Experiencing the See for Yourself Program

I often tell my staff not to spend so much time worrying about the deadline for their next report that they miss out on the experience of the event.  The experience is what we need to relate back to our listeners/readers/viewers.

The USB See for Yourself Program has been a great experience thus far, but we are very busy seeing and experiencing the work of the soybean check-off here in Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, Mexico.   To that end, there is little time at the beginning or the end of the day to post pictures, video and stories to this page.  Those will come later. 

As I write this from my hotel room (amazing access to the internet from my hotel room!) I am listening as the rain pours from the skies, as they tell me it does this time of year.  So, it is time for me to bring out my umbrella and head to the bus we’ll be taking to a large poultry and dairy farm on this Thursday morning. 

Although you might not see a lot of news posts to this page until I’m actually back in the U.S., I have many pictures, interviews and videos to share, so I hope you will come back!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

U.S. soy products sold in Mexico

Basic ethics were not heeded

Commentary. Had basic ethics of journalism been heeded, the fiasco/debacle/extraordinary mess stemming from the release of a video clip from a speech by Georgia USDA official Shirley Sherrod would never have occurred.

It all started last Monday when Andrew Breitbart of the website Big Government.com posted a video clip from a speech that Sherrod made at an NAACP event in March where she talked about wanting to discriminate against a white farmer in danger of losing his farm. In no time at all – what I’m sure to Shirley Sherrod and her family felt like the entire country – had heard and/or seen the clip.

Shortly thereafter, Sherrod was very publicly condemned by the NAACP and on Tuesday she was very abruptly and publicly dismissed from her job at USDA. Later that day, it was made clear the video clip by which NAACP, the White House, USDA, some in national media, many so-called “citizen journalists” with blogs, Twitter and FaceBook accounts had used to judge Sherrod was only a small part of her speech and had indeed been taken out of context as she had claimed.

It became apparent that the video was only part of her speech, during which she revealed that this situation changed her attitude towards racism. As a matter of fact, the farm couple from Iron City, Ga. she mentioned in the clip quickly came to her defense and credits her for helping save their farm.

“We probably wouldn’t have our farm today if it hadn’t been for her leading us in the right direction,” said Eloise Spooner.

 

The official apology from the White House came Wednesday and later that day, an obviously regretful Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack offered his apology. During a press conference, the former Iowa governor said time and again that he “deeply regretted” the decision made in haste to ask Sherrod to resign.

“As a result, a good woman has gone through a very difficult period and I’m going to have to live with that for a long, long time,” he said.

The ag chief took full responsibility for his knee-jerk reaction to the accusation that one of his staffers had made racist comments.

As the RTNDA Code of Ethics states, “Professional electronic journalists should pursue truth aggressively and present the news accurately, in context and as completely as possible. . .Professional electronic journalists should present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news. . .Professional electronic journalists are accountable for their actions to the public, the profession and to themselves.”

Manipulating video or audio or photos or the written word for self-serving purposes is irresponsible. It is also irresponsible for us to accept as fact every politically-motivated mud-spattered claim made against a party, an issue or a candidate.

It is important for us, as individual consumers of information, to differentiate between sources of “news” and sources of “views.”

Just because you read it on a blog doesn’t make it so.

OIG clears USB

Tuesday was a “travel day” for the United Soybean Board See For Yourself Program participants.  We traveled from St. Louis to Guadalajara, Mexico, where we’ll spend the next few days. 

Phil Bradshaw, Chairman of the USB and a farmer from Griggsville, Illinois had his hands full this morning.

The USDA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has cleared the United Soybean Board (USB) of allegations of mismanagement by the American Soybean Association (ASA).

You can find the story here.

International opportunities

International marketing is an important investment area for the soybean check-off. Participants in the United Soybean Board See for Yourself Program received an update from Brent Babb, Director of Program Development and Communications at the U.S. Soybean Export Council.

Babb told participants that more than half of the soybeans grown in the U.S. are exported.

One area of growing opportunity in the export market is in fish farming.

