Content about education

What are the issues of using antibiotics in food animals? How will their use impact consumers? What are some of the scientific studies saying? These reference links are only a starting reference point to help understand the issues and form an opinion on actions to take.

We received a note from a reader on a post about Jeff Simmons (President of Elanco, a division of Eli Lilly and Company) sharing how Elanco sales teams felt working in the animal agriculture industry (http://agtoday.us/o9s5gU ). The person worked in the poultry industry in Arkansas and felt "very little positive information is being illustrated by the media" about his industry. He highlighted many of the valued activities the poultry industry does and told of the positive efforts to continuously improve the industry.

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Conversation with Karina Brisby about the 2011 Blog Action Day topic of Food.

What does food traceability mean? In the general sense, it means being able to know where your food comes from. But it also means that the data about the growth, transportation, and handling are available for analysis. Many people are aware of the need to trace food back to its source when an out break of E. coli or Listeria occurs.

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Conversation with Michele Simon about food justice and what those in agriculture should know.

• Michele, you wrote a book titled Appetite for Profit: How the food industry undermines our health and how to fight back. Can you share what your goal was in writing this book?

From the 2011 Ag Media Summit, Dr. Scott Vernon (@DrJSV), Professor at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, presents an entertaining look at the next generation of ag communicators, highlighting what millennials worry about and expect in their career.

Dr. Vernon also highlights strategies you need to utilize to attract the best and the brightest in ag communicators.

Some highlights:

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Conversation with Scott Stuart, NIAA Board Chairman, about the 2011 National Institute for Animal Agriculture conference

• What is the focus for the 2011 National Institute for Animal Agriculture Annual Conference, titled Consumer's Stake in Today's Food Production?
• What do you want attendees to take away from the conference? Are there any actions you hope they follow-up on once back to their operations?

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Conversation with Food, and Agricultural Education Information System (FAEIS).

• Can you start by sharing what the Food, and Agricultural Education Information System is focused on and what its core missions are? 
• Why was FAEIS started? 
• What is the size and scope of the FAEIS (employees and budget)? Under what part of USDA is FAEIS located?

Show notes
Jeff Fowle, a tall California rancher with his hat makes an impression on people. By being on the South by Southwest panel he hopes to show folks that farmers and ranchers are out there, be contacted, and are open / willing to having discussions about food, farming, fuel, and fiber.

Where can we find you?

Show notes

What's Invasive, a mobile application locate invasive species by making geo-tagged observations and taking photos to alert us of the spread of habitat-destroying invasive plants and animals.

• As a smart phone application, what does What's Invasive do?
• How did What's Invasive idea come about?
• What led to the thought to create a mobile application?
• What is the problem trying to be solved?

Smart phones are a unique tool for those doing research and are in need of field data collection. These sample apps use the smart phone and crowdsourcing to bring data from the field into a lab database. These apps help anyone with an interest in the science to report back observations and sightings of environmental or disease issues. The labs are able to expand their reach in terms of data collection and offer back to others the data for land or operation management decision making.