As an economics major, I learned about the Invisible Hand.  In 1759, Adam Smith described an invisible hand that guides our behavior and decisions.  Economics is the study of how our behavior reacts to changes.  How do we make decisions, and how do we change our decisions?  I still love economics, and even have Adam Smith's papers on my kindle (they're free, read "The Wealth of Nations.")

Now I'm beginning to think of a different Invisible Hand, one that makes our lives easier.  There are so just many things we take for granted.  We think there's a magical, mythical place where clothing is made, food is produced, electricity is captured, and cell phone signals magically appear.  We're spoiled, and we think there's an Invisible Hand that creates our easy lifestyle. 

My college roommate majored in landscape architecture, and I never understood the full extent of her duties.  Plant a few flowers around someone's house was my idea of landscaping.  I'm only beginning to see the secret powers that landscape architects have on our every day life.  Have you ever been to Disneyworld, and found walkways wide enough for large crowds, benches just where you need them, something to distract you while you wait in line?  You can thank a landscape architect.  The book "Devil in the White City" is the true story of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair (and a serial killer), and it describes perfectly how important landscape architecture was to keeping people comfortable, controlling crowds and completing the beauty of the fair.  I finally understand how important, essential, and interesting, her job must be.  Below is just one example of her work.



As a farmer, I really wish consumers would take more time to find out the importance of food production, and I don't mean just read a few articles online from a so-called "expert."  Everyone has their opinion of food production and farming, but is that self proclaimed expert giving their opinion, or facts?   Consumers take for granted that food magically appears on shelves.  Let me assure you, it doesn't. 

My farm is only responsible for a few food items on your plate, but I do my best to educate myself on the rest of the food I eat..  I know that Honeycrisp apples were created in Minnesota, for a Minnesota climate, so I try to buy MN Honeycrisps instead of Washington.  Sometimes they don't look as shiny and nice, but they always taste better.  I toured a cranberry farm in Wisconsin, drove around California looking at artichokes and garlic, and bought my beef and pork straight from a farmer.  I raised chickens a few years, and came to the conclusion it was cheaper and easier to just buy it from the store. 

I know consumers are becoming farther removed from production agriculture, but if you dig deep enough, you should be able to find a farmer you know, and maybe even 2 or 3.  Find a livestock producer, organic grower, wheat farmer, and ask a few questions.  If you check facebook, many farms have their own pages where they take pictures of their operations, and answer questions.  There is no one way to raise food, and farmers are continually making improvements.

There is no invisible hand that puts food on the shelf.  It took me a few years to appreciate my roommate's job with landscape architecture, and I hope everyone can have a little more appreciation for the work farmers do each day to make sure you have access to safe, and plentiful food.

Special thanks to my college roommate Jolene Rieck, www.peakstoplain.com, for finally making me understand how interesting her job must be.  I'm sorry I thought you just planted flowers and shrubs.

We traveled over 1300 miles by car over the Easter weekend.  Lots of restaurants, gas stations, hotels and hotel breakfast buffets.  It was a long weekend, but well worth it to see all the friends and family along the way.

We've been snowed in for a long time in Northern Minnesota, but I didn't realize how far behind the curve I was when it came to the newest food fad.  I was shocked at the number of "gluten free" foods I saw advertised.  One menu read "gluten free items available for those that choose, or require a gluten free diet."  The breakfast buffet at the hotel had a long list of the gluten free items available for guests.  The pie shop/tourist trap stuck gluten free stickers on everything they could, including a long list of items I don't feel needed a gluten free sticker such as popcorn, pure maple syrup and cheese. 

For those with celiac disease, I am so happy your life is becoming easier because restaurants are understanding your food needs.  I've seen my aunt almost brought to tears when a restaurant assured her they have a separate fryer for french fries, so the fries don't get gluten contamination from breaded cheese sticks or chicken nuggets.  She was diagnosed with celiac disease several years ago, and I am so happy she is finding more restaurants that cater to her health needs.

