Speak-up and Support Agriculture Today!

This weekend there are two events happening where you can get involved to show your support for agriculture - Food Revolution Day and Ag Pizza Party.

Food Revolution Day.  Jamie Oliver, host of the TV show "Food Revolution" and catalyst of the "pink slime" situation, has named today, Saturday, May 19th, as "Food Revolution Day."  If you go to the event's website you'll notice that the motto behind the day is "Stand Up For Real Food."  Real food.  This simple word make me want to get involved and I hope it does you too!  If you look more on the website it looks like they define real food as locally sourced, fresh food.  They also make a bold statement that everyone needs to "get back to basics and start thinking about where our food comes from."

I believe one of the best parts of living in America is that we have choices.  We have the privilege of having lots of healthy choices when it comes to our food.  I know that my family and other farm families across the nation do their best job to raise affordable, healthy and quality food for me and everyone.

So why stand up today.  Well, I think farmers should talk about what we do on our farms everyday, but especially today, I challenge everyone to share their story of how we all play an important role in raising the safest food supply in the World.  I'm doing this by writing this blog, as well as tweeting and facebooking about all the good work farmers are doing to create those food choices that I talked about before.  If you tweet, please use the hashtag #FoodRevolution in your tweets about the good work farmers do to feed people. You can also follow the @FoodRev Twitter handle to monitor messaging and even chime in.  On Facebook, you can visit the Food Revolution Community page and post your feedback and information there. You can also use your own personal pages to share information and insight. 


To get you started, I thought I'd share a couple tweets I have scheduled for today:

• Today's American #farmer produces enough food in a year to feed 155 people, compared to just 46 in 1960. #FoodRevolution
• In 2012, 97% of US #farms are family owned and operated. #Food Revolution
• In less than a generation, world’s population will need 100% more food than grown today. #FoodRevolution
• Livestock get antibiotics, med  treatment 2 prevent, treat disease, just like u & ur family. #FoodRevolution
• When the weather cooperates, #Iowa #farmers can plant over 1 million acres of #corn in 1 day. #FoodRevolution
• I’m an #IA #farmer & proudly eat the meat I raise on my farm. Mmm #Pork. #FoodRevolution
• I'm an #IA #farmer & am proud to raise #corn, #soybeans, #pigs and #kids. #FoodRevolution

Ag Pizza Party.  The second event that you can get involved in is happening all weekend, it is the Ag Pizza Party.  About a month ago, Domino's Pizza shareholders rejected a request to study ending the use of pork from suppliers who use gestation creates.  Other fast-food companies like Burger Kind, Wendy's and McDonald's have pledged to phase out the use of pork from such suppliers, but Domino's said hold on, lets talk to experts in animal care and behavior to see where we should be getting our food from.

My Farmer and I just finish hogs, so we are not apart of the phase of growth that involves gestation crates, but I was raised on a farrow to finish hog farm that did use gestation crates.  Gestation stalls are a benefit to both the mother sow and baby piglets.  The major benefit is that it creates a safe environment for both the sows and piglets.

So how can you get involved?  Go to your local Domino's Pizza (which I am going to have to travel 33 miles to get to mine) and order a pizza for you and your family this weekend, May 18th-20th.  When you pick-up your pizza, hand them a thank you note.  If you are a farmer use this thank you note and if you are an ag supporter use this thank you note.

So enjoy some great pizza and say thank you to a company that supports agriculture and farm families!