Agricultural Colleges

Agricultural Colleges

                                             
You may have heard around campus that Michigan State takes great pride in their agricultural college. And that's rightfully so. MSU was the first land grand college. The federal government created the Morrill Acts that funded educational institutions by granting federally controlled land to the states for them to sell to raise funds to establish and endow "land-grant" colleges. Prior to the universities current name of Michigan State university, it was known as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan. 

What you may be unaware of, is that there are many other prestigious agriculture programs in the country. And you might also be surprised that many are in the Big Ten. Schools like Ohio State, Illinois and Penn State. all have elite ag programs. Purdue and Wisconsin considered to be in the top 5 nationally of most rankings.
                                         
What separates MSU from every other agricultural colleges is the size and location of their campus farms. MSU is one of only a handful of schools that has a farm on their main campus. MSU has a student run organic farm, a dairy and crop research farm and more buildings related like the soil testing labs. MSU is a pioneer in dairy and crop research. Since MSU's founding in 1855, the university discovered hybrid corn and homogenized milk. Since the beginning, MSU emphasizes research. MSU is considered a top research university still. 

Prompt 9- Recognizing Significance

Recognizing Significance

Before you start to read this post, you need to watch this short video. When it comes to agriculture, no specific piece of writing can sum up its importance. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but it's impossible to argue how important farmers have been for the US and the world.

To me, the three most important jobs in the world are mothers, teachers and farmers. At the very basis of society, we can not evolve without any of these three people. 

The video talks about a few different aspects of a farmers importance. Most notably, how many products that come from the farm, that we use in our daily lives. From stats about the approximate amount of food we need each year, to the amount of products derived from corn, wheat, soybeans, etc. Agriculture plays a role in our life in multiple ways. 

For most Americans, our daily routine runs like this: wake up and get in the shower. Get dressed and eat breakfast. Jump in the car and drive to work/school. Leave work/school then head home. Take off your shoes and sit on the couch. Eat dinner then go back to the couch. Lastly, go to bed. If that sounds like you, I can think of at least 11 individual items from the farm. Bathroom towels, clothes, breakfast food, tires, gas, work supplies, leather, fabric, dinner foods and bedroom linen. All of these essential items and materials come from the farm. 

So the next time you think farmers are all uneducated, redneck hicks...just remember, "My grandfather used to say that once in your life you need a doctor, a lawyer, a policeman and a preacher, but everyday, three times a day, you need a farmer."- Brenda Schoepp.

Starting Your Own Farm

Starting Your Own Farm

So you want to start farming, eh? Or maybe you don't and you really don't care either. Well knowledge is power, folks. Continue to read if you want more power...

 

I found the most helpful article and videos that explain how to get started if you're considering starting a career in agriculture as well as starting a farm with no money.

The main points of this link are:

1.) Try before you buy. This means that it isn't wise to save up a bunch of money just to quit your job and go buy some land to farm. The better option would be to gain some firsthand experience on a farm. Try it out and see if it's something you could handle.

2.) Balance your finances. Farming is not cheap. Land, equipment, buildings, seeds and animals don't come cheap. Plus paying for your mortgage, car, children and food. It's critical to make sure your finances are in order prior to starting your own farm.

3.) Tell your story. When it comes to first time farmers, they usually have fewer acres and grow more specialty crops like berries and apples, etc. This means that your farm has a more specific market. They usually sell to restaurants and groceries directly. Because of that, it is important to tell your story. By that, I mean write blogs or have a newsletter. Anyway you can spread the word about what you're doing on your farm is critical to it's development.

Starting a new farm with minimal experience is not easy. Unlike what a lot of people think, the agricultural industry takes a lot of hard work and knowledge for an individual to be successful.

Prompt 8- Practicing Your Knowledge

Practicing Your Knowledge

                          

When it comes to learning about a potentially unknown field, nothing is better for obtaining information than going out an working first-hand. 

Over the past summer, I spent 32 hours a week at the Rathmourne dairy farm in Port Hope, Michigan. My family has an agricultural background, but the dairy aspect is something I was a novice to. Rathmourne has about 3000 cows that need to be milked 3 times a day. That includes Christmas, 4th of July and even Daylight Saving Time. This makes for a lot of hard and fast work. 

I'm sure the average person's ideas of what a dairy farm look like are much different than what most large dairies look like. Many people might think of a farmer in his barn early in the morning milking just a few cows while sitting on a small stool. But the very opposite is how large farms operate. 

