Spring Agriculture Salute

The Herald

■ ■ YO U R C O M M U N I T Y N E W S PA P E R S I N C E 1 8 9 5

DUBOIS COUNTY, INDIANA FRIDAY, march 7, 2014 SECTION B

New research into infection. Page 2 ■ Farming has changed. Page 3 ■ Land stewardship initiative. Page 5 ■ Join 4-H. Page 6

Spring Agriculture Salute

page 2 ■ spring agriculture salute

the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

Identified gene may ease genetic modification

By ELIZABETH K. GARDNER Purdue News Service WEST LAFAYETTE — A recent discovery could lead to easier genetic modification of plant varieties considered recalcitrant to standard methods, including varieties of economically important crops.

A Purdue University research team identified a gene that influences susceptibility to infection

by Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a bacterium that is used as a tool to insert genes into plants to produce traits such as resistance to pests, diseases or harsh environmental conditions or to improve the nutrition or shelf life of a crop.

“There is a great need for a way to genetically modify plants not only on a large scale for important cash crops but also on a small scale for research,” said Stanton Gelvin, Purdue’s Edwin Umbarger Distinguished Professor of Biological Sciences who led the research. “What we’ve discovered could lead to a way to increase a plant’s susceptibility to Agrobacterium infection and open the door to its use on a much broader range of plants.”

Agrobacterium-mediated plant transformation is widely used in the agricultural biotechnology industry, but it doesn’t work well for many varieties and species of plants, he said.

“Some of the most elite and desirable cultivars in agriculture can only be improved through the ageold genetic modification method of breeding, which is less genetically precise, requires numerous steps and takes years,” he said.

The team studied genes in Arabidopsis, a small plant related to mustard that is a common research model. The researchers identified a gene that plays a central role in susceptibility to genetic transformation and discovered the mechanism and specifics of its action. Bioinformatic analyses and gene libraries suggest this gene is also found in corn, soybeans, wheat, oilseed rape, cacao, rice and many others, but the team needs to verify this experimentally, Gelvin said.

“This could go beyond the major economic crops and allow this type of genetic engineering to be applied to trees used for paper, fruit and ornamental trees, and flowers,” he said. “This is not the only gene involved in genetic transformation susceptibility, but it is a global regulator that influences a whole suite of genes and plays a very significant role in this process.”

A paper detailing the team’s results was published in Science Signaling and is available online. In addition to Gelvin, coauthors include Rebecca Doerge, the Trent and Judith Anderson Distinguished Professor of Statistics; former postdoctoral research fellows and research associates graduate students Nagesh Sardesai, Huabang Chen and HoChul Yi; associate research scientist Lan-Ying Lee; visiting scholar Alexandra Stirnberg; former graduate student Gayla R. Olbricht; and undergraduate students Jacob Jeffries and Kia Xiong.

The team conducted genetic screens of Arabidopsis mutants hyper-susceptible to Agrobacterium infection to identify genes responsible for susceptibility.

Through these screens the team discovered that a mutation in the

Mark Simons/Purdue University

Purdue professor Stanton Gelvin sits next to Arabidopsis seedlings in his laboratory. A team led by Gelvin identified a gene that could be the key to faster and easier genetic modification of plants considered resistant to standard methods. gene MTF1 affected susceptibility to infection and genetic transformation. Plants in which MTF1 is suppressed were more susceptible to transformation.

The team also found that cytokinin, a plant hormone secreted

by Agrobacteria, triggers a cascade of molecular events that lead to the suppression of MTFI and the activation of another gene that may aid the infection process.

The gene that is activated encodes a protein that sits on the surface of the cell and may allow Agrobacterium to bind better to the plant cell, Gelvin said.

“We uncovered an entire molecular signal transduction pathway that reveals how the secreted cytokinins suppress the expression of the gene MTF1, which in turn increases the expression of the gene AT14A and a protein that makes a plant more susceptible to infection byAgrobacterium,” he said. “The end result is a plant that is much more susceptible to genetic transformation. Perhaps reducing the expression of MTF1

in other plants will have the same effect.”

MTF1 is important for normal plant development, so it cannot be completely knocked out or eliminated without killing the plant, but there are ways to reduce its expression, Gelvin said.

The team is working to develop technology to translate their findings into a tool that can reduce the expression of MTF1 and genetically transform a plant in one step, he said.

Gelvin credits the depth of skill at Purdue in the area of genomics and statistics for the success of the study.

“When evaluating gene regulation it isn’t a simple yes or no answer, sometimes a 10 percent change matters,” he said. “In addition to our ability to perform these genetic screens and analyses, it was a careful statistical analysis that revealed subtle changes of significance and led us to our target. Sharing of expertise and collaborative work is how science gets done.”

The National Science Foundation, the Consortium for Plant Biotechnology Research, the Biotechnology Research and Development Corporation and a grant to the Purdue University Center

for Cancer Research funded the research.

Online: https://www.bio.purdue.edu/people/ faculty/gelvin/gelvinweb/main.html

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the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

spring agriculture salute ■ page 3

Farming practices change to meet demand

By MICHAEL MAZUR Special Sections Writer JASPER — What and how much a farmer grows has changed over the past 150 years. Early farming families were self sustaining, growing crops like cotton for cloth, corn and wheat milled into flour, flax, sorghum and fruit and vegetables mostly for home use.

Some was used as barter and some sold for a little more income.

