Tag Archives: minnesota soybean growers

Just doing my job

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If it were possible to bottle up kindness, excitement and surprise, I think my bottle would be overflowing after this past week.

What would I do with that bottle?

Well, I’d wait until I had one of those awful days, where nothing seems to go right and no one seems to be happy … we all have those, I know … and then I would take the lid off and soak up the sunshine.

My faithful Farm Bleat readers are aware that I spent last week in New Orleans and Atlanta on a Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council-sponsored See For Yourself mission trip. My trip was completely funded by the state’s soybean association in exchange for writing stories about the places we saw, the people we met and the fellow SFY participants’ experiences.

It was a wonderful journey, and I had a great time getting to know nearly two dozen farmers and agribusiness professionals from all across the state.

Midway through the trip, I received a call from my publisher, Joni Harms, who was at the Minnesota Newspaper Association’s annual convention in Bloomington. She called to say I’d earned first place on a human interest feature story I’d written about a family of Sudanese refugees. The article about Abang Ojullo and her children was published in the Daily Globe last June.

Joni’s call came as I was perusing trinkets in the gift shop at the New Orleans Airport with three other women on the SFY trip. Well, it didn’t take long before they spread the news to the entire contingent and I was inundated with congratulations. Being recognized for an award is humbling enough, but when nearly two dozen people began referring to me as an award-winning reporter, it became rather embarrassing.

Just as I was coming down off my SFY high, I was presented with the Rock-Nobles Cattlemen’s Association Service Award at the RNCA’s annual banquet Monday night in Luverne.

Now, as Matt Widboom told the nearly 250 people in attendance, it took some wrangling on his part to get me to the banquet.

I’d like to explain why.

When Matt invited me to attend, he said he was working on getting an important speaker to talk during the evening. Despite my request for the speaker information, I never heard back from him. So when Monday afternoon rolled around, I’d essentially decided not to go … after all, the weather was rather nasty.

Enter my boss, Ryan, who basically told me I had to attend. Well, there was another call to Matt on Monday afternoon … I still wanted to know who the speaker was … and he still wouldn’t tell me.

Bottom line, there was no speaker. I found that out after being called to the podium, where Matt presented me with an award in recognition of my years of reporting the agricultural issues of southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Yep, he had me fooled and shocked all at once … and again, I felt very humbled.

Being recognized for one’s work is always nice, but I want people to know that I’m just doing my job … some days better than others. I feel like there are never enough hours in the day to get done what needs to get done. News never quits, and sometimes, it feels like I can’t either.

Last week, one of the SFY participants asked me if I liked my job. I looked him in the eye and said, "Yes. Most days." It’s like any job … highs and lows, peaks and valleys.

It’s true that the profession doesn’t pay well. Yes, I put in far more time than what I ever get paid for. Absolutely, I deal with constant deadlines. Yet, at the same time, there are so many perks … like meeting new people and chatting with long-time sources, sleeping in on days when I have to work late, free trips from Minnesota Farm Bureau and MSR&PC and, on occasion, an appreciative phone call, a thank-you note, a box of chocolates or even a bouquet of flowers from people I’ve interviewed.

There’s a saying I keep on my computer desk at home … "We will not be remembered by our words, but by our kind deeds."

It keeps me grounded.

While the words in the stories I write are read by thousands each day, in the end, they are just words. Most end up lining a pet cage or getting stuffed in the recycling bin. My hope is that somewhere in between reading the stories and tossing them away, people will learn something … perhaps be called to act, or even just appreciate life a little more.

Thank-you to the RNCA for the beautiful plaque … it will be a constant reminder that our region’s farmers not only need, but deserve, to be heard on the issues important in agriculture today and for years to come.

A candid conversation

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I was sitting in the Atlanta, Ga., airport on Friday afternoon, sharing lunch with a Minnesota Soybean Growers Association staff member, an MSGA board member, a member of the Midwest Shippers Association and one of the ad agency representatives that accompanied the See For Yourself International Marketing trip.