The picture above depicts a milking parlor very similar to the one I worked in. The blue tubes are connected to the 4 mechanical milkers that move the milk into a holding tank in a separate room. The elevated platform on the left on right are where the cows stand facing the walls. A worker starts by dipping each individual cow teet into iodine solution.

                                             

The purpose of the iodine is to disinfect the teet to prevent contamination of the milk. After each teet has been dipped, the same worker will take a fresh rag for each cow and wipe them clean. Lastly, that worker will hook up the milkers and leave them on for about two minutes per cow.
                                              
The picture above is called a holding pen. This is where the cows wait until the parlor is cleared and ready for them to enter and get milked.
                                           
This last picture is where the cows "live" in between sessions in the parlor. That center aisle is where a tractor drives through to unload feed for them.
The world of dairy farming was completely new to me until last summer where I go to spend a lot of time in the parlors and barns. 

Precision Farming

Precision Farming

You may not have heard this fact, but the world is growing. It's been growing for centuries and it shows no signs of stopping. The world's expected population at the year 2050 is 9.6 billion. Oh yeah. 9.6 billion. The sad part is that we've used up a large portion of the world's resources. And we no longer have new land to start farming for the first time. Farmers now need to become more efficient with their crops and increase yields. One relatively new and continually developing method is precision farming. 

                                          

Forbes.com does a good job of explaining how precision agriculture is going to change the industry. 

Precision ag is the mapping of particular fields to pick out mineral deficiencies in the soil, water levels and insect infestations, to name a few. Using precision farming helps farmers more efficiently spread herbicides and pesticides, fertilizer and water. Thus saving the farmer money and wasting fewer resources. 

Like it or not, farming is a great polluter. From runoff to CO2, our industry must strive to reduce our envirnmental impact and increase outputs for our hungry world.

Precision agriculture is the future to a stronger planet. 

Prompt 7- Contemplating Controversy

Contemplating Controversy 

Over the past decade, the agricultural industry has been shrouded in controversy. Mostly stemming from the use of GMOs and the amount of carbon dioxide put into the atmosphere by the large diesel drinking farm implements. Others including the issues with large factory farms, the use of fair treatment for laborers and the health factors regarding herbicides and pesticides. There are a large amount of support for either side of each argument and an even larger number of different opinions from farmers themselves, all the way down to the parents feeding their children with that same GMO food. 

The truth is, the answers are not black and white. Just the same way as voting for a particular candidate in a public office is not black and white. There is no definitive answer one way or another on anything. But for this specific post, I am going to stick to the conversation about GMOs. I believe that the GMO argument is one of the most important to our society because GMOs are everywhere. 

Before reading the rest of this post, please read the following page: http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/gmos_india/pro_con.html. Here is a larger overview of the pros and cons related to GMOs.

That article does a good job of differentiating between both sides of each specific point. 

In the end, I believe that the farmers believe that without GMOs, they won't be able to produce enough to fulfill our world's needs. And consumers don't like the idea of scientists "playing God". 

Bernie and Ag

Bernie and Ag

I've already talked about how detrimental Donald Trump would be to agriculture if he were to become the next president, but what about another candidate? Bernie Sanders has been an advocate for the fair treatment and fair pay of agricultural workers all over the USA. And unlike our good buddy Donald, Bernie Sanders understands the hardships that illegal immigrants have to go through to survive. And I'm sure you might be thinking right now that we, as legal citizens, should boot them all out of the country. They don't deserve to be here if they aren't going to go through the legal migration process. Well fun fact for ya, it takes the average immigrant 5 years to go through the legalization process. And the truth for many of these people is that their lives are so bad in their native country, that sneaking here and trying to obtain citizenship is their smartest option.
It's a scary reality. And deporting the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants that we currently house in the US would be unrealistic and impractical.

According to an article done by the Washington Post, there are 3.5 more illegal immigrant agricultural workers than there are legal citizens. To deport them all is to cripple one of the oldest and most important industries in the US. Bernie Sanders says that instead of deporting these people, we need to come together as a country and make it easier for these people to become legal citizens. 

To me, that seems realistic and treating people fairly is not too radical of an idea.

Prompt 6- The UN and GMOs

The UN and GMOs

Below is a list of what the United Nations believe to be the main arguments against the use of GMOs, as of 2003. TO my knowledge, I can't argue many of these points. The use of GMOs is still extremely controversial, even over a decade after this article was written. The only point I can make is that GMOs create larger yields. GMOs are essential to feed our growing population.