But for consumers who are choosing to go gluten free, I'd like to offer a little history lesson and offer you the reassurance that no matter how crazy your food fads become, farmers will still be here for you, producing safe and healthy foods. 

Let's start with Snackwells.  Anyone remember these fat free crackers and cookies from the 90's?  If they don't have fat in them, they must be healthy, right? 

Even without fat, they still have calories.  I blame snackwells, and every other "fat free" label for my freshman 15.  I may have lived on snackwells and twizzlers (also fat free) in my dorm room.   You can still find Snackwells on the shelves, but this time around they don't advertise fat free. They are usually individual servings of crackers, cookies and snacks.  Portion controlled, so you only consume a 100 calorie snack instead of a 500 calorie bag of fat free cookies. 

The diet during the 2000's was low carb.  No bread, fruit, sweets, crackers, nothing.  Pork rinds anyone?  Just meat, cheese and some vegetables.  How many of you are still on a carb free diet?

There is a silver lining to all these diet fads:  They are making us aware of what we're eating, and for some people with health conditions, we need better awareness. Fat is not evil, but if you have high cholesterol, you need a low fat diet.  Carbs are not evil, but if you're diabetic, even a piece of white bread can mess with your blood sugar levels.   Gluten is not evil, unless you have celiac disease, and we're learning how gluten can hide in many products. 

Farmers continue to plug along, growing the safe food you will need.  Even if you don't appreciate it today because of your special diet, we keep growing healthy foods for you.

I predict the next round of diet fad will be nightshade vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers and potatoes. It seems like these are making the internet rounds more often with chronic pain.  Once again, I will warn you that a BLT should still contain the T, but there may be some people who have bad reactions to tomatoes.  As for me, I'm going to still dip my fat filled, carb and gluten loaded onion rings into the deadly ketchup.  Wish me luck!

Oh we hate Monsanto.  Spring is coming, and we're writing the checks for our 2014 seed.  Seed companies have done a great job of separating the seed cost, from the tech fee, giving us a chance to see exactly how much we are paying for Monsanto's technology.  And we grumble and write the check for the seed, all the time thinking "Oh I hate Monsanto."

It's the same thing all consumers do each time they pay a bill.  Think of your cell phone bill, and the cost of your cell phone.  You do not need a $500 smart phone, or a huge data plan just so you can stream Pandora, check Facebook, and tweet the results of your kids basketball game.  And yet you do it, and think "Oh I hate AT&T" every time you write the check.  

Technology brings convenience, and as consumers we are willing to pay for the convenience, but it's usually with a chip on our shoulder and a grumble as we write the check.  Using Genetically Modified seed and paying a tech fee is similar, but it does offer farmers more than just convenience.  It can mean fewer passes over the field, less chemicals, ability to use no-till, and many other benefits.  At the end of the growing season, we realize the value in the paying the technology fee, instead of the cost. 

As much as I hate paying a tech fee, I will gladly pay more tech fees if they become available.  I have a long list of genetic modifications I would like to see in other seeds, but the technology isn't available just yet.  We struggle with diseases in wheat, and if we could find some seed resistance to those diseases, I would gladly pay for that technology.  

An environmental group is petitioning to stop spraying potato pesticides in Minnesota, so just imagine what a resistance gene could do for the farmers and environmentalists!  Both sides could be winners.  (Potatoes are disease and bug magnets, as you may know if you have a garden).  Read both these links and see if we have a potential solution to the problem.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26189722

http://www.grandforksherald.com/content/toxic-taters-coalition-seeks-changes-potato-producers

Just like everyone, I'll keep grumbling as I pay my cell phone bill, and don't even get me started on DirectTV, where half the stations are infomercials.    We pay for technology, and we complain about it, but once you separate the value from the cost, it makes the check a little easier to write.   Perhaps I shouldn't say that farmers hate Monsanto, but that they have a love/hate relationship with Monsanto.  We love the technology, but grumble when we pay for it.   We're only human.  