According to Ken Eck, Dubois County’s extension educator for agriculture and natural resources, earlier farms usually had small orchards of apples, cherries and pears. From these apples, hard cider was made for adult consumption and regular cider for the children. And since there were no supermarkets to buy household cleaning supplies, vinegar was made from apples.

Farming was a way of life and not the big business it is today when about 98 percent of the populace was involved with farming.

Today that number idles at about 1.5 percent, according to Eck. Today’s farms are fewer but much larger, where one farmer provides food for more than 100 people. Earlier farms mostly provided for the farm family and a few others.

It was during the 1930s that agricultural colleges like Purdue

University encouraged farmers to grow a little extra for more income, according to Eck. The farmers may have grown a specialty crop like tomatoes or a regular crop like corn or wheat for milling. Many communities then had a cannery, he said, for produce such as tomatoes to be processed.

Since World War II, many advances have been made in developing hybrid seeds to make them more resistant to plant diseases and insect damage. Hybridization breeds the desired traits from one or more different seeds into a new seed. Since hybridization takes much longer to breed the desired seed, the introduction of genetic modification speeds up the process.

Converting wartime ammunition manufacturing sites to make fertilizer from the nitrogen as well as engineering advancements made farming more efficient and less labor-intensive.

With all the advancements throughout the ensuing years, farming efficiencies changed the size of the farms and what they grow. Today, the three biggest commercially grown crops in Dubois County are corn, wheat and soybeans.

However, there are still a few farmers in the county who grow specialty crops in smaller quan-

tities for niche markets. Certain soybeans are grown and shipped to Japan to make tofu and white and blue corn is grown to make tortillas and blue corn chips. The Aztec milling plant in Evansville is a market destination. Popcorn, which is a specialty crop, is still grown in the county.

As markets change, so does thinking. Instead of growing everything on a large scale for the world market, thinking returns to growing some things on a smaller, more localized scale. There is a push going on by many communities and universities to grow more fruits and vegetables locally, Eck said.

The foreseen advantages with growing locally is that it can bring more revenue into the community and consumers know where the product is from and, for the most part, how it is produced. Some say the foods taste better than the supermarket versions. That may be because the crops are picked at the optimum time of ripeness.

Produce that has to be shipped from great distances is picked earlier, before it’s ripe. Some lose much of their flavor. Some produce like tomatoes are bred to have thicker skins to be able to stand up to rough handling during transport.

“Much of the locally grown food finds its way to farmers markets, as they much did in the past,”

Calves raised in pairs are smarter

By DEBORAH NETBURN Los Angeles Times A new study says having friends can make you smarter, at least if you’re a baby cow.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia found that young calves that live alone performed worse on tests of cognitive skill than calves that live with a buddy.

On most dairy farms, calves are removed from their mothers soon after they are born and put in a pen or a hutch where they live alone for eight to 10 weeks while they wean. The practice developed to keep disease from spreading among susceptible baby cows.

But a few years ago, researchers at UBC’s Animal Welfare Program were observing two sets of calves on a farm run by the school. One set of calves had been raised in a group environment — the other set had been raised individually.

When the two groups joined the herd, the researchers noted that the individually raised calves took longer to figure out how to find the feed and operate the feeder than the calves that had been raised in a more social environment. The individually raised calves also seemed unable to regulate their behavior.

“They were kind of like that annoying kid on the playground,” said Dan Weary, a professor at UBC’s Animal Welfare Program, and an author of the study’s paper published in PLOS ONE. “First they were really shy, and then they started following the other calves around and wouldn’t leave them alone. It was like they didn’t have an off switch,” he said.

To determine what was going on, the researchers designed two tests to see if cows raised in groups are smarter than cows raised alone.

The first test, borrowed from the world of lab rat testing, evaluated the calves’ ability to re-learn something.

The researchers built a Yshaped maze with a white bottle on one end and a black bottle on the other. When the calves first

took the test, the white bottle had milk and the black bottle was empty. After the calves got used to this outcome, however, the researchers changed the test—putting the milk in the black bottle and leaving the white bottle empty.

It took both sets of calves about the same amount of time to learn that the white bottle had the milk, but it took the individually raised calves longer to figure out where the milk was when the researchers changed it to the black bottle.

The second test looked at how long it took calves to get bored of a new object. The researchers showed the calves the same object eight times over two days. The calves housed in pairs spent less time examining the object in each successive session. The calves raised alone spent the same time looking at the object each time.

Eck said. “There is at least one farmers market in every county in Indiana,” he added.

Dubois County has two — one in Jasper and one in Huntingburg.

Along with hybrid and genetically modified seed, heirloom seeds are part of the process. An heirloom seed is a seed that is passed down through the generations because of traits like flavor, hardiness, adaptability and productivity.

Growing heirlooms commercially on vast scales can present problems. The integrity of the produce may not hold up during the transport and the items may not be as resistant to disease and insects as hybrids or geneticallymodified products.

“There are trade-offs,” Eck said.

Years ago, there were hundreds of varieties of apples, but today only a few varieties are grown in any abundance.

Many heirloom seeds are lost to history, but many are still in existence. Storage facilities in the United States and around the world house thousands of heir-

loom seeds, some dating back to prehistoric times, according to Eck. Because the seeds cannot last forever, certain seeds are periodically planted and harvested and the newly harvested seeds are then stored. Desired traits or characteristics of certain crops can be bred into a new hybrid.