We were talking about the places we visited, the people we met and the things we learned. And then the conversation turned to the media … and the four guys turned to me.

I fielded questions on how we develop stories, how we select our sources, who decides what is newsworthy and how Minnesota farmers can get their voices heard on issues ranging from animal agriculture to the environment.

I’ve been a newspaper reporter for 16 years, so to hear some of them talk about being afraid to talk to the media came as a surprise to me. Perhaps it shouldn’t, considering some of the tough questions farmers get asked these days.

From fears of being misquoted to having quotes taken out of context, they would rather remain in the silent majority … doing their work from day to day and not speaking out when they agree or disagree with something they read in the newspaper, hear on the radio or watch on television.

As they all heard during a presentation on Thursday at the International Poultry Expo, remaining in the silent majority could lead to the downfall of animal agriculture in America. That, of course, is the ultimate goal of animal activist groups like PETA and the Humane Society of the United States.

As a farm reporter, there’s nothing I would like more than to have a farmer call me up and give me an idea for a story. I can’t possibly know everything that’s going on in the industry, so I rely on phone calls and e-mails just like everyone else who works in the newsroom.

On Friday, I offered the guys a bit of insight in the world of agriculture journalism, based only on my experiences.

I told them that while I grew up on the family farm, my parents are retired from farming and I’ve lived in town for several years. As such, I feel a certain disconnect with agriculture. I’ve written stories about yield monitors and auto-drive tractors, but I’ve never seen them in operation.

If that’s my experience, imagine what it is like for the journalists out there who are assigned to write a story about farming and yet have never had a connection to the farm.

As I told the guys, in order for the story to make sense, the reporter has to understand the issue. Perhaps instead of telling a reporter why something is done a certain way, show them. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words … and in our case, a visual can go a long way in telling the story accurately.

Last fall, I took a little guff for "interviewing the same farmers" when I do my spring and fall field work stories. Yes, it is true. I have a list of farmers I can call on because they have provided me with their cell phone numbers. When I’m working on a daily deadline, I can’t afford to leave a message at the house, when I know the weather is nice and the farmer is going to be outside from sunrise to well past sunset.

There’s nothing I would like more than to extend my list of farmers who would be willing to give me a crop report. If you are willing, give me a call or send me an e-mail with your cell phone number and I’ll add you to the list.

After my experience last week on the See For Yourself mission, I’ve come to the realization that we need more, not less, agricultural reporting. We need more farmers willing to talk about their operations … we need more livestock producers to open up their farms for city folks to tour and ask questions. What we in agriculture need is to connect with the American consumer and not just remind them, but show them, how America’s farmers feed the world.

The debate over animal agriculture

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Those of you Farm Bleat readers who also read the Daily Globe will notice a story in today’s edition regarding the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and its attack on animal agriculture.

It was the subject of a program offered Thursday morning at the International Poultry Expo here in Atlanta, Ga., and continued to be discussed throughout the day between those of us who attended.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t write about everything during the presentation – it lasted for nearly two hours – but I would like to use this blog to talk a little bit more about HSUS and the concerns our Minnesota farmers have regarding their propaganda.

Obviously, for me to use the word propaganda, you must realize that I don’t think very highly of the PETA people and other animal activists. My perception of them is that they know absolutely nothing about raising pigs, they can’t tell the difference between a dairy cow and a dairy goat and they wouldn’t have the slightest idea on how to properly hold a chicken.

Then again, they probably think I’m just a stupid farmer’s daughter. Apparently they think that of everyone who choses to live on a farm and work hard for a living.

Dr. Wes Jamison, associate professor of communications for Palm Beach Atlantic University, presented some rather interesting statistics regarding HSUS and the lengths they are going to in order to stop animal agriculture.

State by state, they are spending millions of dollars in lawsuits and lobbying efforts to get propositions passed. In Ohio, they were behind a proposition to end the caging of poultry. In Arizona, they were the instigators in getting farrowing crates banned. And in California, they may single-handedly destroy the poultry industry within a matter of a couple years.

