My passion to help Farmers tell their Stories

In the past several days I have been involved in two exciting events. One was a conference in Chicago to help farmers use new media outlets to tell their stories. The other was the digital launch of a new website where California Farmers tell their stories. The amazing thing about both efforts is that they are farmer led efforts pulled off with shoestring budgets.

The first event is the culmination of a dream I had over a year ago and furthered by some of the best friends a person can have the founders of the Agchat Foundation Jeff Fowle, Mace Thorton, Mike Haley, Michele Payn-Knoper, Chris Chinn , Janice Person & Darin Grimm. The inaugural Agchat Foundation Agvocacy 2.0 Conference in Chicago was the first ever Social Media Conference held for farmers. The people behind the foundation are mainly farmers from across the USA and even Canada with help from some passionate allied members of the Agricultural community. The tone of the conference was heavily based in making the farmers human again and helping them connect with those off the farm. The reality in agriculture today is that we need to put the face back on the farmer so the 98% of the population who do not farm understand what we as farmers do what we do to raise and grow food, fuel and fiber. Over fifty participants and 30 volunteers or speakers came together to work on social Media skills, tips and tricks.

The second effort launched today is the culmination of months of work by the farmer led members of the California Agricultural Communication Coalition (CACC) and facilitated by AdFarm. The website is a one stop shop for people to learn about the farmers in one of the largest and most diverse agricultural states in the USA. Yes that is correct not only do we put out great technology from the Silicon Valley and awesome entertainment from Hollywood, the farmers of California grow and raise over 400 different crops worth billions of dollars. As a California dairy farmer, I want you to know how my family cares for our animals. It is inspiring to see hundreds of other farmers across California contributing their passion to this effort. This is just the beginning, we need more voices to help tell our story. The Know a California Farmer website is an interactive playground filled with pictures, videos and stories generated from my fellow farmers in the Golden State and help us tell our story.

Connect to the Agchat Foundation and get to Know a California Farmer. Learn more about the faces behind your food, fiber, fuel and flowers.

 

July is Ice Cream month

Here is how I am celebrating, with a bowl full of the dairy good treat! Triple chocolate ice cream covered with chocolate chips, almonds, coconut, and chocolate sauce. The cute Minnie Mouse bowl makes it taste even better.

 

A visual insight to my dairy farm.

Although it is a few months old here is an awesome video of my dairy farm that was created by Brett Marty and Launch Squad for Evernote ( a great notetaking, web clipping & more program) . I keep thinking I will take occasional videos around the farm to post and every time I am reminded of this one and it is just so good I feel I cannot compete with it.

 

Telling my story

You may ask why a farmer is using social networking and other means of connecting like I am. Well the answer is simple I am tired of having someone else tell my story for me no matter how well they do or do not know it or how accurate or inaccurate they tell it. I am a modern progressive dairy farmer who is addicted to technology and as some say is just a “geek”.

My family takes great pride in caring for our animals and being good stewards of the land. We have taken the time to apply for several voluntary certification programs to show that we do want to do the right thing. First is the CA Dairy Quality Assurance Program Environmental Stewardship training and certification we have been certified through this program since its inception in earlier this decade.. The second is the National Dairy FARM program for Animal Welfare, our dairy was part of a initial testing of the program in California early this year and passed with ease.

On any given day or night someone from my family or one of our employees might be up all night caring for animals, forgoing lunch or dinner to help with a difficult birth, or missing a family activity because of one simple thing “the cows come first”. We put the same commitment into the environment (page 5).

For these reasons above I choose to speak up and out about the awesome job that my family and the thousands of other families do to provide food, fuel and fiber to this great nation and the world.

 

Trying out my new phone

I recently upgraded to a new smartphone the 4G HTC EVO from Sprint that runs on the android operating system from Google. Today I was goofing around shooting some videos and here is one that was shot in 720p:

 

Excited to see farmers speaking up

I am extremely excited to see all of the blogs, tweets and status updates from farmers explaining that what the recent “undercover video” shows is not the norm. The pride I felt today while catching up with reading all the posts that I missed on vacation was amazing so I listed some below.

A few blogs in response to the video:

Farm Experience:

• Dark Secrets of Farms by Michele Payn-Knoper — Michele provides insight into her personal experience on hundreds of dairy farms.  She talk about the common practices she’s seen employed on dairy farms.
• Animal abuse: It’s disgusting by Tessa Curti Hall — Working as a vet, Tessa sees several dairy farms and urges people to understand the footage seen recently is disgusting and reflects a very rare occurrence.
• Drama on the Farm, Farmer Attacked by Chris Chinn —  There are hazards in farming to that threaten the lives of farmers as they care for animals at times. This is the story of a nearby farmer caring for his herd when an accident took place.
• Why I’m mad as hell by Connie Lechleitner — Connie talks about the emotions she went through as she watched the video and continued to think about it.  The reality is caring for animals only makes sense for farmers and anything else is unthinkable.

