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.

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.

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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.

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Code of ethics

Commentary

Several months ago, The American Veal Association introduced Ethical Standards and Code of Conduct for the US Veal Industry.

I admire the association for establishing a sort of “guide” for the industry, while at the same time I am confident that the majority of veal producers in this country were already adhering to an ethical set of principles in producing a safe food in a responsible manner consistent with the values of their customers and consumers.

The standards and code of conduct center around 5 specific areas: Food safety, animal care, environment, employees, and community. In a nutshell, the code of conduct is blueprint for stewardship. . .something those who live and work in agriculture have worked to fine tune since the first seed was planted and beef harvested in this country.

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Dumb product bans

Commentary.

The five dumbest product bans, 2009 – An Annual Review of Regulatory Absurdity by Eli Lehrer, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute – is one of the most entertaining releases I’ve read in some time.

It is amazing, yet sadly not as surprising as it should be – or once was – to see, as the author puts it, “what the free market gives, government often takes away. Myriad government regulations restrict the types of cars that Americans can buy, the foods they can eat, and the life-saving drugs they can use. And sometimes, product bans can reach ridiculous lengths.”

Absurd and entertaining yes, but so many product bans pose serious negative consequences on our freedom and Consumer welfare. We live in a land with too many laws.

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Put aside differences and get to work!

Commentary.

It’s hard to believe, but according to polls, somewhere around 83% of Americans approve of the Humane Society of the United States.

At the recent American Agri-Women Symposium held in Washington, D.C. David Martosko, director of the Center for Consumer Freedom, told attendees that most people truly believe the money they donate to HSUS will go to local animal shelters, when in reality, HSUS is promoting conflict between urban and rural cultures with the end goal being to eliminate meat from the diet.  Martosko told the American AgriWomen that animal rights organizations are coalition building and animal agriculture should do the same.

I agree whole-heartedly. Animal agriculture – AGRICULTURE in GENERAL – needs to put aside its differences and get to work together. We have got our work cut out for us.

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Birkenstocks and ankle bells?

Commentary.

“Think globally; act locally” is a sort of environmental call to action that originated in the late 60’s or early 70’s. In most cases the phrase encourages people to act at the grassroots level – at home and in their own communities –to effect change in the world.

You don’t have to wear Birkenstock sandals and tie dyed t-shirts, smoke American Spirit cigarettes, and listen to Bob Marley to think globally and act locally. Effecting change for the good of our environment is something most of us do daily, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cost a fortune to effect change.

So many of the environmentally friendly actions most of us take on a daily basis are second nature. We don’t give them a second thought.

We crush our aluminum cans at home and donate them to a church missions program. Under my desk at work, there is a garbage can as well as a paper recycling container. I have a stack of “eco-friendly” re-usable bags in the trunk of my car that I use when grocery shopping. I do not litter. When possible, I purchase milk in glass. (I wish they still bottled Pepsi. I think it tasted better that way, but that’s another subject entirely!)

As stewards of the land, air and water, farmers effect change daily. Many farmers practice crop rotation which can reduce pesticide use by breaking the natural cycle of insects, weeds and diseases. Many install grass waterways to prevent gullies from forming in fields. These grass strips also trap some sediment washed from cropland, absorb some chemicals and nutrients in the runoff water, and provide cover for small birds and animals. Farmers are committed to careful management of all aspects of soil fertility not only to meet the needs of the crops grown, but to minimize any impact on water quality.

Thinking globally and acting locally means developing an effective nutrient management plan and keeping animal welfare at the top of your mind when handling your cattle and hogs, poultry and sheep. Manure storage and treatment plans, dust and odor control and building and maintaining habitat for wildlife are local actions taken by farmers in our rural communities every day.

Although you don’t think about it on a daily basis, the list of environmentally-friendly practices on your farm and on other farms in your local community is long.

There is some disagreement over who actually coined the phrase “Think globally; act locally” but the idea in itself is not unique. As a human being on this planet, we learn from a young age that what we do has an impact on others. We know that our contributions to missions at church as well as the feed and food we raise in the Midwest is transported to other nations around our globe.

You don’t have to wear ankle bells and beads and let your hair grow long and shaggy to participate in the “Think globally; act locally” movement. Farmers have been doing it for years.

Effecting change not a new idea for farmers

You don’t have to wear Birkenstock sandals and tie dyed t-shirts, smoke American Spirit cigarettes, and listen to Bob Marley to think globally and act locally. Effecting change for the good of our environment is something most of us do daily, and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time or cost a fortune to effect change.

As stewards of the land, air and water, farmers effect change daily. Manure storage and treatment plans, dust and odor control and building and maintaining habitat for wildlife are local actions taken by farmers in our rural communities every day.