I love podcasts in the car.  For some reason I still subscribe to satellite radio, but most of the time I have downloaded a podcast to make my drive more enjoyable.  

Last year, Planet Money, an NPR podcast, decided to follow the production of a t-shirt, the Planet Money T-shirt.  From cotton field, to yarn production, to shirt construction, and finally the shipment home, it was an eye opening look at something we take for granted.  Planet Money even looked at what will happen to the t-shirt when you finally drop it off at good-will.  (spoiler alert, you may see someone in Africa wearing your shirt!).

I completely take for granted the fact that clothing will be available, and at reasonable prices.  Think of your mall, and how much is available at one time.  That is crazy!  The cotton farmer, the yarn maker, the seamstress, and the logistics, just so I can choose from thousands, or probably hundreds of thousands, of clothing items all under one roof.  It's almost like magic.  

I wish Planet Money would do a similar piece on a loaf of bread.  Start with the farmer attending some production workshops.  Review the risks he takes every year.  Show the farm covered in snow on April 26, 2013, follow as he gets stuck trying to prepare the field for planting.  Later in the summer, show him scouting for scab, or army worms, and tries to work hand in hand with Mother Nature to harvest a crop.  The loaf of bread does not just magically appear on the shelf.

People take for granted the shelves will be full of food.  It's this comfort level that has prompted people and groups outside of agriculture to start demanding more from farmers.  If we have kept the shelves full for this many years, surely we can find a way to do it organically, or without GMOs, or while wearing coveralls and humming "Old McDonald."    The number of people involved in food production decreases every year, but that doesn't stop "experts" from trying to dictate how food is produced.  

During the Hawaii debate over GMO crops, one of the headline testimonies came from Roseanne Barr.  Yes, the actress/comedian/bad Star Spangled Banner singing Roseanne Barr.  She has no background in genetics, no advanced degrees in science, but somehow she became the expert at GMO hearings.  Her testimony was better in the headlines than the drab genetic experts from various state universities.  Who needs science when you have Roseanne?

So Planet Money, have I got an idea for you.  Follow the production of a loaf of bread.   Help show the world that food doesn't just magically appear on the shelves.  Because if an actress carries more weight in the food dialogues than PhD geneticists, the food chain is in trouble.  

Here is the link to Planet Money podcasts.  The tshirt series starts on #496.  May you never take your clothing for granted again. 

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127413729

I'm not much of a corn grower.  It's a minor crop on our farm, but I was furious with an Associated Press article claiming that corn and ethanol are destroying acres and acres of grassland.  It was clear the authors of the article have no farming background, and yet they pretended to create a "balanced" article.  For those who understand agricultural policy and economics, the article was laughable. 

I should start by giving my opinion of CRP.  It is a great program, mostly.  The government is "renting" land from landowners, and paying those landowners to keep it out of production.  It makes great habitat for wildlife.  It holds water during our spring melts.  It keeps snow from blowing during our brutal winters.  It really is a great asset in my area. 

BUT, my county was maxed out at 25% CRP.  Let me repeat that.  25% of the farmland in my county was in CRP, and our FSA office sent out a survey asking farmers if we would like that percentage raised to allow more acres to be enrolled in CRP.   This was several year ago, when profits in farming were elusive, and farming was about minimizing losses instead of maximizing profits.  

I sent back the survey with a firm "NO".   If a landowner enrolls in CRP, it often means they have no need to live here, and continue to farm.   I'm a fan of CRP, but there has to be limits.  I want neighbors.  I want farmland available to rent.  There has to be a balance between CRP landowners, and actively farming landowners.  

When the AP article spoke of grassland and CRP being used for corn production, I was reminded of the balance of land use.  Currently those acres are needed for corn production.  In a few years, those acres may end up back in grass, pasture or CRP.  This is the cycle in agriculture.  It has happened before, and the cycle will just repeated over, and over, and over again. 