But what about Minnesota? Is HSUS coming here?

The answer is yes. In fact, some of HSUS’s top officials have already visited with representation from Minnesota Farm Bureau.

John Zimmerman, a turkey, corn and soybean producer from Northfield and fellow MSR&PC See For Yourself mission trip participant, said it’s just a matter of time.

"In the last few years, we’ve seen more activity on the HSUS front," Zimmerman said. "We know they’re going to start coming into Minnesota."

What’s their agenda? Well, among the Minnesota farmers on the SFY mission, talk is that they want to end tail docking in the dairy industry. In Minnesota, approximately 80 percent of dairies have implemented tail docking in their cow herds as a means to improve sanitation.

Tails tend to get filled with mud during the spring thaw and summer rains. Cows don’t like the way those clumps feel on the end of their tail, so they swing them to knock the dirt loose. Those tails not only hit their hips and their rear udders, they also hit the automatic milkers and other sterile equipment used in milking parlors.

For dairy farmers, tail docking makes economic sense. Without the worry of mud getting into equipment, they have fewer worries about somatic cell counts being impacted, and the price dock that comes with higher bacteria levels.

There are other issues besides tail docking. Minnesota producers also use farrowing crates and poultry cages, both of which could come under attack.

In his presentation, Jamison said farmers need to band together and develop a common message. Whether that’s to counter-act HSUS and hand out T-shirts that say "I Love Meat," or to develop a positive media campaign that engages America’s consumers in the animal industry, farmers can no longer afford to sit back and stay quiet.

American agriculture … Minnesota agriculture … needs a strong voice.

Barges and Bourbon Street

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The Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council See For Yourself program participants arrived in Atlanta, Ga., just as the sun began to set this afternoon. After an evening of free time, we are geared up for the International Poultry Expo for the next two days in downtown Atlanta.

As a former poultry grower … we raised chickens and turkeys on a very small scale on our hobby farm south of Worthington … I’m looking forward to learning about the hot topics in the poultry industry and visiting with producers from around the globe.

Before I write anything about the great city of Atlanta (I’ll save that for a future blog), I must revisit our experience in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter.

Tuesday night was our only free night in the city, and for the two journalists on the trip (myself and Joan Olson from Farmer+Yoakam Advertising) who had to meet deadlines, it was a short but interesting experience to walk down Bourbon Street.

There were the Tarot readers who set up their tables on the sidewalks, the street peddlers, neon signs, stores with beads and more adult content bars, clubs and shops than I could have imagined.

I’ve always heard that Bourbon Street is an experience, and now that I’ve experienced it, I’m glad we’ve moved on. Every day has been an adventure, an opportunity to learn and a pleasure to be among such interesting Minnesota farmers and agribusiness professionals.

Our visit to New Orleans, while brief, was filled with loads of information for the group’s 23 participants, nearly all of whom are soybean producers. Before we left the Twin Cities on Monday, we learned all about the lock and dam system on the Mississippi and the journey Minnesota-grown soybeans take as they are shipped out from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Northwest.

On Tuesday, we had a first-hand look at the Port of New Orleans by both land and water. While the port doesn’t work specifically in grain, they see barges and ships filled with agricultural commodities pass through the port daily. Some of the barges are headed farther down the Mississippi to places like the CHS operation in Myrtle Grove, which we toured Tuesday afternoon.

Up river from the Port, at Destrehan, La., Bunge operates a grain handling facility and soybean processing operation. We visited that plant this morning, and watched as soybeans were unloaded from one barge, as another barge moved into position for unloading. At the same time, a Panamax ship was being loaded with soybeans for export … most likely to China.

We learned today that it takes Bunge approximately 48 hours to load soybeans onto one ship. A Panamax can hold 2 million bushels of soybeans. It’s difficult to imagine what 2 million bushels of soybeans looks like, and equally as difficult to imagine the 50,000 to 60,000 acres needed to produce 2 million bushels of soybeans.