“Plant and animal production changes to accommodate the (needs of the) industry, farmer and consumer,” Eck said. “These changes are in a constant state of flux.”

Some older traits may be adaptive to the current times.

“It never really ends,” Eck said.

The modification of seeds is an ongoing process, constantly designing seeds to meet current and future challenges of changes in the market, weather and insect damage.

Crops grown today are based on a climate that called for wetterthan-normal conditions. That was decided back in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. Because of the 2012 drought, Eck said many companies worldwide are seeking drought-resistant seeds.

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page 4 ■ spring agriculture salute

the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

100 years and counting for cattle magazine

By GARY JACOBSON The Dallas Morning News The Cattleman.

In the ranching business, that’s all you need to say about the Fort Worth, Texas-based magazine that turns 100 this year.

“It has become one of those publications you can refer to by name to anyone in the industry and they immediately know exactly what you’re talking about,” said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a former state agriculture commissioner.

“I don’t know of a better place for farmers and ranchers to understand what’s going on in the industry,” said Bob McClaren, former president of business operations for the Houston Astros, who runs 44 Farms near Cameron, Texas.

“I feel we touch our customers through that magazine probably better than anything we do,” McClaren said. Each month, 44 Farms buys a full-page ad on the back cover. Cost: about $20,000 a year.

In this cyberage of wireless wizardry, a century-old print product delivered by the U.S. Postal Service is more than holding its own.

Total circulation is about 19,000 a month, down slightly from 2008.

The January issue contained 100 pages; February, 116 pages. About half of each issue was devoted to advertising. Annual ad revenue is holding steady at about $1 million.

Over the years, the magazine has evolved, but the basic fare remains much the same. Readers can count on stories about raising cattle, managing their land, preventing livestock illness and fighting theft.

Great photography fills the pages. In The Cattleman, rangeland still stretches to the horizon.

The cowboy still rides. And while the West may not be quite so wild anymore, it’s still a way of life.

“They’re pretty much on their game,” Mary Lou Bradley-Henderson said. “They know the industry. They know what’s going on. They do a good job with the storytelling.”

Bradley-Henderson helps run the Bradley 3 Ranch near Memphis, Texas, which has operated since the 1950s. “We’re a seed stock operation,” she said, “meaning we sell bulls.”

The January issue of The Cattleman carried a full-page ad from the Bradley ranch for its “Wide Body Sale” in February, featuring more than 200 Angus bulls and some Charolais. “Total purchases over $10,000 delivered free,” the ad said.

In his 2008 memoir titled “Books,” author Larry McMurtry said The Cattleman was the only magazine he can remember seeing in his grandparents’ ranch house when he was growing up.

Contacted for this report, McMurtry said he doesn’t think he ever read the magazine himself, other than one article about his family headlined “McMurtry Means Beef.”

Still, he called The Cattleman the publication of the cattle trade.

“It does a good service to our flagging industry,” he said. “I wish them the best.”

The Cattleman is mailed to eight foreign countries and every state except Maine, Vermont and Rhode Island, editor Ellen Brisendine said.

“I imagine we’ll stay in print for a while,” Brisendine said, pointing out that the average age of her readers is 57. “But wherever they want us to be, that’s where we’ll be.” The magazine has digital versions for smartphones and tablets and a website.

The February issue contains

Cattleman (started in 1971).

Cattle South, based in Georgia, began publishing in 1997. “It takes more than a hat to be a cowboy,” trumpets the magazine’s motto.

Maybe. But never forget the hat.

There are also breed-specific magazines such as the Angus Journal, American Brahman Review and The Beefmaster Cowman, published in San Antonio.

Brisendine said the only comparable magazine older than The Cattleman that she knows of is Hoardâ’s Dairyman, a national publication started in 1885 in Wisconsin.

Carl Landau, a publishing expert in Sacramento, Calif., has started and sold five specialty magazines, including one for home brewers.

He said cattle magazines are classic niche operations, which helps explain their continued popularity. They focus on subjects of intense interest to their readers, and their advertisers can target exactly the audiences they want to reach.

“When you’re dealing with someone’s livelihood, it becomes a focal point in their life,” Landau

photos of many types of weeds.

In her column, Brisendine advises readers to carry their printed copy or electronic tablet version with them to help with early identification of sandbur, thistles and other pest plants.

“The earlier the better when it comes to treating weeds,” she writes, quoting a friend.

The Cattleman is published by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, which was founded in 1877. About threequarters of the magazine’s subscribers are members of the association. Together, the members manage 4 million head of cattle on 76 million acres, mostly in Texas and Oklahoma.

“We’re a proud association, and we’re really proud of this publication,” said first vice president Richard Thorpe, who runs the Mesa T Ranch near Winters, Texas. In many ways, Thorpe said, The Cattleman is the voice of rural Texas and rural Oklahoma.

Many states have similar publications. Among them: the Arizona Cattlelog (started in 1945), the Oklahoma Cowman (started in 1963) and the Missouri Beef

said.

Brisendine said the staff of The Cattleman numbers eight, including a part-timer. She also uses many freelance writers and photographers.

Perhaps the most celebrated writer in the magazine’s history was J. Frank Dobie, author of the Texas classic “The Longhorns.”

He wrote for The Cattleman from 1926 to 1960, Brisendine said. Dobie died in 1964.

