weird To Iron My Jeans?”.
  • #7 – Where will your Agriculture degree take you? Yahoo! Education called out their Top Useless College degrees, and agriculture was involved once again. Read more in “Agriculture – Useless College Degree Part 2″.
  • #6 – This story shows the real power of media and how consumers can take a story line and stretch it when the ball of emotions gets rolling in the food court. Get the whole story before you start reporting the “facts”. Read more in “What is Pink Slime and is it safe?”.
  • #5 – This Fall I took the initiative to share my experience from working in the cattle feedlots and responded to questions from consumers. This is one of several posts on the topics where I shared my insight. Want to learn more about your food? Ask a Farmer. Read more in “Does feeding corn harm cattle?”.
  • #4 – January was an exciting time as McDonalds launched a new series of ads featuring farmers who supply their beef, potatoes, and lettuce. The campaign came with its own controversy. Read more in “McDonald’s Launches Farmer Ad Campaign”.
  • 2012 was a year of expanding my circle in food conversations

    2012 was a year of expanding my circle in food conversations (The story here)

    #3 – Get out and enjoy some food today. Just try to avoid this restaurant. Chipotle and Willy Nelson sure know how to pluck at the heartstrings. This controversy was centered around an advertising campaign where the restaurant chain feeds off of changing food cultures. Read more in “Back To The Start – Chipotle Ad Draws Controversy”.

  • #2 – I mentioned a few days ago the McDonald’s ads that drew some questions from consumers. In January, I took the opportunity to respond to one critical comment and the post drew some interesting discussion. Read more in “McDonald’s Advertisement Misleading, Cattle Full of Antibiotics”.
  • #1 – The post on my blog that drew the most views and comments, centered around the actions of the Animal Liberation activists. The Agriculture community was in shock at the violence shown and much emotion was seen in the conversations. The ALPO even responded in the comments of this post. Read more in “California Activists Torch Cattle Trucks”.

2012 YouTube channel review

My YouTube Channel (AgProud) received a little less attention in 2012, but there were still several folks who turned out to watch my videos.

My most popular video was one found at the office of a cow giving birth while standing up. It’s one of my favorite events in ranch life, so I felt it a shame not to share with everyone. Watch the entire video, “Cow giving birth to twins”.

dry pond in arkansas drought

The drought of 2012 took quite a toll on farmers across the country. Read the stories here.

What was you favorite post from 2012?

This has certainly been a busy and productive year. Thank ya’ll so much for following along with my posts. Hopefully 2013 will bring a wrap to graduate school research and give a little more time for regular blogging efforts.

What was my highlight of 2012?

Stay tuned tomorrow and I will share the highlight of my year.

White Christmas in Arkansas with the family [Video]


Fun in the SnowI hope you all had a very Merry Christmas this week with lots of food, family, and friends! I traveled home to Arkansas to spend the week with family and ended up seeing a VERY White Christmas. We had about a foot of snow at the house and 6-8 inches of snow with quite a bit of sleet and ice on our farms.

A White Christmas is a pretty big deal here in Arkansas. To put it in perspective, this was only the 4th White Christmas for Little Rock since record keeping began in 1875 and the 8th snowiest month ever with 10.3″ of snow at the official recording site. We were actually under a Blizzard Warning – the 1st ever issued by the National Weather Service in Little Rock. We were pretty excited to see the white stuff start falling even though it cut our day at the grandparents’ house a little short.

I spent Wednesday helping my dad and brother feed cattle. We have several different farms across town so it takes a little while longer to feed everything. It takes even longer when we get one of the trucks stuck in the first pasture then have to push trees out of the way on the road in the holler to one of the pastures. But we made it home by the time the sun set and all of the cattle were fed.

 

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Recipe: Easy Pull Apart Bacon Bread


Pull Apart Bacon Bread RecipeAh, yes! You heard that right. Bacon bread. I was a little skeptical at first, but then I tried it and it was awesome. Tasty enough that I had to share with ya’ll. It would be perfect to prepare for Christmas morning.

One of my favorite recipes my mom made for me as a kid was Monkey Bread. I still make it every so often as a treat. It’s perfect sized bites for a snack as I am running out the door for the office in the morning.

This Bacon Bread recipe fits my qualifications for cooking. All of the ingredients are “whole” – meaning they are easy to measure out, hard to mess up.

Pull Apart Bacon Bread

Ingredients

  • 1 package (10oz) Bacon
  • 1 cup green pepper, chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 “whop-pop” tubes refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
  • 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (Feel free to use more)

Preparation

Cook bacon until crisp (Don’t burn yourself like I did). Drain, crumble, reserve grease.

In bacon grease, cook green pepper and onion until tender. Cut biscuits into quarters and place in a large mixing bowl. Add cooked vegetables, crumbled bacon, butter, and cheese. Toss and mix well (Have fun with this step, just don’t spill it everywhere).

Spray two loaf pans with vegetable oil. Divide mixture between the two pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve warm. Store left overs in fridge.

This recipe should easily please any bacon-loving crowd and is a great idea for breakfast for the family, brunch, or any party where bacon is appropriate.

Have any suggestions to improve my Bacon Bread? Have any similar recipes?