I also struggled with the AP article tying high corn prices to ethanol.  Ethanol is a factor in corn supply and demand, but it's not the only factor.  There has been price appreciation in nearly all commodities, from oil, to gold, to cocoa.  Most commodity prices, especially corn, are off their highs, but there was a good rally in commodities.  If you are going to blame one factor for high corn prices, then you'll have to find similar silver bullet reasons for gold, oil, cotton, and all other commodities.  They don't exist.  

As I begin working on 2013 analysis, and 2014 cash flows, it is obvious that profits in farming are once again becoming elusive.  The cycle continues.  I still have a powerpoint presentation I gave in 2003 titled "Can we afford to farm."  I may have to bring that one out again for 2014.  

Even though I'm not much of a corn grower, I still support ethanol.  Alternative fuels deserve our support.  I pay over $250 a year for a "wind energy surcharge" on my electric bill.  That's just the one alternative energy subsidy I can easily calculate.  I just keep reminding myself it's part of a bigger picture energy policy.  There will always be short term adjustments, but they have to fit in the long term picture.    

Wheat harvest is behind us, well, for most of us.  Barley is long gone, but now the busiest of all seasons begin:  Sugarbeets.  Officially beginning on October 1, pre-harvest has begun, and the roads are buzzing with sugarbeet trucks.  Throw in soybeans, and it looks like an L.A. freeway out there.  Only our traffic jams are heavy trucks, and during sugarbeets, it runs 24 hours a day. 

This is the worst time of the year.  During my first pregnancy, 15 years ago (sigh), I had night sickness, not morning sickness.  Add to the mix beet trucks that I could hear coming from miles away, and my sleepness nights were miserable.  It was one of my first years of sugarbeet harvest, and I still remember the name of the farmer who my husband said "He doesn't have time to fix his truck, it's beet harvest."  I had no sympathy from my husband, and no peace and quiet until harvest was over.  

I can laugh about it now, but sometimes harvest just sucks the life out of everyone involved.  It may be cold, muddy, exhausting, not to mention the inevitable break downs or missing truck drivers.  I still giggle hearing about the truck driver who got tasered (not mine), or the one who wrote from prison that he would be unable to return for harvest.  The Jensen Farm has the legend of Grandpa Alfred, who managed to convince the sheriff not to take the truck driver on the arrest warrant because we were almost done harvesting.  Just a few more hours is all we needed, and the sheriff agreed.  Everyone wants to get the beets harvested, and fast!  I bought a sugarbeet knife on ebay, and Grandma Lorna was not impressed.  It may be an antique to us, but she remembers too well bending over, hooking the sugarbeets, and slicing the tops, all by hand!  I think it's roughing it when the autosteer goes out on the rotobeeter.  

So happy harvesting.  Here's a nice muddy picture from 2012, the year we harvested up until Thanksgiving and battled snow and mud the entire time.  We also ended up leaving sugarbeets in the field, something that still makes me a little sick to my stomach.  Send us prayers for dry weather, not too cold, not too hot, and most importantly, a safe harvest.  

My baby girl is no longer a baby, but an opinionated toddler.  Tell her it's bed time and she goes screaming and running out of the bedroom.  I see visions of the future terrible two's and I give a little shiver.  No amount of logic or reasoning can calm an emotional toddler, and all a parent can do is just wait it out. 

It is incredibly difficult to win a battle when you have the facts, but the opposition has emotion, even when the battle is with yourself.  The more I try to eliminate emotion from my decision making, the more I fail.  You can throw every fact, figure, graphic, and scientific study, but it is very difficult to beat emotion when it comes to decision making.  Going with your gut is the easiest, even if it isn't correct.

Just think of the "social battles" that are being fought right now, and ask yourself which side has the most emotion.