The most successful writer, though, might be John Erickson, creator of the “Hank the Cowdog” series of books and tapes. A Harvard Divinity School-educated cowboy who wrote in his spare time, Erickson started publishing in The Cattleman in the 1970s — technical stories about ranching and cows, he said — and got his first Hank story in the magazine in the early 1980s. It was fiction, but based on a real dog he had known.

“The Cattleman did not publish fiction,” Erickson said in a recent interview. “Dale Segraves (the editor at the time) did not say a word about it.”

Hank is the self-proclaimed

head of security on a ranch, a canine Inspector Clouseau with a penchant for creative wordsmithing as he narrates his misadventures. “Hank the Cowdog has never aspired to ordinarity,” Hank once said.

Three decades after the dog’s debut, there are more than 60 Hank books and a couple of dozen other books from Erickson. He said more than 8 million of his books and tapes have been sold.

Hank’s adventures have been serialized in The Cattleman as well as The News and performed by theater groups in North Texas and elsewhere.

Erickson, 70, owns a ranch near Perryton, Texas, and is a member of the association that publishes The Cattleman.

“Hank bought the ranch,” Erickson said. “It definitely wasn’t cowboy wages.”

As part of The Cattleman’s centennial celebration, the February issue includes the cover from February 1929, which featured a photo from famed cowboy photogSee 100 YEARS on Page 12

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the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

spring agriculture salute ■ page 5

Land stewardship initiative makes progress Mike Smith SWCD Project Technician JASPER —The Vincennes University Jasper Campus Land Stewardship Initiative has made significant progress in 2013. With a clear mission and a well-established organizational structure, a variety of sustainable management practices have started to be implemented across the property.

This work, coupled with continued collection of data on the health of the property’s fields, forests, and watercourses allows the benefits of sustainable management to be demonstrated.

In 2013, the LSI shifted its focus from planning to implementation.

Fields ■■ Continued to manage the fields according to a conservation cropping system. Continued sampling will document the gradual improvements of the property’s soil health and productivity.

■■ The 2013 harvest was completed with a yield monitor equipped combine. This year, the

farm averaged 138 bushels of corn per acre.

■■ An innovative field tile system has been designed and will be installed next year in the small field across from Bohnert Park.

The system uses a structure that can block the tile’s outlet at certain times of the year, flooding water back through the tile lines under the field. This will have multiple benefits. Nutrients normally lost in the fall as the previous year’s cash crops decay can be held in the field until collected by cover crops. Not only will nutrient run-off be reduced, but less fertilizer will be required to grow the following year’s crop.

The multi-purpose system will also include two surface inlets to collect storm water from a nearby residential area, turning a nuisance into a valuable agricultural resource during dry summers.

Forests ■■ Following the completion of a forest inventory, DNR District Forester Adam Dumond drafted a management plan for the prop-

erty’s forests. This plan will be the basis of the Initiative’s future activity in the forests. Invasive species management is currently the priority.

■■ Several Initiative members volunteered their time to clear 1.6 miles of forest edge of invasive species. These plants, mainly japanese honeysuckle, callery pear, bush honeysuckle, and autumn olive, represent the majority of the seed-producing invasives on the property. However, further treatment will be necessary next year as well as constant “maintenance” thereafter.

Watercourses ■■ Monitoring of the habitat quality and nutrient load in the ditches and creeks around the property has ensured that the management practices do not harm the watercourses. As the cropping system continues to improve the soil’s health, members

hope to see improvements in the watercourses as well.

■■ Began collecting and sampling water leaving the tiles of one of the property’s fields. This will provide a baseline estimate of the amount of nutrient currently leaving the field. Between the implementation of a nutrient management plan and improvements in the soil, members expect to see these levels decrease in the future.

Finance ■■ The finance committee has drafted a donation solicitation letter and developed a plan for how to recognize businesses and individuals who help support the Initiative. Members plan to begin formally seeking donations shortly early in 2014.

■■ Purchased precision agriculture software and used it to generate yield maps of the harvest.

These maps will help to develop a nutrient management plan for

2014 that will minimize run-off and make the most of applied nutrients.

■■ Buffer strips of grass have been planted around each field and are becoming well-established. These buffers will reduce erosion and nutrient run-off.

Though they occupy some lowproductivity land that could be cropped, the benefits far outweigh the minimal loss of revenue.

■■ A gully that had been widening along College Avenue and Meridian Road has been repaired and stabilized. Along with solving an erosion problem, the repair will allow members to add around an acre of land to crop production.

■■ The prairie planted near the campus entrance is growing well; no management was necessary this year.

Members will monitor the area to ensure it continues to provide the beneficial wildlife and pollinator habitat

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page 6 ■ spring agriculture salute

the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

Joining Dubois County 4-H is ‘Cool Thing to Do’

By KENDALL MARTIN County Extension Director JASPER — March is here. That means there are only a few more days to join Dubois County 4-H for 2014. The 4-H enrollment target deadline is March 31.

Students currently in kindergarten through grade two may enroll in Exploring 4-H. The program is designed to introduce younger students to the world of 4-H. Participants can exhibit two projects of their choice at the Dubois County 4-H Fair. The 4-H’ers may also participate in a day camp designed just for them and in livestock showmanship at the 4-H fair.

There is no enrollment fee for Exploring 4-H members.