The main arguments that have been put forward against the use of GMOs in agriculture include:

Potential negative effects on the environment

Genes can end up in unexpected places: Through "gene escape" they can pass on to other members of the same species and perhaps other species. Genes introduced in GMOs are no exception, and interactions might occur at gene, cell, plant and ecosystem level. Problems could result if, for example, herbicide-resistance genes got into weeds. So far, research on this is inconclusive, with scientists divided - often bitterly. But there is scientific consensus that once widely released, recalling transgenes or foreign DNA sequences, whose safety is still subject to scientific debate, will not be feasible.

Genes can mutate with harmful effect: It is not yet known whether artificial insertion of genes could destabilize an organism, encouraging mutations, or whether the inserted gene itself will keep stable in the plant over generations. There is no conclusive data on this issue.

"Sleeper" genes could be accidentally switched on and active genes could become "silent": Organisms contain genes that are activated under certain conditions -- for example, under attack from pathogens or severe weather. When a new gene is inserted, a "promoter" gene is also inserted to switch it on. This could activate a "sleeper" gene in inappropriate circumstances. This is especially relevant in long-lived organisms - such as trees. Sometimes the expression of genes is even "silenced" as a result of unknown interactions with the inserted gene.

Interaction with wild and native populations: GMOs could compete or breed with wild species. Farmed fish, in particular, may do this. GM crops could pose a threat to crop biodiversity, especially if grown in areas that are centres of origin of that crop. In addition, GM crops could compete with and substitute traditional farmers' varieties and wild relatives that have been bred, or evolved, to cope with local stresses. For example, local varieties in Latin America permitted the recovery from the catastrophic potato blight in Ireland in the 1840s. Today such plants often help improve climate tolerance and disease resistance. If genetically modified crop varieties substitute them, they could be lost, but the same applies to improved varieties developed by conventional breeding methods.

Impact on birds, insects and soil biota: Potential risks to non-target species, such as birds, pollinators and micro-organisms, is another important issue. Nobody quite knows the impact of horizontal flow of GM pollen to bees' gut or of novel gene sequences in plants to fungi and soil and rumen bacteria. Besides, it is feared that widespread use of GM crops could lead to the development of resistance in insect populations exposed to the GM crops. Planting "refuge" areas with insect-susceptible varieties is advised to reduce the risk of insect populations evolving resistance due to the widespread growing of GMO Bt-crops.

Potential negative effects on human health

Transfer of allergenic genes: These could be accidentally transferred to other species, causing dangerous reactions in people with allergies. For example, an allergenic Brazil-nut gene was transferred into a transgenic soybean variety. Its presence was discovered during the testing phase, however, and the soybean was not released.

Mixing of GM products in the food chain: Unauthorized GM products have appeared in the food chain. For example, the GM maize variety Starlink, intended only for animal feed, was accidentally used in products for human consumption. Although there was no evidence that Starlink maize was dangerous to humans, strict processing controls may be required to avoid similar cases in the future.

Transfer of antibiotic resistance: Genes that confer antibiotic resistance are inserted into GMOs as "markers" to indicate that the process of gene transfer has succeeded. Concerns have been expressed about the possibility that these "marker genes" could confer resistance to antibiotics. This approach is now being replaced with the use of marker genes that avoid medical or environmental hazards.

Potential socio-economic effects

Loss of farmers' access to plant material: Biotechnology research is carried out predominantly by the private sector and there are concerns about market dominance in the agricultural sector by a few powerful companies. This could have a negative impact on small-scale farmers all over the world. Farmers fear that they might even have to pay for crop varieties bred from genetic material that originally came from their own fields when they buy seeds from companies holding patents on specific genetic modification "events". Some argue that the World Trade Organization's agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) encourages this, but there are options to protect farmers' traditional practices within that agreement. Also, the new International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture recognizes the contributions of farmers to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources over time and for future generations. It provides for an international framework to regulate access to plant genetic resources and establishes a mechanism to share the benefits derived from their use.

Intellectual property rights could slow research: The proprietary nature of biotechnology products and processes may prevent their access for public-sector research. This might have a stronger negative impact in developing countries where no private research initiatives are in place. In addition, most developing countries still do not provide patent protection to biotechnological products and technologies. Because patents have a national scope, the entry of products developed through proprietary biotechnologies could be prevented in those external markets where patent protection exists.

Impact of "terminator" technologies: Although these are still under development and have not yet been commercialized, they would, if applied, prevent a crop from being grown the following year from its own seed. This means that farmers could not save seeds for planting the next season. Some believe that this technology, also known as the Technology Protection System, could have the advantage of preventing out-crossing of GM seeds.

March 2003

http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/focus/2003/gmo8.htm