A Fair Follow-up: Keillor and the NY Times

I tried to entice you to visit your local state fair a few weeks ago, but in case my words didn't take, I thought I'd let a couple of professionals take a stab at it.

First, Garrison Keillor tells of a Sunday spent at the Iowa State Fair with such a familiarly smooth rhythm that you'll swear the radio's on and his voice is drifting out from it.

Keillor serves up the state fair in living color, but colors that have been softened by his folksy sensibility and unwavering wholesomeness. It's the midway in slo-mo, every detail caught by a master storyteller.

Here is a crowd of overheated people in shorts and sneakers watching a green pepper being sliced and minced by a barker who made it seem thrilling. And next door, the hysteria of the auction ring, the old man in the big white hat and his bidibidibeebidy ululation, the shouts of his spotters, the old man hollering "Here we go!" and "It's only money! It'll only hurt for a little while!" and then "Sold for fifteen hundred dollars!"

[Sidebar: Keillor found his way to Iowa's fair just days after I mentioned their butter sculptures. Coincidence? Maybe so, or maybe he actually reads InfoFarm. If so, I'd be honored.]

Then, this past weekend, the New York Times dropped us on the midway at the Minnesota State Fair, with the "many who toil in the fields of the republic by serving the fruits of their labors on a stick."

For the writer, the trip to the fair represents more than just a family tradition, tinged with a hint of nostalgia. It is, for him, a yearly pilgrimage and a needed ritual.

For many of us city folk who still feel the fair’s annual pull, there is an unspoken question: "Am I still engaged with the land that feeds me?" And perhaps because once a year we get a prolonged whiff of manure, or watch a pig being born in the Miracle of Birth Center or come face-to-face with the folks who raise and grow our food — even if more of them commute to second jobs and wear their John Deere hats backward — then maybe we are worthy of the bounty of our good earth and good country for yet another year.

So, ready to head to the fair yet? County fairs count, too.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Agritourism on September 04, 2008 EST | Permalink

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Submitted by: Karl Schneider on September 7, 2008 06:02 PM

How Is a Cow Like an Ethanol Production Plant?

You can find the answer to that question by checking out the colorful and informative handout (PDF | 618 KB) prepared by Paul Weimer, a microbiologist at the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center.

Before you go, I'll give you a hint: think fermentation.

And if you'd like to learn more about dairy cows and the ins and outs of dairy and forage production, check out the other handouts and fact sheets from the Dairy Forage Research Center, along with the focused collection of Web-based resources on dairy cattle and milk NAL staff have pulled together.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and Education and Plants and Crops on September 03, 2008 EST | Permalink

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The Football-Ag Connection

For those who like football, we've got a big week coming up. College football got underway last night with a handful of games, but things will really get rolling over the weekend. Then the NFL kicks off its season on Thursday.

All that, coupled with it being a Friday before a long weekend, and I'm thinking it's a good time to talk pigskin (and ag, of course).

First, let's acknowledge that the term "pigskin" is a misnomer. For the uninitiated, the word is slang for a football, but those are actually made from cowhide, not pig skin. More specifically, according to the New York Times, "the footballs [used by the NFL and most colleges] get their start on the backs of cows taken from feedlots in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska," with lean steers preferred. (Their leather stretches less.)

And did you know that all Wilson footballs used in NFL and college games are made in a single factory in the small town of Ada, Ohio [pop. 5,500]? A video of the process, complete with the resonant tones and stirring music reminscent of This Week in the NFL, tells the tale.

Of course, the natural grass fields -- and those who maintain them -- have their roots in turf science programs in ag schools across the country.

And many of those same colleges and universities give a nod to agriculture, farming and ranching in the nicknames chosen for their sports teams.

How many can you name?

Among those I could come up with:

Arkansas Razorbacks Colorado State Rams Delaware Fighting Hens Georgia Tech Yellowjackets Marshall Thundering Herd Nebraska Cornhuskers Ohio State Buckeyes Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma State Cowboys South Carolina Gamecocks South Florida Bulls Texas Longhorns Texas A&M Aggies Virginia Tech Hokies Wyoming Cowboys

What have I missed? What about the smaller schools? Or the NFL?

And how strong is the correlation between ag nicknames and the land grant universities (PDF | 67KB)? Anybody care to study the matter and report back? That'd be a good way to put halftime to good use.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Education and Rural Life on August 29, 2008 EST | Permalink

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Submitted by: Woody Woodrum on August 29, 2008 10:57 PM

Submitted by: Mary Ann on August 30, 2008 07:51 AM

Got Something to Say About Downer Cattle?

Do you remember the big beef recall from earlier this year? That recall was prompted by a videotape showing workers at Westland's California slaughterhouse using a variety of cruel and inhumane methods to get "downer" cattle to stand for pre-slaughter inspection.

Yesterday the USDA announced a proposed rule to amend the Federal meat inspection regulations to prevent such downer cattle from entering the food supply at all. Instead, under the proposed rule, any cattle that becomes "non-ambulatory" at any time prior to slaughter would be condemned and disposed of.

This new rule would apply even to cattle that have already passed initial inspection.

This complete ban is meant to simplify and clarify inspection standards to prevent any further misunderstanding of the rules regarding downer cattle. Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer also hopes it will "maintain consumer confidence in the food supply, . . . and, ultimately, . . . make a positive impact on the humane handling of cattle."

Do you think the proposed rule works? Do you see loopholes that need to be closed? Or does it over-step, hurting ranchers and/or meat producers in the process?

Given the widespread and vocal response to the beef recall in February, I'm guessing you have an opinion. Share it with us below.

And if you really want to participate in government, go a step further and submit your comments on the proposed rule to USDA. You'll find the full instructions for doing so in the last few paragraphs of yesterday's press release. The deadline is September 29, 2008.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Animals and Food and Nutrition on August 28, 2008 EST | Permalink

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Submitted by: Acai Cleanse on September 4, 2008 08:52 AM

What's In the New Farm Bill?

I once dreamed of being among the first to break this story, but then the Economic Research Service went and released the Farm Bill Side-by-Side while I was on vacation and that dream unceremoniously ended.

Obviously, it's hard to be a newshound when you're relaxing in the sun and showing no interest in doing otherwise.

But I can live with that.

Not so sure I can live without the Farm Bill Side-by-Side, however, since it manages to corral the key points of a massive 663-page legislation [PDF | 1.73 MB] and lay them out in a clear, understandable way that also helps me see how those provisions have changed from the 2002 bill to this one.

The easiest way to dig through the bill is to browse by the various titles (i.e., chapters) that comprise the bill and from there scroll or link to specific sections.

Zeroing in on specific provisions is a little bit trickier. The single A-Z list works, but it has its limitations. For example, entries that begin with "For," such as "For Nonprofit Organizations," or that bury key terms, such as "Sub-Saharan Africa: Project in Malawi," do not co-exist as cross-references, such as "Nonprofit Organizations" or "Malawi" in these cases. The list presents the provision titles and nothing else.

But at least those titles take you directly to those provisions in the side-by-side.

The search function is not so kind. Sure, you can search by keyword or phrase, but this option will only deliver you to the appropriate chapter, not directly to the provision(s) where your term(s) reside. That is, search for "Malawi," and the best you can get is a link to Title III: Trade. At that point, it's time to pull out the browser's "find on page" feature to get where you need to go.

Nevertheless, even with these less-than-perfect details, the side-by-side remains a helpful tool for unpacking this agricultural and legislative behemoth. Give it a spin now, and then be sure to bookmark it. You'll be needing this one again, I promise.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Farm Bill on August 27, 2008 EST | Permalink

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