Students currently in grades three through 12 can enroll in the traditional 4-H program. There are more than 30 4-H clubs and 70

1180 Wernsing Road, Jasper, IN 47546 (812) 482-2000 ext. 2332 www.duboiscounty.younglife.org www.jasperwyldlife.younglife.org Jace Rasche, Area & WyldLife Director Alie Messmer, Young Life Director *Visit our website for latest schedules and ways to get involved!

THE MOST COMPLETE COVERAGE OF LOCAL NEWS. THE HERALD

4-H project choices to appeal to every interest. Youths can learn new skills by completing projects such as crafts, educational displays and a variety of exhibits. Youths may also participate in activities like 4-H camp, the Share the Fun Talent Show, the Speech and Demonstration Contest, the 4-H fair and the Indiana State Fair. Participating in 4-H is great way to work

with caring adults and make new friends.

A $15 state program fee is due per member at the time of enrollment.

This year, the “Color Me Green” 4-H Dash will take place at the Dubois County 4-H Fairgrounds at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 22. This fun activity will highlight the 4-H Healthy Living

initiative being practiced across Indiana. The first 50 participants will receive a free white T-shirt for “coloring” to commemorate the event. Registration will begin at 9:30 a.m.

Individuals and cDonors are also reminded that March 31 is the date to get donations in to be included in all recognitions. If you would like to support more than

1,000 youth in their development, contact the extension office. As a non-profit organization 4-H relies heavily on support from generous donors.

To enroll or learn more about 4-H contact Purdue Extension-Dubois County at 812-482-1782, on the Web at www.extension.purdue. edu/dubois or at 1482 Executive Blvd., Jasper IN 47546.

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spring agriculture salute â– page 7

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the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

Researchers working to stop citrus greening

By CHRIS ADAMS McClatchy Washington Bureau In a secure Biosafety 3 containment facility at the University of California-Davis, researchers are required to de-robe, pull on scrubs and pass through negative pressure doors — something like an airlock — before they can begin their work. Leaving requires a shower and more airlocks.

“Everything is completely contained,” said MaryLou Polek, whose organization helps fund some of the research done at the facility. “They can’t even take a notebook out. They have to email their results out.”

Biological weapons? In a way.

The building is called the UCDavis Research Containment Facility. And in this state-of-the-art operation, researchers work with exotic pests and pathogens that threaten U.S. agriculture and natural resources — things such as the glassy-winged sharpshooter and the brown marmorated stink bug.

They’re also studying what may be the biggest threat these days to the U.S. citrus industry: the Asian citrus psyllid.

An insect that’s no bigger than the head of a pin, the Asian citrus psyllid is responsible for spreading a disease called citrus greening that is wreaking havoc on citrus growers.

Growers in Florida have been grappling with it for years, and government officials recently stepped up their efforts to combat it. And growers in California — another huge producer of citrus crops — are on edge, as the insect and the disease have appeared in the state but not yet caused widespread problems. In labs on both ends of the country, researchers are employing different strategies to detect the disease, stop its spread and hopefully cure already-sick trees.

“Florida is concerned about therapeutics — their industry is already so highly affected,” said Polek, vice president of science and technology for the Citrus Research Board, based in Visalia, Calif. “If they don’t find a way to cure their plants, they’re sunk. In California, we’re trying to not get to that point.”

Citrus greening is also known as Huanglongbing, or sometimes yellow dragon disease, and it first appeared in Asia during the late 1800s. It has decimated citrus crops in Asia, Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and Brazil.

The insect that spreads the disease — that pinhead-sized Asian citrus psyllid — was first seen in Florida in 1998. The disease itself appeared in Florida in 2005 and rapidly spread to all 32 citrusgrowing counties.

The disease migrates when infected plants are moved and come into contact with the carrier insect, which can transmit it to other trees.

The bacterial disease is not a threat to humans or animals, but takes hold in a tree and eventually causes it to produce green, bitter-tasting fruit, ruining crops meant for sale to consumers or juice-makers.

Krysta Harden, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, recently toured citrus groves near Tampa, Fla. “A healthy orange makes you want a glass of juice,” she said.

“And then to see this hard, small green fruit is devastating.”

Prakash K. Hebbar, national coordinator for the USDA’s citrus health response program, said that while it took five or six years for the damage to really be seen, it’s now showing up in reduced yields and lower quality of fruit.

Much of the recent reduction in citrus production is because of the disease.

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According to USDA statistics, the number of acres bearing oranges in Florida dropped from 588,000 to 429,000 between 2003 and 2013 — a reduction of 27 percent.

In California, the drop was from 198,000 to 175,000, or 12 percent.

U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Republican from Sarasota, Fla., said growers in his state are suffering from their smallest orange crop harvest in 24 years. He pushed for citrus-greening funds in both the omnibus budget bill passed by Congress in January and the farm bill passed by Congress this week.

The president is expected to sign the farm bill Friday.

The farm bill contains $125 million in mandatory funding for citrus-greening research and $125 million in discretionary funding for the disease.

Buchanan, from his walks through orange groves in recent years, described fruit “that just looks like it’s dying.”

“It’s turning colors, doesn’t have its natural state, is usually one-third the size of normal,” he said. “Some trees look like they’re going to be dead in a year or two.”

In addition to Florida, the dis-

ease has been found in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas and California.

When an infected tree is found in those states, officials swoop in and eliminate it. In Southern California, one infected tree was found in a resident’s personal garden; officials negotiated with the homeowner, removed the tree and established a quarantine to keep nursery stock from moving out of the area.

