Category Archives: Agriculture in the News

Ed Kee’s Guest Lecture

September 25, 2018 tnune Leave a comment

Ed Kee, former Delaware Secretary of Agriculture visited the University of Delaware to give a guest lecture. He discussed how Delaware is a food shed, and provides nutrients for many of our northeastern states. Delaware excels in lima bean, corn, and poultry production (just to name a few) which helps us in the ranks when it comes to economics. Being a food shed state, it’s no wonder why agriculture is our first industry. In addition, Ed Kee talked more specifically about transportation and storage.

Canning food seems like its been around for centuries, and it has! Mr. Kee talks about how preservation started as a contest, and its something we have been partaking since then. The original process involved setting the food on fire in glass containers, and letting it set to cool. At the time, people didn’t know why this worked, but it found to preserve the food longer nonetheless. Canning has allowed the Delaware agriculture industry to grow even further. We now have a system that can allow our crops to last longer, and travel further.

Ag Business, Agriculture in the News

Mark Lynas video

December 12, 2017 peiyuann Leave a comment

what is GMO? this doubt must exist in many people’s head. I had it in my mind too before I watch this video. People are really careful about what they are eating nowadays. If you they are not sure about the certain part, like GMO food, they will keep their old pattern instead of trying new food material. Mark Lynas did not believe the GMO before he did research about it. He spends a lot of time to prove one of the biggest concern in the world. so he makes people believe how good GMO food is and he did contribute a lot to the agriculture. We need people like him to stand out to tell the public what is right or wrong. what is GMO? GMO is the genetically modified organism. Since the earth is changing due to the human activities, new plants are designed by humans to adapt the new environment, which helps us to solve food insecure problem.

Ag Business, Agriculture Careers, Agriculture in the News, Topics for Discussion

Guest Lecturers: Tracy Wootten and Valann Budischak

December 7, 2017 kgorrell Leave a comment

Who knew that on horticultural product sales alone Delaware’s Green Industry brought in over 21.7 million dollars. Horticulture is the science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers and any other plant life. Unlike agriculture, horticulture does not include large-scale crop production or animal husbandry. Tracy Wootten and Valann Budischak delivered a beautiful presentation on Delaware’s Green Industry. They captured our attention with a variety of pictures and laid out their information filled lecture in a way that was easy to follow along. Throughout the lecture they went into depth about what and who the green industry consists of; producers, retailers, landscapers, golf courses and suppliers. After learning about the different aspects of Delaware’s Green Industry, Ms. Wootten and Ms. Budischak spoke to us about a couple of organizations that Delaware is a part of. Their goal is to educate horticultural related businesses as well as homeowners to promote the use of products in the green industry, enhance the quality of those products and to protect the environment.

Before this lecture I didn’t realize how much our state is involved in managing and improving the area around us. The next time you’re on the highway, look at the grassy median, most likely there have been specific flowers planted to enhance the sides of roadways and to bring some of the native plants back to Delaware! Horticulture never meant a lot to me before this lecture but after hearing Ms. Wootten and Ms. Budischak speak I have a new-found appreciation and respect for all the work that goes into this industry, it’s not all roses and daffodils!

Ag Business, Agriculture Careers, Agriculture in the News, Topics for Discussion

Guest Lecturer: Dave Mayonado

December 6, 2017 kgorrell Leave a comment

When you think of the Monsanto, an American multinational agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation, what is the first thing you think of? Many people think of the documentary Food Inc. where Monsanto is portrayed as thugs of the agricultural industry. The problem is this is where people stopped doing their research. Most people don’t consider Monsanto’s point of view. This is why I think having Dave Mayonado as a guest lecturer was so important! We got to hear Monsanto’s side straight from the company. Mr. Mayonado gave a history about Monsanto and how they became the agricultural giant they are today. He then went on to talk about Genetically Modified Organisms and new techniques like RNAi technology which allows gene silencing. Gene silencing presents the possibility of turning off specific genes, which might have many practical agricultural applications. The most exciting part about this new technology is how it can be presented to consumers. This technology doesn’t involve inserting new genes into a different plant which is a scary thought for consumers. Throughout his presentation Mr. Mayonado made it a point that GM crops are the most thoroughly studied foods in the world and that their safety has been consistently demonstrated. Seeing both sides for every argument is always important so you can form your own opinion on the matter. I felt as though this lecture was one of the most beneficial because it allowed us as students to grasp more information and so as we go out into the world we can educate others.