Community:

• Hell yes, I’m mad by Jeff Vander Werff — Jeff provides some tips on the objectives groups have when they release video critical of agriculture achieve certain goals and why it requires individuals respond, whether the attack is personal or not.
• My Thoughts On The Ohio Dairy Farm Abuse Video by Troy Hadrick — As a life-long cattleman, Troy outlines his thoughts around the veracity of things on the internet, importance for legal followup and how insulting it is that anyone could believe this is part of the community he belongs to.
• Hey! Quit Picking On My Friends. Why I Thank A Farmer! by Eliz Greene — Eliz talks about how she has gotten to know farmers through stress management training.  She highlights how important it is for people to consider fairness and honesty as well as to question what they see by asking farmers for their perspective.
• Zero tolerance needed on animal abuse by Mike Barnett — Mike says this should serve as a call to action for farmers to make it clear that agriculture doesn’t accept such abuse in its ranks and will pursue legal prosecution of anyone engaged in it.
• Now More Than Ever by Kelly Rivard – The importance of community for agriculture is the focus of this post, starting with the neighbor across the fence and continuing to ag neighbors own the road and further afield.
• I Just Can’t Get It, Don’t Want to Either by Janice Person – Having been on vacation when the news of abuse broke, Janice had a contrast of images running through her mind. She cannot understand the motives for such behavior and has decided to build on the images most common in ag even if she can’t forget.

Responding:

• This Week’s Column: Farmers Hate Animal Abuse by Andy Vance — As an Ohio farm broadcaster and cattleman Andy has a unique local view into the motivation of groups like Mercy for Animals and the Humane Society of the US when it comes to the legal process.
• Guest Post: Undercover Agendas by Mike Haley — Ohio farmers are among those most appalled by the behavior seen in the recent on-farm investigation and Mike talks about the thoughts that haunted him in the days after seeing the video and the questions it raised.
• Mercy For Animals Ohio Dairy Farm Video Outrages the Agricultural Industry by Shaun Haney — Shaun provides an overview of the video, his thoughts, and links to the video, other blogs and imbedded the video comments by Ohio ag commissioner.

 

Different undercover footage same reaction from me: Outrage

I am hearing of some video footage coming from a dairy farm in Ohio that shows someone abusing an animal(s) and my reaction is the same as every time one of these “exposes” is brought to light.  I feel a response is so important I am taking time away from my family’s vacation to express my disgust with this behavior.

Every other farmer I know who cares for animals has at one time or another put those animals well being ahead of their own or their families time or needs. Wether it is treating a sick animal during the middle of the night after having been woken from a well deserved slumber to recover from the previous days long hours, or having to jump up from the dinner table to fix a water system so the animals have a cool refreshing drink. I firmly believe that the right thing to do when anyone observes another person abusing an animal they should immediately stop what they are doing and confront the person or report it to their supervisor if that is not effective then make contact with someone in a regulatory capacity. An employee who blatantly abusesan animal observes another employee doing the same without taking the appropriate action should  be immediately terminated.

Here are some of my previous thoughts on this topic:

Update on the Animal Rights activists use of sensationalism

January 27, 2010

I watched a investigative report on a major networks late night news show Nightline  that was about dairy farms. The sensationalism used in these stories is getting harder to watch as a second generation farmer whose family has cared for our animals comfort for nearly 40 years. I feel the media and activist groups use isolated incidents to create a sense of a major problem when quite the opposite is true. In the video I listened to the farmer say he does not stand for the improper care of animals and has previously fired employees for just that. I only wish he was able to express whether the employee(s) in this incident had been let go. If you want to see a video of animals on an average dairy you can see avideo I did for Evernote. the California Milk Advisory Board also has put together some great videos of average dairymen and dairy families throughout California.

The dairy farmers  in the United States are working toward implementing a best care practices program for animal care called the National Dairy FARM Program. when this program is in place we will have an animal care manual that all dairy farms can use to continue to provide the highest level of care for their animals.

A great friend of mine Jeff Fowle, a cattle rancher from northern California has a great post on his blog Common Sense Agriculture discussing  animal rights versus animal welfare and why we should pay close attention to the difference.

In addition the post I made on this topic in September of 2009 is still pertinent as is the post referenced below from Dino Giacomazzi.

Sensationalism and the Animal Rights movement

September 29, 2009

Below is a link to a blog post by a fellow California Dairyman Dino Giacomazzi. Dino does an awesome job highlighting the unnecessary pressure and sensationalism some Animal right groups are using to ban the docking of Cattle Tails in CA. This is all unnecessary because no farm or dairy group opposes the ban and one group even supports the ban now that the farmer can provide prompt care for an injured animal.
I’m not a farmer but I play one on TV!