Although that tree was in Southern California, Polek from the Citrus Research Board said growers in the San Joaquin Valley in the central part of the state are on the lookout for the insect.

“So we know it’s up here, somewhere,” she said.

Around citrus groves, yellow sticky traps are positioned every quarter-mile or so to capture the insect.

Among her group’s research strategies are to find better ways to detect the disease in trees.

While that one tree in Southern California was determined to have the disease using one diagnostic method, different diagnostic tests found another seven trees showing signs of the disease. Officials

talked with those seven homeowners and replaced the trees with non-citrus plants, Polek said.

“We’re trying to protect our commercial groves,” she said.

Carolyn Slupsky, an associate professor in both the Department of Nutrition and the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of CaliforniaDavis, said one of the first steps is to understand exactly how the pathogen affects the plant — a difficult prospect, since it will only grow in a citrus tree, not in a test tube, as do many other pathogens.

Researchers want to detect the disease before it becomes visible, since it can take two or more years following infection for outward symptoms to be evident.

In a 2012 article in the Journal of Proteome Research, Slupsky and her colleagues found the juice produced by infected-butoutwardly healthy trees differed from juice produced by completely healthy trees; the finding could help researchers design methods for early detection.

Researchers are also exploring whether gasses from a tree could lead to early detection.

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the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

spring agriculture salute ■ page 9

Grass-fed beef has following, not definition

By BARRY SHLACHTER Fort Worth Star-Telegram GRANDVIEW, Texas — Jon Taggart squinted toward a dozen or so steers, all uniformly blackhided and docile, as they moseyed through a gate to an adjoining pasture of foot-high grass, unlike neighboring fields that almost looked as if the land had been scraped bare.

Forage is key to producing grass-fed beef, and it became an extremely limiting factor in drought-stricken Texas just as demand for the niche cuts may never have been higher. But Taggart has been at it since 1999, back when few consumers realized nongrain-finished steaks were available, and he knows how to maintain his ranch land in dry weather.

Whole Foods became an early purveyor of grass-fed beef starting eight years ago, followed by Central Market four years later.

Kroger convinced College Station, Texas-based Nolan Ryan All-Natural Beef to join the pricey specialty market, while trying to further stoke demand by sourcing its own Simple Truth organic line with grass-fed beef from Uruguay. Nolan Ryan’s namesake operation, by necessity, has had to source its meat from Iowa and Nebraska.

Consumer demand is strong but neither the American Grassfed Association nor Texas cattle experts can quantify sales since they are so fragmented, with many small and medium-sized producers selling directly to the public at farmer’s markets.

“It’s growing but it’s still very small,” said Kevin Good, an analyst with Cattlefax, which monitors the industry. “Is it going from 1⁄2 percent to 1 percent? We don’t know.”

Ron Gill, a livestock specialist with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, sees expansion but like others can’t quantify it.

“The size of its production puts it in a niche category, but there should be increasing demand as long as they can maintain quality,” Gill predicted.

Grass-fed beef is marketed as healthier and leaner than grainfed, and fanciers say it has a stronger, more intense flavor, which they find highly palatable. It can be tougher if not cooked right, however, and the association suggests cooking at a low temperature in a sauce, or coated with extra virgin olive oil before browning, if you like it well-done.

Taggart and his wife, who operate Burgundy Pasture Beef, are fearful of becoming overly committed to any single large supermarket chain. Instead, they sell to a few restaurants but concentrate on the retail market with a storefront in Grandview, 40 miles south of Fort Worth, Texas, and Internet sales with delivery in the DallasFort Worth area. Burgundy hopes to open a retail store — with weekend hamburgers — this month in

Fort Worth. Another retail outlet is planned in Dallas.

The couple, who finish cattle they get from a grass-fed operation in Henrietta, are the first to admit their luck, landing spreads in Time magazine and other publications, as well as numerous speaking engagements. Although born and raised in Fort Worth, Jon Taggart looks the ranch-bred cattleman and can talk effortlessly of the joys and challenges of the turbulent grass-fed beef market.

Right now the market is excellent for producers, reflecting extremely high prices for beef overall, thanks to the smallest national herd in half a century driven by heavy culling due to drought. And Taggart has used careful land management to avoid over-grazing and keep his pastures productive.

Betsy Ross, whose Ross Farm of Granger, Texas, has been in the niche market since 1992, was forced by drought to drop out of a production alliance last year that supplies Whole Foods stores in Texas and several neighboring states.

“The drought was brutal,” she said. Her brother’s cow-calf operation in West Texas supplies her steers (South Devon crossed with Red Angus), but the lack of forage dropped his usual herd numbers from 400 to 120. In 2013, she processed just 50 head, down from 150 to 250 a year. Eighty percent of her beef is sold to retailers in the Austin, Texas, area, including four compounding pharmacies that have a natural food deli, she said.

Because of the high price per pound (a Nolan Ryan Grass-Fed strip steak costs $19.99 at Kroger vs. $11.49 for Ryan’s all-natural choice) and lack of industry-wide standards, there’s plenty of economic incentives to pass things off as grass fed.

When trying to identify grassfed cattle sources for more than a year, Nolan Ryan Beef CEO Charlie Bradbury came across a prospective supplier trying to pass off old dairy cows as antibiotic-free, grass-fed cattle, which he considered highly dubious.