Ag Business, Agriculture Careers, Agriculture in the News

Guest Lecturer: Dan Severson

December 6, 2017 kgorrell Leave a comment

Dan Severson, a New Castle County Extension Agent, presented to our class an overview of the livestock industry in Delaware. When I signed up for this class I thought it would be heavily livestock based and to my surprise this was only the second-time animals were the main focus. Mr. Severson started out talking about Delaware farms. Did you know Delaware ranks first in the U.S. in value of agriculture production per acre? Me either! He then concentrated on the beef, pork, sheep, goats and dairy industries and went into depth about each one. Mr. Severson was extremely interactive and had an abundance of pictures to balance out the graphs and numerical data. The information I found the most interesting about this presentation was how much our livestock industry is going to change in the future. The average age of a farmer is becoming younger and younger so my generation will soon have control over what happens to the livestock industry. With advancements in technology and robotics hopefully we’ll be able to make it more efficient. As always we will need to continue to educate others about the livestock industry since the media and activists make it difficult for the industry to be seen in a positive light.

Ag Business, Agriculture in the News

Global Climate Change Implications

December 6, 2017 ciarrad Leave a comment

For this post I will be discussing the importance of the topic on global climate change because, as discussed in class, it has and will continue to affect not only the agriculture practiced near my location but also the agriculture practiced in a difficult setting already such as California- regarding their water problems. I would like to discuss the water shortages faced in California and why global climate change would heavily affect them. Water shortages in California are normal- they face this problem and with the weather increasing over time, this problem becomes a bigger deal because the more heat expressed in this environment means more production. But this also means there will be a bigger demand for water to grow these plants for production. With the current shortage of water for agriculture, the demand will not be able to be met because there simply isn’t as much snow being melted to reach the increased capacity they would need to grow more. So not only is the rising temperature a problem, by 2050, the population will have exponentially grown and we are still working with the same amount of crop production that will need to produce more and with less resources- such as water in the process. So because we are getting heavier rain intensity rather than more snowfall, less snow melts for the plants to grow and utilize that melted snow for water as a negative impact of the changes brought upon agriculture due to climate change. This can be supported in Food Security’s Fragile Balance article, specifically the Long-Term Outlook portion that said, “Increasing temperature is putting strain on crops, specifically water, because more droughts which has a direct impact on agriculture…”

Additionally, with the higher temperatures comes a readjustment on the way farmers are able to plant and harvest their crops. Even a few degrees higher every few years makes a difference because farmers ultimately have to change the way they use their technology to get the most optimal yield from their crops. This means having to find a newer source of technology to use through innovation in order to still make a profit but also give consumers what they want whether it be traditional or organic crops. A positive aspect involved is that there is CO2 that is absorbed by plants to produce oxygen. Overall, climate change affects everyone presently and in the future because we all will have to find ways to utilize the limited resources available to us in order to meet the hunger demand of people.

Ag Literacy & Social Media, Agriculture in the News, Issues and Controversies, Production Agriculture, Topics for Discussion

LABELING: What’s in my food?

December 1, 2017 jeck Leave a comment

The discussion of what to and what not to label is very controversial. There are many positive and negatives about labeling to the farmers, the public and the businesses.

As a fourth generation farmer myself, I believe that labeling promotes and hurts the agriculture industry. It hurts our industry by making consumers believe that without the label, it is not qualified. For example by adding a label that says “no added hormones” on a chicken breast, people believe that some ccommercially grown birds have hormones added in them. But since 1960’s the Food and Drug Administration put a regulation on the industry and we have not been able to use hormones on any bird commercially raised since then. Yet, the positive is that labeling allows farmers to be transparent in their practices.

For the public, labeling positively impacts them by allowing them to know what is in their food. It also helps with those who have allergies because they know what to avoid without having to do research themselves. But negatively the consumers are hurt because they are misguided with the labels. An example is have gluten free water or non-GMO bacon. Both of these obviously cannot contain that ingredient, but our consumers are uneducated about where their food comes from and what it takes to produce that product.

Some businesses truly take advantage of labeling. They know that the public is interested in being healthy, local, fresh, and much more. Therefore, they over label their item to grab the consumer’s attention, and once that consumer buys their product once, they typically will keep buying it. However, labeling restrictions that people are encouraging, such a labeling GMO or non-GMO on everything produced will hurt an industry. This will hurt them by billions of dollars, simply by the packaging.

I personally believe that labeling may be necessary for some labels, but I believe over labeling should be illegal as it is a marketing gimmick to consumers. With that in mind, I believe consumers should be required to take an agriculture class and learn more about their food, therefore they can be aware about what contains gluten and GMO’s for example as well as the practices farmers do to grow a safe and sustainable product.

