May 2013
14 posts
2 tags
May 19th
14 notes
6 tags
Farm Bill FAQs
wereallfedup: modfarm: Got questions about the farm bill? We’ve got answers. Keepin it simple over at Modern Farmer. Time to start watching Congress again. 
May 18th
6 notes
5 tags
Pest Degree-Day Calculator →
Sometimes advances in ag sciences are just flat out exciting! This is the sort of collaborative research that can help move us to a truly sustainable agriculture. Integrated pest management (IPM) lacks the cachet of organic ag and the short term profitability of input intensive conventional agriculture, but IMHO offers greater long term prospects than either. Effective IPM will depend on these...
May 17th
1 note
3 tags
I WANT CRAZY: Dear chicks i despise,  →
thats-c0untry: when all you ‘country girls’ say you want a country boy, i don’t think you understand what you are saying. you don’t realize that a real country guy will put anything his family or farm needs before you. you don’t realize the inside of his truck will be dusty, the floorboards unrecognizable, and… On the other hand, there are plenty of compromise candidates out there including,...
May 17th
32 notes
3 tags
“Austerians don’t get off on other people’s suffering. They, for the most part,...”
– Paul Krugman’s Misguided Moral Crusade Against Austerity by Michael Kinsley (via thenewrepublic) Perhaps. But here’s a historical analogy that I remember from an ancient civilizations class so many years ago. The anecdote was so radically counter-intuitive to anything I had ever been taught, that...
May 17th
40 notes
4 tags
May 6th
31 notes
4 tags
May 6th
808 notes
2 tags
May 4th
23 notes
heartdeeperthanthebrand asked: That's so exciting! When its so close, the days seem to linger. I'm at home in southern Iowa today, and we've got snow!! I'm sure your prairie will be uncharacteristic of sorts May when you get home too. :)
May 4th
1 note
3 tags
Record Junk Sale Funds Fertilizer After Texas... →
fertilizermarkets: An Iowa agency is set to offer the largest-ever U.S. municipal junk bond sale to finance a fertilizer plant two weeks after an explosion at a Texas distributor of crop nutrients killed 14 people. The Iowa Finance Authority plans to issue $1.2 billion in tax-exempt debt this week to fund the building of a 320-acre nitrogen fertilizer plant by Orascom Construction...
May 3rd
1 note
2 tags
May 3rd
34 notes
2 tags
May 2nd
113 notes
2 tags
May 1st
2,336 notes
3 tags
Bite-Sized Biology: Baking Without EggsWith the... →
bitesizedbiology: Baking Without Eggs With the Science of Pie coming up in just a few weeks, we’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about baked goods. And one ingredient in particular has really captured our imagination—the egg! In the realm of baked goods, eggs are highly revered for their binding… Wow! Eggless baking has always been  a challenge for me, especially when trying to...
May 1st
30 notes
April 2013
27 posts
1 tag
How to tell you’re not in the Forbes Demographic.  →
“How many times have you arrived in Paris on Sunday and felt privately annoyed? True, you may be in the most beautiful capital in the world but your favourite restaurants are closed yet jetlag is making you crave unpretentious, tasty French food. Suggestion, drop off at Jeanne B in the 18th arrondissement …– it serves milk-fed lamb, crispy roast chicken, …(and) the ever popular ‘Croque...
Apr 30th
4 tags
Apr 29th
6 notes
3 tags
Apr 28th
256 notes
2 tags
Apr 27th
75 notes
3 tags
Texas Fertilizer Blast May Slow $22 Billion in... →
I’ve been wanting to tumblog a series on nitrogen for some time, and especially since the disaster in West, Texas. Might as well start with this repost.  fertilizermarkets: North American fertilizer production projects totaling $22 billion may be at risk of delay amid increased scrutiny from regulators and communities after last week’s explosion at a Texas plant killed 14 people. CF...
Apr 26th
1 note
3 tags
Third-graders learn about agriculture →
Ag Literacy can be an important and fun part of any curriculum - and necessary for town kids even on the corn belt. I remember being stunned to discover that a very bright classmate (this was back in the seventies) didn’t know what soybeans (at least, the plant) looked like. Click the headline to go to the article. And I do mean ANY curriculum. English, math, art, social studies, history,...
Apr 26th
2 notes
3 tags
Apr 25th
252 notes
3 tags
Apr 25th
185 notes
3 tags
Opinion: What the 'ag gag' bills mean to my farm →
Heck of a nice essay by a farmer on the rash of “Ag-gag” bills. I’ve long been of two minds on the topic, and Mr. Goodman effectively explains and answers many of  my concerns.  agrithoughts: Ryan Goodman is a generational rancher from Arkansas with a degree in Animal Science from Oklahoma State University. He is currently pursuing a Master’s degree at the University of...
