Agvocating~

Day two:

Oh what fun it is to go to bed at 12:30 and wake up at 6! But, it's worth it.
Today was another jam packed session- but lots of fun. We started off our day with tours. My group started off at the Iowa Farm Bureau. We were sat in a conference room and watched a fairly interesting power point about what they do. But, when we started asking questions, the guy had this obnoxious habit of politically avoiding all of them. For example, we were asking him about the sustainability of the gagillion ethanol palnts they put up in NW Iowa, and he was just certain that they would never fail and that if something did go wrong in that area they woudl just magically recover...eeeeeeee- wrong answer. We also brough up the efficiency of sugar cane and he just purposly ignored that one.

Then, we moved on to the pork producers. We talked to their CEO. He was definitly interesting and full of info, but also very politically based and definitly stuck on pork. We managed to get a few answers out of him- but not a whole lot of concrete info.

After our tours we all came back to our conference room at Pioneer and debriefed with the other groups who travelled to the Beef Council and the Soybean Council. When we exchanged info and facts it was really interesting. Did you know that ALL the foam in a Mustang is made of soy?? Or that China puts up a new DeMoines in less than 1 year, every year? Or that Iowa is number one in ethanol and bio diesel production in the US? Again, I could go on- the point is, it was really enlightening- even if our tour guides were a littel policical.

So after some debriefing we headed back to our room and ate some dinner. During that time we had a short talk from another important Pioneer guy and drilled him with all sorts of hybrid and seed questions. When he took off we tuned in to a jounalist named (I can't remember and will look it up later). He was extremely right winged and I think most of us agreed with him and his views for the most part. But, it's hard to feel like you can use those facts when that person is so biased. None the less, he spoke for over an hour about ag policy, the Obama administration and their considerations to ag, and basically what is going on in Washington concerning ag and what we can do about it. It was a really good speech, by the end I was struggling to stay awake, but I think I made it...

As soon as he took off we moved right on to Debbie (gotta look up the last name on this one). She is a rancher from the flint hill of Kansas what does Ag Advocacy all around the area. She had a great talk and showed us some of the horrible, hoax videos that HSUS, Peta, and other activists have out there to shut us production ag folks down. Those videos were agrivating enough that I think about half the room would have gone out into DeMoines right that minutes and AGvocated right on the streets to avoid people actually believeing thsi stuff. If you want a good website go the humanewatch.com. This is the organization that does check ups on the HSUS and their site...it's pro ag and you will find it VERY intersting. Also, search youtube for "water and poo"...it's created by a dairy farmer and is hillarious!

Regardless, she had a great speech, and I love agvocating so it was every more interesting to me. So many times, we focus on advocating to other ag people that surround us. However, those poeople are not the ones who need to hear this information-they already know it. It's the people like my aunts that live in the city, and friends from home that have no clue what goes on right outside their back yard that need to hear this information! Did you know that less than 2% of America's population is involved in production ag today? And of that rememing 98%, 95% of them would like to believe a farmer or rancher for facutal info. But, we just don't get out there and help ourselves enough to fix this minsconceptions that the general public has because of groups like PETA and HSUS that have over 80% of the population interested in listening.
The point is: it's vital that we get out there and speak for ourselves, becasuse if we as producers don't others will try to do it for us in a very negative way.

After hearing from her we did some large group work and then loaded up the bus and headed to a restuarand called the "machine shed" for supper. This place was a good time. They had a little store like Cracker Barrel does up front that was chuck full of cool IH an JD stuff. In addition, they had all sorts of random farmish stuff. Like an entire shelf of pork stuff: bacon flavored mints, gum, a bacons scented candle, a bacon wallet, bandaids, etc. It was hillarious! I really wanted to buy a Farmall toothpick holder but it was like twenty bucks...wow. We all ate and it was quite tasty. The food was good the company was good and the waiters in overalls were pretty great too! AFter the food they brougt out huge plate of desert to share at each table... by that time we had to get on the bus we pretty much rolled out the door! When we got back to the hotel we met with small groups to work on our visions.

We are in the preliminary stages, and mine is very preliminary jsut because it's a unique situation; I hope I can get a good one accomplished by Friday- I think I can do it! The last thing we did tonight was Ag in a Bag with everyone. We did it in a sort of speed dating style. So unlike last night where we presented to the whole group, we just presented to a group and then the group moved and a new one came. It worked pretty slick. I had a little red tractor, a Beef thermometer, a picture of my Dad with corn that he planted, a picture of some of the cattle at the ranch, a bit from a bridle, a young farmers and ranchers pin, a smokey bear keychain, a coule business cards, and a bio fuels pen. So, it was fun to tell about our place and learn about all the other diversities within the room.

This is truly and amazing group and I'm so blessed to meet them all! O, and I must tell you about my roomate. She is from Southern Georgia (where I swear they are still fighting the war of "Northern Aggression" aka the civil war). Her family grows, cotton, pecans, and tobacco. She has quite the drawl and really likes her green tractors. She cracks me up with her "bless your heart"s and "my momma says...". As you can imagine- it's pretty hillarious. But, I better get to bed!


"Without courage, all other virtures lose their meaning." -Winston Churchill