Ag Business, Agriculture in the News, Uncategorized

GMO Food Labels – To Be, or Not To Be

December 1, 2017 jjflynnv Leave a comment

It’s no question that GMOs are one of the most debated subjects in recent years. Whether you’re for or against them, there’s one thing that effects all consumers: labelling. As GMOs become more and more mainstream, more people want to know if their food is genetically modified. But would you believe that nearly 70% of all food in America has genetically modified components? There’s a good chance that you’ve eaten GMO recently without even realizing it – and most of these foods don’t tell you that they’re genetically modified. I believe that at this point, it’s redundant to label foods as GMO – similar to labelling chicken as hormone free (because all chicken has to be hormone free) or calling corn chips gluten-free (as corn doesn’t have gluten in it). It’s practically a given that, in the United States, most of your food is genetically modified to some extent.

Not to mention, changing labels on a large scale isn’t cheap. Especially since right now it’s a state’s decision on whether to force GMO products to be labelled. For example, last year Vermont was the first to make this ruling. So food manufacturers and companies that sell to other states as well as Vermont have to make a decision – either create new labels to be specifically printed on their products shipped to Vermont separate from the labels they put on products sent to everywhere else, or change all of their labels to exhibit their use of GMOs. Both of which aren’t great options: changing only a portion of your labels proves to be expensive, and a large majority of people in the US are weary of buying foods labelled with use of GMOs which would lead to a decrease in sales.

Overall it is a complex issue that many people disagree on – regardless of whether or not they know that there’s a good chance they’re eating GMO products without even realizing it.

Ag Business, Agriculture in the News, Commercial Production

Food Labeling Pro’s and Con’s

December 1, 2017 buschj Leave a comment

Food labeling is currently a big topic in the agriculture and food industry. Many people have conflicting opinions about it. I think that there are definitely some pro’s and con’s to enhanced food labeling. Some of the pro’s include more transparency to the consumer regarding what is in what they are buying. Consumers will know exactly what they are purchasing, and can make a more informed decision. People who are allergic to certain things will be safer, and people who are trying to buy healthy products will be able to do with more certainty. Some cons include producers losing profits depending on what is in their product. People who do not grow organically may lose sales because of some of the things they use in their products. GMO products and other agriculture methods may scare off consumers if they are uneducated, which would hurt agricultural producer’s sales. As you can see, there are many pro’s and con’s and factors that need to be taken into account when thinking about introducing enhanced food labels and making new rules about them.I think that this is a very interesting argument, and am interested to see the extent to which enhanced labels are implemented, and the reaction from consumers and producers.

Agriculture in the News

Pro’s & Con’s of Enhanced labeling on food production

November 30, 2017 ciarrad Leave a comment

As I was researching the benefits and the downfalls of enhanced, I came across a few interesting points. For instance, some benefits of having enhanced labeling on food products can improve specific niche markets such as growing organically based on what the consumer is demanding. On the other hand, this is not always the best financial option because organic products tend to have a higher price but for good reason because it takes different handling and regulations to grow. Because organic products aren’t allowed to be treated with chemical pesticides, it takes a different method to deal with pests than traditional growing. Additionally, enhanced labels increase the trust between the company who is selling the farmer’s crops to the consumer through open communication on how the food was grown, what went into the process of growing the crop, the process it goes through to get from the farm to the market, and so on. This goes hand in hand with the ability of making a larger profit because consumers nowadays trust companies that explain more about their product- especially products with labels that clearly state what is in the food.

Whereas the negatives I researched about enhanced labels included losing profit because sometimes the consumers do not like how the product is being grown or processed which results in the consumer refusing to buy the product until a change is implemented that suits their demand. For instance, consumers do not like caged chickens producing their eggs, they request cage free eggs. So the farmer must keep up with demand by changing their operation to cage free in order to keep a profit because it is what the consumers will purchase, even if the consumers do not see that it may negatively impact the animal. Additionally, the label may be difficult for some people to understand. For instance, a lot of individuals do not know what GMO’s (Genetically Modified Organisms) are so they do not understand how that will help their purchasing choice. Because of not being aware that genetically modified products can increase their storage time without perishing, some consumers believe GMO’s are bad for them because they have been “tampered with” and it isn’t grown organically. Moving on to my last point, some people may just not want to know what is in their food even though a large portion of people do like to know as research has shown in 2017. Overall, the reaction of the consumers will not share the same opinions when it comes down to the idea of enhanced labels but it will lead to different forms of discussion as to why it may or may not be beneficial to some.

Understanding Today's Agriculture