The New food labeling laws on foods in our very own grocery stores, has been a controversial topic consisting of a lot of positives and negatives. Starting with the pros  consumers are able to more openly narrow down their purchasing decisions with their actual preference and food quality. They are basically able to group the foods they find important a lot more efficiently. Not only is it good for the consumer, but is also good for the industry as it gives new companies different ways of getting higher prices in the industry.   Nutrition labels globally haven’t been refreshed since 2006, so it’s better to be more precise on the current status/information of what we consumers are putting into our body.  Just like most things along with the pros, comes cons. Food labels have the tendency to sound like they have a positive impact, but in reality have a negative one. These misinterpretations on the food labels have become a huge problem and factor in this debate. Research has been conducted showing that a lot of worry is being placed into the market that doesn’t have any scientific based evidence or facts. So as you can see it really depends on the person on whether or not you find the new food labeling laws a productive or regressive thing.

This past saturday’s field trip to the UD Research Farm was extraordinary! I felt that out of all the great field trips attended this semester, that this one had the most intriguing and ample amount of information. The University of Delaware farm superintendent Scott Hopkins was awesome, as he gave me a great experience and tour of the research farm.

We got to experience the Milking Parlor and learned that the most challenging animal to maintain were the dairy cows. It was awesome for Scott to really give us hands on information about this process and describe the manual labor of cows, on how to milk them, and feed them daily.  These cows were segregated by age from calves, to 1-2 years of age, to the adults.

We also learned the value of sheep, and how they’re a very productive industry that really can help farmer’s income. I learned that sheep meat has become more and more popular as it’s viewed as a classy and great tasting meat. These sheep are also a great source for making wool and using it to make various kinds of clothing.

This tour consisted of not just the dairy operation, but we saw beef, sheep, and equine facilities. This facility was in great condition and is a superb environment for students to get hands on experience with the industry!  We also learned that Scott’s most memorable and favorite research extensive program was the forage research project. Finally at the end of the Tour we got to eat fresh dairy products at the ice cream shop to end what was an astonishing experience that i will never forget.

At the Oxford farming Conference in 2013 Mark Lyna’s speech was very persuasive and interesting. From the beginning Mark was Anti GMO, he felt that it was unnecessary and not right to put genes into our food supply. He concluded that it was unnatural! Ironically after conducting further into the topic, Mark made a complete change in his perspective to pro GMO due to a plentitude of different reasons. Felt that politicians painted a perception of GMO as the Frankenstein of the Industry, it turns out that the “Frankenstein” wasn’t the GMO but our reaction to something new. Evidence has consistently proven that GMO is safe and inflicts minimal damage to crops. In a crucial time where we as a country need to feed approximately 9.5 billion people by 2050, we need to accept the new advancements in technology and use it to our advantage! We as a nation simply need to produce food and GMO can be a major contributor to ending a lot of starved impoverished citizens. The only problem seems to be the politicians as they are delaying this technology and not letting it progress, this is in my opinion is a huge mistake. GMO has so many positive attributes to it as it proves to increase crop yield, nutrient levels, and drought resistance! It also is believed to be the only form of technology that can reduce nitrogen pollution! So as you can see the positive attributes definitely outweigh the negatives, and the main goal is to make sure we keep our nation fed!

Unexpectedly I did not know that Delaware’s Agriculture Industry supports 1/3 of the population within an 8 hour span. We should think of our Agriculture industry as a “Food Shed” for the eastern United States. Delaware is made up of 2,500 farms, 41% of Delaware’s land mass is in farmland! Although Delaware has a lot of farms, the number of farms has decreased substantially since 1950 due to the increase in housing and other businesses. All farmers rely on a budget called the Farm Bill this consists of nutrition, crop insurance, conservation, commodity support, etc. All of these elements come in to play when farming, and can make profiting difficult. There also some benefits that help profit substantially, the U.S. Crop insurance covers 62% of a farmer’s insurance while the farmer has to only pay 38% of that insurance. This helps reassure the crop grower in case anything drastically bad were to happen to their crops, that they are insured and covered! The most surprising fact that I learned was that 95% of farms are family owned! So as you can see The Delaware Agriculture Industry has a lot of Intriguing facts and information that make it one of the most productive industries not just in Delaware, but in our whole nation!