1. ObamaCare versus "Death Panels":  I don't know if ObamaCare is good or bad, but I know whoever thought of the term "Death Panel" was pulling an emotional trigger.  
2. Genetically modified foods vs Frankenfoods: Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that genetic modification is safe and beneficial for food production, consumers still fear something they perceive to be "unnatural".  It's so very easy to be critical of food production when you've never been hungry a day in your life, and have no understanding of plant breeding and genetics. 
   
3. Vaccines vs autism:  Your child has autism, and there must be something to blame.  I will admit I do not have the background to say vaccines don't cause autism, but I know NOT vaccinating is causing large hot spots of preventable diseases.   

I could keep going on, and on, and on with the list of facts versus emotion.  Just watch some talking heads on cable news, and see how often they use facts, and how often they use emotion.  Something in our brains is wired to side with emotion, and if you understand and accept that, decision making can becoming easier. 

Think of your farm, and the decisions you make.  Are they based on emotion, or reason?   The biggest problem you have is likely crop marketing.  That is almost always an emotional decision.  We all know the crop is worth a buck or two more than the market is offering, and it's hard to let it go when you know it is much more valuable.  

I don't have a secret weapon to fight battles with emotion, but I think if you recognize the problem, you can find ways to fix it.  The odds are against logic and reason, but you can find ways to beat the battle with emotion.  Good luck!

In the past two weeks, I have attended two field days.  One was hosted by the University of Minnesota and the other by North Dakota State University.  At one demonstation, we needed jackets.  At the other, I morphed into EMT-mode, looking at some of the farmers for signs of heat related health problems.  We were slightly roasted after the morning tour, and well done after the 3 hour afternoon tour.  


As farmers, our hands have always been active in food production.  We've been in continual search of how to produce more food safer, cheaper, and more efficiently.  We spend hours in the hot sun listening to researchers describe a better method of fertilization, or tillage, or how to manage weeds, disease and insects. There is always something new to learn.  I keep attending these field days hoping to hear the newest wheat variety is high yielding and high protein, but so far, it's always a tradeoff between yield and protein.  Maybe next year.  

I am beginning to see how food production has come full circle for so many people.   A few generations ago it was common to produce nearly everything you ate.  Every farm had a few pigs, cows, chickens and sheep, and a large garden full of vegetables.   It became a status symbol to buy food grown elsewhere, and pretty soon people found it was easier to go grocery shopping, than weed a garden daily.  

Now the reverse is happening.  Playing in the dirt is the new status symbol.  It's no longer enough to have a McMansion in the suburbs, but you need to own a few acres outside town with some backyard chickens.   The full circle of food production is coming around.  

My hope is that the new group of "foodies" will begin to realize how much work is involved in food production.  Yesterday's crop tour at the NDSU Carrington Research Center also included an orchard tour of 13 fruit crops.  Those lucky participants got to be indoors out of the heat in the afternoon, where they learned about apple tree diseases and management.   

Food production requires more than just buying a book on backyard chickens, or an apple tree, and the more people that realize that, the more appreciative people will be for farmers.  Raising food isn't the latest fad for us, and it never has been. 

Activist groups are a sore subject with me.  Just what are their goals, and what do they do with donations?  I appreciate action more than talk, and activist groups don't always fit that profile.  You've probably heard of LiveStrong, the Lance Armstrong foundation.  Did you know the purpose of LiveStrong is cancer awareness and education?  The purpose was never to find a cure for cancer, and the foundation was quite clear about that.  Every time you bought a yellow bracelet or shirt, you are helping to raise money for cancer education and awareness, but not a cure.  Their website is quite upfront with that information, but I was still surprised when I found out.  Assisting cancer patients and educating the public is a good cause, but I want a cure.  

The Humane Society of the United States may sound like the local shelter where we just got our new puppy, and their website includes "pets and shelters" and "animal rescue and care" on their list of 4 areas of work, but they spend over twice as much money on advocacy and public policy than they do on cruelty prevention programs.  Their website and annual report are full of pictures of cute puppies and kitties, but the majority of their budget goes towards lawyers and lobbyists in suits.  If you want to save a dog or cat, send your money to your local animal shelter.  If you want to save a lobbyist in a suit, send your donation to HSUS.  They are an organization of talk, not of action.      