“Aquaculture has been a large growth market for us in the last decade and will continue to be so. Currently about 250 million bushels of U.S. soybean meal is utilized in the aquaculture industry around the globe. Most of that is in Asia, China, India, and Southeast Asia, but it’s starting to be more and more popular and is growing in Latin American as well,” said Babb. “And, the good thing about aquaculture, these fish will eat diets up to 50% soybean protein, soybean meal, soy protein concentrate so half of their diet in tilapia, carp, very popular around the world but not so much in the U.S. but in China and India, it is the most cultured species around the world. Tilapia, which is very popular now in the U.S., their diet can be over 50% soybean meal, so when you are eating that Tilapia you are helping out our U.S. soybean producers.”

Traditional markets like China remain key for U.S. soybean export opportunities.

“Any time we talk about exports we have to talk about China. A full 25% of our production goes to China, so, half of our exports end up going to China,” said Babb. “If you go back 15 years, back in the mid-90s, China didn’t import any U.S. soy products. They didn’t import any soybeans. They were actually exporting. In 15 years, that market has changed drastically and it’s greatly benefited our U.S. soybean producers.”

As See for Yourself participants prepared to go to Mexico to see soybean checkoff dollars at work, Babb explained that our neighbors to the south are important customers.

“Mexico is our second largest soybean market, second largest soybean meal, quite often our first largest soybean oil, so a country like Mexico importing beans, meal and oil are very important and very important to our U.S. crushing industry to be such a good customer.”

Central America countries, Dominican Republic, Panama, Costa Rico, are also importing our products and Babb said there is continued growth in Central America. Egypt continues to be one of our top ten importers of whole soybeans along with the country of Syria.

“Syria is importing almost half a million tons of U.S. soybeans, 500,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans each year. A lot of this ends up being re-exported as meal into Iraq from Syria,” said Babb. “So, we see the Middle East continuing to be a strong market. The country of Turkey also, both beans and meal, has been a good long-term customer of U.S. soybean farmers.”

Interview with Brent Babb

New uses for soybeans

While in St. Louis this week, participants in the United Soybean Board (USB) See for Yourself Program had the opportunity to hear about various programs the soybean check-off funds. Jon Campen, New Uses Program Manager for USB told me that one of the more exciting technologies soy polyol technology.

“It’s the technology that goes into foam applications like for seating for automobiles, insulation for new home construction. Lately some of the new applications are going into office furniture, foam applications, as well as even bedding. We see more applications coming in the future so it’s kind of an exciting area.”

For soybean farmers, as Campen explained, the overall goal of the New Uses area is to diversify the demand base.

“We have got quite a few large, good markets for soy, but those markets can go up and down and if we run into a problem with one market these new products coming along can fill the gap and diversify that risk for farmers out there. That is really what this is all about.”

Campen said USB works closely with industry to leverage check-off dollars.

“With various industry partners, we have made a small investment it could be five, ten, a hundred thousand or more dollars kind of a thing and industries match that with literally millions of dollars against that to develop these technologies and overall that’s making wise use of farmer’s dollars.”

“Probably the one that is the most evident is our project with Ford Motor Company in developing the automotive seating where we put in as I recall $250,000 over a three-year period. Ford and its tier suppliers put in $3 million against that $250,000investment and of course we now have over 2 million Ford vehicles using that technology. That is the pay back. That usage, amount of soy going into that application, will continue to increase and we are seeing many more automotive companies following Ford’s lead into accepting and adopting this technology.”

Conversation with Jon Campen

Ink from soybean oil is green

INX International is the third largest ink producer in North America with over 24 facilities in the United States and Canada.  They are the world’s largest producer of ink for metal decorating.  They sell over 16 million puonds of sheetfed and heatset inks in the U.S., accounting for 8% of the U.S. market.

To produce these inks, INX International consumes almost 2.2. million pounds of soybean oil, the oil from  205,607 bushels of soybeans.

 

St. Louis Lab Manager Todd Dragoo said they use soybean oil because it is more environmentally friendly and you don’t have to mine or drill for it.  He sees a great advantage in having an ink that is “green.”

Biodiesel committment at Lambert International Airport

Lambert -St. Louis International Airport has been a leader in energy independence and environmental awareness for several years. Participants in the USB See for Yourself Program visited the airport Monday afternoon.

Mike Bernich, Fleet Manager at Lambert St. Louis International Airport told Brownfield that the airport has been experimenting with biodiesel for many years. In 1987, Bernich explained, members of the United Soybean Board approached the airport with a proposition to run an experimental program using biodiesel.

“We ran anywhere from B-5 to B-40 in test vehicles out here. We opted to go with B-20.”