 

My family’s contribution to Ronald McDonald House in honor of Food Check Out Week’

In honor of Food Check Out Week when my Twitter account reaches 10,000 followers my family will be donating and cooking a dinner for a local Ronald McDonald House & the families there. We will make sure the dinner is full of goodies grown and raised by America’s Farmer’s & Ranchers.

Food Check-Out Week, February 21-27, involving Farm Bureaus at the county, state and national level, celebrates the abundance and safety of food.

The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. Guiding us in our mission are our core values:

• Focusing on the critical needs of children.

• Celebrating the diversity of the programs we offer and the staff, volunteers and donors who make them possible.

• Staying true to our heritage of 35 years of responsible stewardship.

• Operating with accountability and transparency.

 

Update on the Animal Rights activists use of sensationalism

Tonight I watched an investigative report on a major networks late night news show Nightline  that was about dairy farms. The sensationalism used in these stories is getting harder to watch as a second generation farmer whose family has cared for our animals comfort for nearly 40 years. I feel the media and activist groups use isolated incidents to create a sense of a major problem when quite the opposite is true. In the video I listened to the farmer say he does not stand for the improper care of animals and has previously fired employees for just that. I only wish he was able to express whether the employee(s) in this incident had been let go. If you want to see a video of animals on an average dairy you can see a video I did for Evernote. The California Milk Advisory Board also has put together some great videos of average dairymen and dairy families throughout California.

The dairy farmers  in the United States are working toward implementing a best care practices program for animal care called the National Dairy FARM Program. when this program is in place we will have an animal care manual that all dairy farms can use to continue to provide the highest level of care for their animals.

A great friend of mine Jeff Fowle, a cattle rancher from northern California has a great post on his blog Common Sense Agriculture discussing  animal rights versus animal welfare and why we should pay close attention to the difference.

In addition the post I made on this topic in September of 2009 is still pertinent as is the post referenced below from Dino Giacomazzi.

Sensationalism and the Animal Rights movement

September 29, 2009

Below is a link to a blog post by a fellow California Dairyman Dino Giacomazzi. Dino does an awesome job highlighting the unnecessary pressure and sensationalism some Animal right groups are using to ban the docking of Cattle Tails in CA. This is all unnecessary because no farm or dairy group opposes the ban and one group even supports the ban now that the farmer can provide prompt care for an injured animal.
I’m not a farmer but I play one on TV!

 

For the betterment of all.

I want to commend Jeff Fowle for this post from his blog. I wholeheartedly agree with everything he says. We in Agriculture need to realize we must remain strong in the face of opposition. If we are not united in our voice we can not accomplish this goal if we are divided. No matter the style, size, or form of farming & ranching we must speak with one voice. Organizations like Farm bureau allow this to be the case, the policies that were decided upon had been debated for nearly a year before being finalized in Seattle. We do not always agree on every point however at the end of the day decisions have to be made and the majority vote decides that. the organization then moves forward together for the betterment of the whole Agricultural industry.

AFBF 2010 Convention Demonstrates Open Arms, Appreciation & Values

At the 2010 American Farm Bureau Convention, President Bob Stallman opened the activities with an inspiring address and was commended through a standing ovation by a very diverse crowd of family farmers and ranchers. Farmers and ranchers representing every commodity, every state, including Puerto Rico and every method of production were joined together for one objective; to work together to ensure “Passage to Success” for all American Agriculture. It is the ability for this diverse community to come together and discuss sensitive issues in a professional and civil manner and coming to agreement for the benefit of agriculture that makes the American Farm Bureau Federation so special.

The American Farm Bureau Federation opened the doors to the media, including representatives from publications of opposition. It was and is the intent of the American Farm Bureau to welcome individuals with open arms to engage in positive dialogue and demonstrate the tremendous grass root foundation that exemplifies Farm Bureau’s purpose to make progress based on freedom and dignity of the individual, sustained by basic moral and religious concepts.

Certainly, it was disappointing to see several articles published that portrayed the American Farm Bureau Federation in a negative light. However, family farmers and ranchers will continue to encourage positive dialogue, even with those who are in opposition, in the hope that understanding can be reached in an effort to share the positive message that farmers and ranchers have with the public. Family farmers and ranchers are and always shall be optimistic, welcoming and looking for opportunities to engage the public in a civil manner with the hope for beneficial outcomes.

As Terry Bradshaw stated in his address to the delegation, “Life is too short not to smile and be appreciative for the bountiful blessings bestowed upon us by our creator.” We should all be thankful for the work of America’s farmers and ranchers for providing the country and the world with a bountiful supply of safe and healthy food. Thank a farmer!