So I was reassured when I started looking into The Nature Conservancy.  I have admired The Nature Conservancy from afar, impressed with their work on the Glacial Ridge project in Northwest Minnesota.  They bought more than 24,000 acres, some of it farmland, and have converted it to native prairie.  It was somewhat controversial among farmers in Northwest Minnesota, but I think nearly everyone has grown to appreciate their work.  If you donate to the Nature Conservancy, the money is going directly to conservation activities and land purchases and easements.  It's an organization of actions, not words.  That impresses me.  

I became even more impressed when I read an editorial given by the President and CEO of the Nature Conservancy, Mark Tercek.  He's a vegan, and head of one of the largest conservation organizations in the U.S., but I was so impressed with his common sense approach.  I don't want to paraphrase his article, but I do think it's a worthwhile read for every farmer, and actually anyone who eats.

Farmers are the original environmentalists.  We've been working to take care of the land, even before it was mainstream.  I am happy to have found an environmentalist that is working to better the world, and not just create hype and hysteria.  I guess I appreciate it because farmers are people of action.  We don't spend our days on news networks trying to scare people over potential food shortages.  Instead, we spend our days working in the fields, trying to make sure those shortages never occur.  

Last winter while attending an extension seminar on soybean production, I took a look at the room full of farmers, probably 200 of them, and realized how much work farmers do trying to produce more with less.  This group of farmers was spending their entire day listening to the latest research on disease, fertilization, row spacing, all areas of soybean production.  How can we get one more bushel from our fields, and how can we do it with fewer inputs?  Tomorrow it's a wheat production meeting, or corn, but the education, and improvements in production, never end.  If you want to keep eating, we'll keep feeding you.  

Take a few minutes and read the article from Mark Tercek.  I think you'll enjoy it. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-tercek/a-new-diet-for-the-planet_b_3189719.html?utm_hp_ref=tw?show_comment_id=249768954#comment_249768954

We got the backhoe and dug the remaining pieces of equipment out of snowbanks.  We're almost ready to go, but Mother Nature has different plans for us.  Patience, patience, patience is the name of the game. 

The biggest problem when it gets this late for planting is the rush.  It's like waiting until Christmas Eve to do your Christmas shopping.  You end up at the mall with all the other procrastinators, and come home crabby after failing to find the perfect present.  Instead, we push to get everything done, working long hours and minor breakdowns have major implications.  You would be well advised to avoid all farmers during the month of May.  We're either crabby because we're not in the field, or crabby because we are, and now we're short of sleep and patience. 

I visited with a banker this week, and he asked me if I thought farmers were prepared to deal with lower yields.  We've had a few good years, and it is easy to forget the years with mediocre yields.  Farmers do have crop insurance, but it covers you in a disaster.  Most farmers buy insurance that covers them if yields are below 65% to 75% of a normal yield.  Take away 25% to 35% of your income for the year, and think about how you would handle it.  It is not a disaster, but it certain causes some serious pinches. 

A headline from this morning's newspaper read "Farmers got too much aid in drought, report says."  Interesting.  Drought affected many farmers last summer, and they collected crop insurance, but that insurance helped provide them with 65% to 75% of their normal income.  You can purchase up to 85% crop insurance, but it is quite costly, and few farmers are willing to spend that much on insurance.  It should be noted that the "report" quoted in the article was written by a lobbying organization that is anti-farming.  I wouldn't exactly call that non-biased. 

It's too early for me to begin thinking about crop insurance.  We had to purchase it by March 15, so it's not like we can make changes.  And I do not plan to collect crop insurance this year.  I have confidence Mother Nature will get back on track, and give us spring weather, and soon! 

On a positive note, we do have 240 acres of winter wheat planted.  Oh sure it was planted last fall, but still.  We're 240 acres ahead of our neighbors.  Ha!