The commitment continues. Bernich said, “We are running one of the largest alternative vehicle fleets in the Midwest. All of our diesel fleet here is biodiesel. We also run compressed natural gas, hybrid electric and straight electric.”

Benefits, says Bernich, in addition to the fact that B-20 is American made, includes treating biodiesel the same way they treat standard diesel in the winter months, so there are no gelling or icing problems or wax problems associated with a hybrid diesel fuel.

All stationary generators, all construction equipment, airport equipment and rescue and fire-fighting equipment at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

“If it runs on diesel, it runs on biodiesel. That goes all the way down to our little-bitty Kubota tractors.”

Conversation with Mike  Bernich

Put to use skills honed on the farm

Commentary. One of my friends grew up on a dairy farm. Like many other family farms in the mid-80’s, hers filed farm bankruptcy. In their mid-50’s, her parents started their lives over. Within months of her college graduation, Sue, her parents and her brother, who had farmed with his dad before bankruptcy was filed, were looking for jobs and places to live.

Twenty years ago, families were leaving their farms and rural communities in droves. Having suffered through the farm crisis, they were out of work and many without a home. They took what they had left and started over.

Today, whether leaving the farm by choice or by circumstance, all of us – young and old alike – have the opportunity not only to be messengers for the industry, but to put to use those skills honed on the end of a corn knife or a soybean drill.

Audio

2010 USB See for Yourself Program takes place this week

What better way for an organization to evaulate the effectiveness of its programs than to invite its investors to assess for themselves the types of programs their investments are funding?  Ten soybean farmers are taking part in the third annual See for Yourself program where they will see projects funded by soybean check-off dollars.

Brownfield’s Cyndi Young is traveling with the group and will document activities on Brownfield Ag News radio programs and right here on the Brownfield website.   The program begins with Monday morning, July 26 in St. Louis and ends on July 31 in Mexico, the number one importer of U.S. soybean meal.  Along the way, participants will have the opportunity to see the U.S. soybean checkoff at work.

The church newsletter

Commentary.

Every day, readers and listeners share with me stories of how their schools or communities have been targeted by anti-agriculture groups. Most of the time, the attacks are subtle. Groups like Humane Society of the United States, Waterkeepers or PETA do not always make their presence known in such a way that would seem threatening to a community. The soldier in the army against modern agriculture is quite often a person living and working in your community. A neighbor, a friend, a fellow church member who buys into the misinformation that is being peddled by those who do not eat meat and do not believe that you and I have the right to eat meat, and is compelled to preach these untruths to others.

In recent days, someone shared with me a church newsletter with not one, but two articles bashing animal agriculture in this country. I will give the person submitting these articles the benefit of the doubt and assume that he or she believed that the information contained would provide fellow church members with “action steps” that individuals could take to help bring an end to world hunger.

Who does not believe bringing an end to world hunger is a good thing? Certainly no good Christian could see fault in feeding the hungry masses!

The first submission was an editorial quoting an activist group that abuses and politicizes science. This group promotes a vegetarian lifestyle yet supports and lobbies for abortion rights. I’m pretty sure the person submitting the editorial did not research the piece or do any “fact-checking” before turning it in to be printed and mailed to the church membership.

The second article was rife with misinformation from a European group known for promoting a meat-free society. The article suggested that a predominantly vegetarian diet uses less water than a diet including meat, and as our population grows, so does the demand for water. The church member submitting the piece suggested that as Christians, fellow church members “should be willing to reduce their consumption of meat and animal products.”

I know for a fact that almost every member of that church has roots in agriculture. The community where this church is located relies on farming and related industry to maintain schools and roads and support most of the families living in the county.

This could be your church. What will you do when such anti-agriculture propaganda shows up in your church newsletter? Will you sit back and hope someone else takes a stand? Will you ignore it, believing that others receiving the newsletter will know as you do that these submissions have not been filtered for factual information? Will you pull your fellow church member aside and ask him to do some research the next time? Will you contact the pastor and talk with church board members and others who have the power to put a stop to it?

I’m not suggesting you turn against a member because he or she chooses not to eat meat, but distributing anti-agriculture propaganda should not, in my opinion, be the role of a church in a farming community!

Will the Sunday school fund-raiser, a meatloaf supper, be a meat-free supper in 2, 3 or 5 years?

That, my friends, is up to you.

bfcommentary072210

Next Page »