I want to give a big thank you to all of my readers out there. I have had a great time blogging over the last year about food and agriculture law issues on this blog. I am excited to implement video blogs and guest blogs in the next year. In case you missed them, here were some of my favorite …
New York Agri-Women Spotlight: Interview with Shiela Marshman
Had a great time last week at the New York Agri-Women reception and agriculture tours in New York City getting to know women involved in the New York agriculture industry. I know that it is a long drive for most people in Upstate New York to make it down to NYC so I really appreciate the effort from all the …
AAW-Syngenta “Leadership At Its Best” Conference
I spent last week in Greensboro, North Carolina at the American Agri-Women (“AAW”) – Syngenta “Leadership At Its Best” Conference. It was a great week and I had a nice time getting to know other AAW members. I was invited to participate on behalf of New York Agri-Women. Female leadership in the agriculture industry is so important. If you don’t …
“Farmers Fight… Farmers Fight…”
“Fight! Fight! Farmers, Farmers Fight!” If you have ever been to a Texas A & M football game, you have most likely heard this “yell” followed by a “Whooop!” (Please note that Aggies don’t “cheer”- we have “yell” leaders in Aggieland). If you didn’t know, I’m a proud Fightin’ Texas Aggie and have very fond memories saying this yell while watching the Ags play …
The Debate on Antibiotics
Recently Katie Couric’s CBS special on antibiotic use on livestock has the agriculture industry (particularly the National Pork Producers Council) once again defending its practices to American consumers. The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (“NCBA”) sent Dr. Michael Apley, a veterinary clinical pharmacologist from Kansas State University to Washington to visit with Congress about the use of antibiotics in the beef industry and visit with Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. …
Some Suggestions for Your New Year’s Resolutions
Here we are. Last day of 2009. I cannot believe how fast this year has gone. I started 2009 in Cheyenne, Wyoming and ended it in New York City at Rincker Law, PLLC. I am extremely grateful for my friends and family who have been supportive along the way. It’s snowing outside here in NYC today — nothing better than …
Twitter 101 for Agriculture Producers
Over the last few months I have been mentioning Twitter a lot on this blog. I believe that Twitter is the best place to get breaking news and share ideas. I developed a quick guide to Twitter for agriculture producers this morning. It is available on JD Supra here. I believe that Twitter is an important forum for agriculture producers …
Discussion on Omnivore’s Dilemma Next Wednesday on Google Wave
I have been reading Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and thought it would be fun to have an online discussion about it. If you haven’t started, you have a week so head to the nearest bookstore! I have been playing with the new google wave application and decided to give it a try next Wednesday night for the online discussion. If …
Get Ready For A Food Fight: Thank a Farmer Week
Several agriculture commodity groups, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (“NCBA”), are joining forces this week in a “food fight” against mainstream media for attacking modern agriculture production. As noted in this blog, I strongly believe that U.S. agriculture should be viewed as part of the food security solution and Americans need to support the people who work hard to …
Starting Agriculture Book Club
On yesterday’s post, I mentioned the idea of forming a book club in your community to discuss mainstream literature criticizing modern agriculture and discuss the misconceptions in the literature and how the agriculture community should address these misconceptions. For those of you who are interested in this, I am starting an agriculture book club that will read through these books …
Part III: Debrief from NYFB Farm Animal Welfare Conference
At the recent New York Farm Bureau (“NYFB”) Farm Animal Welfare Conference, Kay Johnson Smith from the Animal Agriculture Alliance was one of the keynote speakers. I was extremely impressed by her poise and presence. I love seeing such powerful, articulate women in the forefront of agriculture issues in Washington. The underlying theme of Ms. Smith’s talk was that those …
Reminder: New York Farm Bureau’s Animal Welfare Conference this Thursday
I wanted to remind all my blog readers about New York Farm Bureau‘s animal welfare conference this Thursday, October 15th, at the Clarion Hotel in Albany, New York. A myriad of livestock animal welfare issues will be discussed. I will be a panelist for the day speaking about livestock animal cruelty laws in New York with Richard McNally, a former …