Farming Fridays!

The following are links to my second year of Farming Fridays! features. For 2014, I followed our soybean crop from seed to harvest.

The following are links to my first year of Farming Fridays! features. For 2013, I followed our corn crop from seed through harvest!

September 22, 2022

Farmers Daughter
@farmdaughterusa

Beyond Meat’s COO Allegedly Bites a Man’s Nose t.co/BBbr28y9wm

September 19, 2022

Farmers Daughter
@farmdaughterusa

An Intro to The Food Allergen Labeling And Consumer Protection Act t.co/wOoqhmf3WE

September 14, 2022

Farmers Daughter
@farmdaughterusa

Dairy Farmers of America Combats Food Insecurity with Refrigerators t.co/RTRBkwtPiB

The Farmer's Daughter

7 hours ago

Here's looking at you, Pennsylvania voters.
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As TV doctor, Mehmet Oz provided platform for questionable products and views

www.msn.com

Now a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Oz has made his medical background and his popular TV show a centerpiece of his campaign

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The Farmer's Daughter

2 days ago

It's happening!! #harvest22
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The Farmer's Daughter

2 days ago

Forget red or green. This is the question we really need an answer to: apple cider or pumpkin spice?I'm all apple cider! 🍎
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The Farmer's Daughter

4 days ago

An account right from a farmer that will be impacted.Long Post:October 11, 2022The date the Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding California's Proposition 12. Can one state dictate how animals are raised in another state?WHAT IS PROPOSITION 12 AND WHY DOES IT MATTER TO YOU?California’s Proposition 12 was a ballot initiative that asked its voters to determine livestock animal standards by requiring minimum space requirements for confining certain farm animals. It prohibits sales of meat and egg products from animals confined in a noncomplying manner. California citizens voted on it and they approved it.My question is, do the citizens of California have enough knowledge to vote on how livestock animals should be cared for?WHO ARE THE REAL ANIMAL CARE EXPERTS?Are Californians now the animal care experts? Do they really know how to care for chickens, pigs, and cows? How does someone living in Los Angeles know about livestock farming? Or are farmers the animal care experts?And I will take this one step further. Why was this on the ballot?This would not differ from having each of us vote on specific medical procedures surgeons use. Do I have enough medical knowledge that I can tell a surgeon on what medical procedure they should use? I think not. I would NEVER want to vote on an issue like that. I acknowledge I don’t have the knowledge and I am not the expert.The only way ballot initiatives work is if there is enough knowledge to make a good, educated decision. An educated electorate is necessary for our type of government to work properly. And there is no way California citizens had enough knowledge to vote on this issue, which is why the initiative succeeded. The people behind the ballot initiative knew this. Let's dig deeper into the space requirements. Many pig farmers use gestation stalls to house pregnant sows. There is NO perfect sow housing. None. There are advantages and disadvantages for gestation stalls, open pen housing or loose sow housing. We should leave the decision on animal housing to those who know best - farmers.Farmers know what is best for their animals and should not be forced into decisions that may not be good for the animals or themselves. The bottom line? Successful pig farming is dependent on how the pigs are managed or cared for and not how they are housed. So now what?It's simple: If you don't comply, you can't sell the meat in California. I don't have a problem with California dictating how animals are raised in their state, but this extends to ALL states. As it stands, people in California would not be able to buy pork from my farm. California consumes about 15% of U.S. pork. That's a lot of bacon. The bottom line – we should not be micromanaging farmers. Let’s leave animal care decisions to the farmers and their animal care experts - veterinarians.Some people may think – why not change the pig housing so it matches what California is dictating? Most people don’t realize the significant cost associated with changing housing methods, especially when it doesn’t mean better care of the animals. Pig farmers do not want to go backward in animal care by being forced into changing their animal care methods. They don’t want their hands tied based on someone who only has an ideological view of farming.If pig farmers have to comply with California’s ways, the cost of food could go up significantly. Many farmers would need to make significant changes to their farms, which would be costly. The costs would have to be absorbed by farmers. This would more than likely force out smaller pig farmers.Farming is not easy and should not have been left to a yes or no vote at the ballot booth. I truly hope the U.S. Supreme Court will make the right decision and strike down Proposition 12.#Proposition12 #pigcare #wecare .
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The Farmer's Daughter

6 days ago

I appreciate this writer's point. Sustainable is often conflated erroneously as organic or natural. Those terms are NOT synonymous. And he's right that we have to focus on what works best, not what category it falls into. But then he proposes that we should focus on "regenerative" agriculture (whatever that means) instead of "organic" or "conventional" agriculture.That's where he loses me. Why? Because figuring out the best way to farm--long-term and short-term--is the overall goal of conventional agriculture. Unlike organic production, conventional farmers are ready and willing to try what works better. That's evidenced by the latest research into soil and crop health, and farmers' adoption of soil-friendly practices. And the use of precision agriculture that allows us to get real-time, detailed analysis of a particular field and act accordingly. Those are things conventional farmers are doing, as appropriate for their location, soil, and weather. Call that conventional or regenerative or whatever. We don't need another label for it. We just need people to understand that's what most farmers are already doing.
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A debate beyond conventional versus organic – Produce Blue Book

www.producebluebook.com

A debate beyond conventional versus organic September 20, 2022September 20, 2022 - Analysis Print Email Many letters to the editor sound kind of dumb. In fact, many of them are dumb. There are e...

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