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Youth and showmanship

Commentary.

My friend Samantha Walker spent last week with me. After high school graduation next Spring, she plans to pursue a degree in agricultural communications and we thought it might be fun for her to spend some time “behind the scenes” at Brownfield Ag News. With county fair season and Brownfield’s recognition of ag youth for – among other things – their showmanship skills, I thought “who better than the President of the Illinois Junior Simmental Association and a skilled showman to write a piece about showmanship from a junior’s perspective?”

Miss Samantha knocked my socks off. We need future journalists like her to tell the story of agriculture. This is just too good to keep to myself.

Youth and Showmanship

By Samantha Walker

Danvers, Illinois

For many, showmanship provides a chance for the Youth of Agriculture to showcase their skills and capabilities as showmen. On the surface, it undoubtedly is. Showmanship places a focus on its participants’ presentation of themselves. It is a focus which breeds confidence, superiority, dedication, and an insatiable hunger to simply raise the bar.

The attentive care that the Agriculture industry extends towards the upbringing of its youth differentiates it from other industries and truly makes it stand apart. Countless hours are dedicated to the education, the skill development, and the enrichment of moral conduct of Agriculture’s youth through commendable organizations such as 4-H, FFA, and the individual junior associations found within specific species and breeds of livestock.

This environment nurtures the seeds of ambition found in every youth which, when paired with a love for agriculture and the country lifestyle, paves the way for improvement and growth within the Agriculture industry.

These seeds are planted at a young age in the hearts of Little Big Dogs. These children, too young to compete in the arena on show day like their older siblings and friends, know no fear of sharp teeth and heavy hooves. With determined attitudes seemingly too big for their little bodies, they set out to do anything and everything they can with a fierce loyalty and dedication found only in Little Big Dogs. Because if mommy and daddy can handle the cows, pigs, goats, etc. then so can they. Showmanship is their chance to prove that. It’s their chance to learn and improve upon their natural talents through experience.

But of course showmanship isn’t only for the Little Big Dogs, though arguably we are all Little Big Dogs at heart. The older participants need a chance to show off their skills too.

On a deeper level than showcasing skills and abilities is the understanding that showmanship, along with showing, brings about an apprehension of what competition truly is. It brings about the reality that sometimes it just isn’t enough to be perfect at what you are supposed to do. More often than not, not making mistakes and doing everything perfectly just doesn’t cut it. Being the best takes more than merely following the rules and standards that are set for you. It simply takes more than that.

Let an understanding of political and social dogmas inside and outside the show arena take root.

Participants who perceive that every moment spent in the public’s eye is a moment spent on display and who understand the implications of that are the ones who become the best. They understand the need to put an image of not only themselves, but of their farm and their associations out into the world. More importantly they realize that they are the ones expelling the image of the Agriculture industry’s future.

The strength it takes to hold a stubborn animal, the flexibility attained in dealing with each animal’s unique quirks, the poise kept under the scrutiny of judges’ eyes, and the endurance needed to do all this for as long as it takes all translates into real world skills needed to survive in any industry.

Through the nurturing of these skills showmanship showcases not only skill and capability. It showcases the future of the American Agriculture Industry. It’s a future strong enough to survive hardships and flexible enough to make changes when needed for as long as is needed with poise and virtue.

Unfortunate compromise

Commentary

Wow. I still can’t believe it. Ohio’s governor, the state’s ag and livestock organizations and the Humane Society of the United States – HSUS – struck a deal late Wednesday afternoon that among other things, bans new gestation crates for sows at the end of the year and implements a moratorium on permits for new battery cage confinement facilities for laying hens.

This is the state whose grassroots campaign brought the agriculture industry in the Buckeye state together to fight a well-funded enemy: HSUS.

Although we’ve been told by some that the leaders of Ohio’s ag and livestock organizations were unanimous in their acceptance of the agreement, some farmers and local ag leaders are telling us they feel betrayed.

Here’s one thing I know for sure: HSUS claimed it had collected enough signatures to put an animal rights initiative on the Ohio ballot this fall. That initiative called for much more stringent animal welfare rules than those included in the agreement. One Ohio livestock group exec said that by reaching this agreement with HSUS, the ag industry will avoid a campaign that would have put a lot of money — millions of dollars – into an uncertain result.

This compromise reaches animal agriculture  in the state. Dog kennel owners will also see more stringent controls going forward.

I am sure those leaders of Ohio agriculture who had ridden the wave in the David vs. Goliath success last fall did not want to cave to the power of the animal rights lobbying machine that is HSUS.

But they did.

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