It takes a lot of farmers to produce that much grain.

What was most interesting about the Bunge facility is that any beans that do not meet quality standards for export are transferred to the soybean processing facility on site. The by-products, soybean meal and soybean oil are then exported, with much of the oil product sold to South American countries, and the meal headed to Asia.

The Bunge facility is capable of unloading 22 barges in 24 hours, and is working its way up to moving 1 million bushels of grain per day. Another 125,000 bushels of soybeans are crushed daily in the processing plant.

For the second day in a row, the Minnesota contingent was told that the northern crops, beans raised from St. Louis, Mo., northward, are the best quality of U.S. soybeans produced.

As we flew out of New Orleans this afternoon, we had one last glimpse of barge traffic as it maneuvered down the Mighty Mississippi. As our plane continued to climb, I thought … wow, we really did "See for ourselves" the journey our Minnesota soybeans take as they make their way through the export market.

The flavor of New Orleans

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As I’m writing my blog tonight from Bourbon Street in New Orleans, La., a sidewalk musician is playing, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

Certainly, it isn’t something I could ever expect to hear outside the window of my home back in Worthington. It’s just one of the many experiences I’ve had in a mere two days on my excursion with the Minnesota Soybean Research and Promotion Council’s See For Yourself program.

I will leave the facts and figures about soybean production for the articles I’m writing this week for the Daily Globe. My blog, on the other hand, must be about food today.

On our first night in New Orleans, our contingent of nearly 30 people went to the Sake Cafe, a quaint Japanese restaurant in the heart of the city.

Now, I must admit, I wasn’t too keen on the idea of sushi … and I wasn’t alone. I am with a group of farmers, after all. If they are anything like my folks (and I’m pretty sure they are), they are the meat and potatoes kind of Minnesota farmers. Anything other than that is outside of their comfort zone.

As we took our seats around one big table, one of the group leaders told us the reason for the restaurant choice … Asia is the biggest purchaser of U.S.-grown soybeans and, as part of our International Marketing study trip, we needed to experience a bit of the Asian culture.

Therefore, we would be sampling sushi … among many other foods. The emphasis is on many, because by the time we finished our meal two hours later, we had devoured 17 different foods and were so miserably stuffed we couldn’t wait to get back to our motel rooms and into more forgiving clothing options.

Not only did we have to sample sushi, we had to use chopsticks … for the entire evening.

If you can picture any farmer using chopsticks, well, at the very least you should chuckle a bit. I know there was at least one guy in the group who gave up after the third course and requested a fork.

I, meanwhile, attempted to use the one-handed method, followed by the two-handed method, followed by the "I’ll just stab it with my chopstick" method. There was no need to be embarrassed, we were nearly all in the same boat.

I managed to get a listing of all of the foods we sampled and, with the exception of the Miso soup, we used our chopsticks (and our fingers) for the rest. They included edamame (edible soybeans), baked salmon wrapped crab, wok-fried calamari (squid tentacles), pan-seared sea scallops, po boy roll, snow crab naruto, lava roll, hard rock roll, salmon naruto, New Orleans roll (this was shaved cucumber wrapped around raw fish), tempura, shrimp teriyaki, ginger duck, akita snapper and karuma shrimp.

The only food I can say without a doubt I will never eat again is calamari, otherwise all of the versions of shrimp, scallops and snow crab were excellent.

There are so many flavors to sample in New Orleans, but the seafood is a definite must.

I tried my first bowl of gumbo today, and I now know not to order that ever again. (I picked out the shrimp and dirty rice and left the oysters in the bowl.) And tonight, well, I’m thinking it will be more seafood of some kind … just not raw!

Several of the farmers I’m with, on the other hand, were practically salivating about the free night in New Orleans and free choice of food options … aka "Steakhouse, here we come."

For another blog about the SFY mission trip, written by fellow ag communicator Joan Olson, see www.mnsoysfy.org.