“The definition of ‘grass-fed’ is a lot less clear than other definitions in our industry,” Bradbury said. “One company was purchasing 8-year-old culled dairy cows and the seller signed an affidavit that they never were given antibiotics. Knowing what I know about the beef industry, that’s very difficult to do. I also know people can get affidavits signed.”

Central Market said it only buys beef that is raised according to USDA guidelines, relying on the department’s inspectors to enforce them, said David Lusk, chief merchant of the HEB-owned division. To be deemed grass-fed under USDA marketing standards, the animals cannot be given grain — although plants in a pre-grain state are OK — and they must have year-round access to pasture.

But USDA rules say nothing about

prohibiting the use of antibiotics or growth hormones.

And bait and switch can be found at different stages of the food chain.

Taggart said he once supplied steaks to an upscale restaurant in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which stated on the menu that the grass-fed cuts hailed from Taggart’s ranch.

But the arrangement lasted only a few months, and the owner switched to a far cheaper, commodity steak — but didn’t change the menu’s description.

“I call it fraud,” Taggart said.

“But what can I do, sue the guy?”

Like the past debates within the natural produce world over what constitutes “organic” foods, the fledgling grass-fed beef niche has its own factions divided over its definition. Some “purists” believe only cattle raised totally on one operation should be considered grass-fed, said Gill.

The internal debates are reflected in reaction to the guidelines of the American Grassfed Association, which some producers find wrong-headed.

To be certified by the group, beef cattle must be born in the U.S. and raised on American family farms, given access to pasture — without ever being confined on feedlots — and never given antibiotics or growth hormones. Moreover, compliance is policed by an independent annual audit.

Still, Taggart says, he broke with the organization because it allows producers to resort to an array of feed supplements when grass is not available.

The association’s list of approved supplements include canola seed, coconut meal, cottonseed, flax seed, linseed, malt sprouts, oat hulls, peanut meal, rice hulls, soybean meal and sunflower seed.

Ross, who calls herself a purist, said, “If they feed them that way, they should call the meat something else.” Yet, while opposed to the association’s approved supplements, she’s nonetheless sticking with the industry group.

Dennis Braden, 58, general manager of West Texas’ historic Swenson Ranch, is no fan of grassfed cattle.

“They’re terrible from an economic standpoint,” Braden thundered down the phone from Stamford, north of Abilene, Texas.

“You are doing on grass in 13 to 16 months what a feedlot can do in three to five months.”

For Swenson to grass-finish all of its cattle, Braden figures he’d have to reduce its herd by 30 to 50

percent.

“It will never happen on a big scale. Grass-fed would take us back to the 1880s, and we wouldn’t be able to feed everyone who wanted beef. Right now it’s a niche. Perhaps a gentleman farmer, with an operation small enough to fertilize and able to keep consistent nutrient value in the forage, maybe. But on a big ranch, it would be very, very hard to make it profitable.”

Yet an heir to the Swenson ranching dynasty, retired New Jersey investment banker Chris Swenson and his son, comedian Mikey Swenson, 24, have been picking up Braden’s steers several at a time to supply a gourmet food truck in Austin. Svante

Stuffed Burgers is named for the ranch family’s Swedish patriarch, Svante Swenson.

Chris Swenson, 61, the former Wall Street banker, is the first to admit that he hasn’t won over relatives on the ranch’s board.

But the food truck has gotten rave reviews (Yelp awarded it four and and a half out of five stars), and it sold out of burgers during the South by Southwest festival last year, forcing it to get emergency supplies of grass-fed ground meat from the Bastrop Cattle Co. “Not everyone has signed off on the concept; not everyone is convinced,” Swenson said. “I love grass-fed beef, but is it a viable business? We’ll find out.”

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page 10 ■ spring agriculture salute

the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

Ailing flower growers air complaints on Hill

By ROB HOTAKAINEN McClatchy Washington Bureau WASHINGTON — U.S. flower growers normally consider themselves purveyors of joy, but they’re none too happy with the state of their industry these days.

In February, 97 percent of the roses Americans purchased for Valentine’s Day came from foreign countries such as Colombia and Ecuador. And on New Year’s Day, four of every five flowers used to decorate the floats in the annual Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif., were imported.

On Feb. 27, growers from California and Washington — the top two states in cut-flower production — took their complaints to the U.S. Capitol. Irked with a trade policy that they say is quickly driving them out of business, the growers said Congress must help convince Americans to buy more domestic flowers.

“We have the hearts of the American people behind us — we just have to get the word out there,” said Diane Szukovathy of Mount Vernon, Wash., who runs the Jello Mold Farm with her husband in the Skagit River Valley north of Seattle.

Growers said domestic production of cut flowers now accounts

for only 25 percent of the U.S. market, compared with 75 percent in 1991.

And they said surveys have pointed to one persistent problem: Most Americans have no clue where the flowers they’ve purchased were grown.

While Colombia now dominates the market, thanks to its lower labor and land costs, some U.S. growers predicted that more Americans would be willing to pay higher prices if given the choice.

“If the consumer starts realizing where those flowers come from, they may take a different approach — and they may prefer a domestically grown flower, even though the price may be slightly higher,” said Lane DeVries, former chairman of the California Cut Flower Commission.

Kasey Cronquist, the commission’s executive director, said he wishes Americans were as passionate about U.S. products as they were while watching the Olympics.

“We love our teams and we love our country. … Why then don’t we see more of that passion translate to other things, like the cars, the food and the flowers we buy?” he asked.