Apr 24th
3 notes
1 tag
Just back from the first branding of the year...
agrithoughts: And it seems that I always forget how strong calves are! I’m soar, bruised and exhausted. I love every second of it. Nostalgic. I skipped my college graduation to work the spring branding at the Spectacle Ranch outside Gordon, NE. No contest. Richard Nixon was giving the address. It was also the first time I’d seen perfect scrambled eggs come from a very large pudding...
Apr 22nd
5 notes
1 tag
“When Ria Chhabra, a middle school student near Dallas, heard her parents arguing...”
– Please see the Professor’s comment below. Science, engineering, and even mathematics have never been the solely under the control of a professional elite.  “Is Organic Better? Ask a Fruit Fly” | New York Times This is another great example of the democratic nature of science. The...
Apr 21st
33 notes
4 tags
Regulation recommendations so that biofuel plants... →
(pictured is Miscanthus, a potential cellulosic biofuel) Kudos to the University of Illinois! To the best of my knowledge all states have a list of invasive species, and all have a list of noxious weeds. Or possibly multiple lists specific to selected geographic areas. It has always confounded me that they are not the same, but of course they are prepared by different sets of bureaucrats...
Apr 21st
1 note
3 tags
Apr 18th
1,184 notes
2 tags
Apr 18th
97,230 notes
1 tag
AgriThoughts: America has made a big push to stop... →
agrithoughts: There has to be room for both. In an idealist world we could decentralize our food system, but point out to me the 2 million(+) people that would have to go with out food and I’ll let them know they no longer get to eat. And another thing to remember is that we make commercial Ag out to be bad…
Apr 17th
6 notes
2 tags
Apr 17th
82 notes
1 tag
Apr 15th
1,548 notes
eatgeekstudy asked: Nope, it's still GA until mid-August for me!
Apr 14th
3 tags
Apr 13th
196 notes
3 tags
“WARNING: Triggers, but possibly the most moving piece of int’l reporting...”
– When (and why) one needs both God and government. Click the link to go to Jeffrey Fleishman’s story in today’s LA Times.  Egyptian town haunted by deadly accident
Apr 11th
3 tags
Apr 9th
104 notes
2 tags
Apr 9th
26 notes
1 tag
Apr 6th
1 note
3 tags
Apr 5th
282 notes
4 tags
Apr 5th
71 notes
3 tags
Apr 4th
48 notes
2 tags
Bite-Sized Biology: Tropical Fruit Inspires... →
The food chain- never a dull moment. bitesizedbiology: Tropical Fruit Inspires Innovative Research Two weeks from now, renowned Brazilian chef Alex Atala will be joining Science & Food for the first 2013 public lecture at UCLA. Chef Atala has generated a lot of buzz in the food world by discovering and classifying new ingredients from the…
Apr 3rd
24 notes
March 2013
17 posts
2 tags
Mar 31st
19,330 notes
3 tags
Mar 31st
2 notes
3 tags
The Water We Eat →
aginfographics: Since it’s world water day, let’s bring back this “infographic story” because it rocks. 
Mar 27th
2 notes
3 tags
'Monsanto Protection Act' slips silently through...
See http://rt.com/usa/monsanto-congress-silently-slips-830/  This entry caught my attention not because of its content, but its source. The ‘RT’ in RT.com stands for Russian Times. I never dreamt that I would turn to the Russian press for a cogent analysis of American politics.
Mar 27th
2 notes
2 tags
Mar 25th
5,097 notes
6 tags
Out There: Part 2 (and more)
This Out There series of posts is about developments which enable not the future of food or agriculture per se, but future agriculturists, food processors, cooks, eaters, visionaries, etc.. In short, the people who I hope are attracted to this microblog. I have a couple of things to queue and welcome your submissions. Also in the coming days: Found my missing notes from last fall’s trip to...
Mar 25th
11 notes
3 tags
Out There: Item 1
dirtdoll:
Mar 25th
1 note
2 tags
Mar 24th
59,865 notes
AgriThoughts: Let me know what you think! →
Do you follow agrithoughts? If you follow meadowslark for the ag content, then you should at least take a look. Regarding his question, I think that producers opinions are heard, but pretty much by other producers. I hope that the Tumblrverse distributes ideas a little more broadly. agrithoughts: So I was tossing this idea around in my head while listening to the noon Ag report for my state-...
Mar 14th
5 notes