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Happy Memorial Day Weekend

5/23/2014

There's no relaxing 3 day weekend for farmers in my area this year. Actually, there rarely is a 3 day Memorial Day weekend for farms in my neck of the woods. We're usually still busy planting soybeans and dry beans. Unfortunately, this year we're still planting wheat and sugarbeets (we would have liked to be done with those by May 1!). You may want clear skies for your picnic or weekend at the lake, but we want clear skies so we can finish planting. Keep the rain away for another week please!

On Thursday, the kids and I got the cemetery ready for visitors. Conner mowed while Holly, Carrie and I put out the flags and markers.

Putting out the flags is something I used to do with my grandpa. It was always a good history lesson, to remember the names, and appreciate all who came before us. The cemetery we care for today is small, but we always manage to find something interesting on a gravestone every year. We try to find the "oldest" birthday, or the funniest Norwegian name.

I hope you enjoy some relaxation this weekend but also find the time to attend one of the Memorial Day services. Hearing the gun salute at the cemetery is always memorable. Make sure to find your own way to remember.

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The 3.5" Floppy Disc Technology in Food Production

5/14/2014

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I recently heard an interview with Mark Bittman on NPR. For those of you unfamiliar with him, he's an author and food writer. You'll find him in the New York Times, and he has a best selling book "Vegan Before 6 pm." He has a unique perspective on cooking and food production.

During the interview, he was asked about GMOs. I do not have his exact quote, but he compared GMOs to electricity. Few people understand exactly how they work, but people accept electricity, and yet remain fearful of GMOs.

If we try to avoid every technology we didn't understand, we'd probably become Amish. Computers, cars, cell phones, and even land line phones. I can't build them, fix them, or find them in nature, and yet I don't question their safety, and I don't hesitate to use them.

While Mr. Bittman said there's no reason to be afraid of GMOs, he also said he doesn't think they are worthwhile. He doesn't believe they have many benefits for farmers, or food production. I halfway agree with him, but I think he's missing the bigger picture.

Up to this point, most GMOs benefit the farmer directly and the consumer indirectly. Farmers can use few and safer chemicals, but we still pay for the technology with our licensing fees to Monsanto. Indirectly, consumers see stable food prices because crop production has remained stable.

Farmers see the benefits of GMOs, as evident by their adoption. We still have many options for growing non-GMO varieties, but most acres are planted to GM varieties.

I like to think of today's GM varieties as the "3.5 inch floppy disc" in food technology. I found this box of discs while cleaning out the basement. At the time (these discs say 1996 to 1998), these were the best! You could move data from one computer to another with ease.

Now we laugh at these. We can send files via email. We have thumb drives, and the cloud, and large external drives that keep our data.

As a wheat farmer, I have hope we will have a GM wheat variety available soon, but I don't want technology 1.0. I want GM technology 2.0. I don't want roundup ready wheat. I want scab resistance. I want leaf disease resistance. I want higher protein, and higher falling numbers. I want to raise a super wheat, that will make the fluffiest, most beautiful loaves of bread you have ever seen. Bakers know a kernel of wheat is not just a kernel of wheat, and they would love to get their hands on more consistent and stable quality of wheat.

I agree with Mr. Bittman that today's GM technology is kind of bland. It was exciting when it first came out, but now farmers and consumers want more. We're ready for GM technology 2.0. Someday we'll smile thinking about our round up ready crops, as we look out at our drought tolerant, disease resistant, high nutrient super crops that are feeding a world.

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This is what I get for majoring in agriculture economics at North Dakota State University. A farm near the Canadian border, far from any delivery restaurants or shopping centers. Sometimes in life you get nothing that you prayed for, and yet so much more than you asked. Life doesn't have to be easy to be wonderful and blessed.

Betsy's Blog

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

The 3.5" Floppy Disc Technology in Food Production

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