Hoping to bring more public attention to their situation, the West

We love our teams and we love our country. Why then don’t we see more of that passion translate to other things like the cars, the food and the flowers we buy?”

Kasey Cronquist

California Cut Flower Commission

Coast growers helped two California House members — Democrat Lois Capps and Republican Duncan Hunter — launch the new Congressional Cut Flower Caucus. While growers from California and Washington state did the talking, the event drew flower farmers from four other states: Alaska, Oregon, Maryland and Virginia.

Capps said U.S. growers scored a big victory earlier this month when the White House highlighted American flowers at a state dinner for French President Francois Hollande, bringing in flowers from California, Mississippi, New Jersey, Virginia and Florida.

“It’s symbolic of what we expect to see happening more and more,” she said, adding that U.S. growers are not looking for a handout, only “a fair chance to compete.”

Hunter told the growers that they’re in the same predicament as U.S. manufacturers, who have watched middle-class jobs leave the country.

“This comes down to bad trade deals. … And this isn’t just flowers,” he said.

Hunter said that “it’s going to be really tough to reverse trade policy” and agreed that the best remedy would be to make it easier for consumers to know when they’re buying U.S. products. “You just get it out there, that, ‘Hey, don’t buy the South American flowers; buy the American flowers,’ and I think once people see that, then they will. … It’s big for California,” he said.

Hunter did not offer any specific remedies for U.S. trade policies, but he said no changes would be necessary if more Americans simply bought more domestic products. “Once you do that, we’re not going to have to pass any laws,” he said.

The foreign flowers, meanwhile, are big in south Florida, with 90 percent of all imported stems coming through Miami.

“If we took out that 90 percent and it just went away tomorrow, 7,000 people would lose their jobs,” said Christine Boldt, executive vice president of the Association of Floral Importers of Florida, based in Miami.

And across the country, she said, the imports are supporting more than 200,000 jobs in transportation, supermarkets and other places. Americans have a price level “that is very low for flowers,” she said, and Colombians can best satisfy the demand, having perfected the art of growing roses.

“If we could overall just try to increase consumption of flowers, we would all benefit — Colombia and California,” Boldt said. “We don’t need to be throwing stones at each other.”

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the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

spring agriculture salute ■ page 11

Expansion of beef cattle herds on horizon?

By JENNIFER STEWART Purdue News Service WEST LAFAYETTE — Recent record-high cattle prices and lower feed costs could offer producers the profit incentives they need to start expanding their herds after U.S. beef cattle numbers at the start of this year reached their lowest point since 1951, Purdue Extension agricultural economist Chris Hurt says.

The nation’s beef cattle herd has been declining for many years, with the most recent phase beginning in 2007 when high feed prices led to large financial losses for producers. Since that time, major beef-production areas also have been dealing with drought.

But if lower feed costs and high

cattle prices hold steady, producers could start to slowly grow their operations.

“While the incentives have turned positive, they have not been in place long enough for the industry to begin registering signs of expansion according to U.S. Department of Agriculture numbers,” Hurt said. “The rebuilding of the beef herd is expected to take multiple years.”

Hurt said two main factors are driving increased beef profit potential. The first is that small herd numbers have kept beef supplies low. The second is that U.S. corn, soybean and forage crops returned to more normal yield levels, bringing with them more abundant feed and lower feed prices. The combination has resulted

in record-high prices for fed cattle and calves this winter.

While the USDA’s most recent cattle inventory report showed that the number of replacement heifers held back for breeding is up about 2 percent, that increase isn’t likely enough to grow beef cow numbers this year.

Whether the national beef herd grows or declines in the coming months and years will depend, in large part, on cow slaughter numbers, Hurt said.

“Some cow/calf operations will see 2014 as the golden opportunity to get out with record-high cow prices,” he said. “But the greater tendency will be for producers to hold on to the cows for the profitable opportunities that are expected over the next three

or more years.”

Hurt also said the following would be hindrances to expansion: ■■ Retaining heifers to replace breeding cows is expensive for producers.

Beef producers have struggled through a long period of narrow margins, so it will take a longer time of profitability to restore their confidence.

■■ Drought still has its grasp on large areas of beef-production regions.

But even with the challenges, Hurt said there seems to be plenty of expansion incentives over the next few years.

“The price outlook is extremely favorable for 2014 to 2016 for the beef industry,” he said. “Beef supplies this year are expected to

be down 5 percent, while domestic demand is expected to remain positive.”

High beef prices are expected to reduce export demand, and beef will have some strong consumer competition from higher pork, turkey and chicken supplies.

“However, low beef supplies will dominate these drivers and likely push cattle prices to another record year,” Hurt said. “Finished cattle prices are expected to average about $135 per live hundredweight in 2014, exceeding the previous record high near $126 in 2013.”

Hurt’s full report, Beef Cattle Industry Just Beginning to Transition to Expansion, is available via the Farmdoc website under Marketing & Outlook. Farmdoc is a service of the University of Illinois.

California almond farmers face tough choices

By SCOTT SMITH Associated Press FIREBAUGH, Calif. — With California’s agricultural heartland entrenched in drought, almond farmers are letting orchards dry up and in some cases making the tough call to have their trees torn out of the ground, leaving behind empty fields.

In California’s Central Valley, Barry Baker is one of many who hired a crew that brought in large rumbling equipment to perform the grim task in a cloud of dust.

A tractor operator drove heavy steel shanks into the ground to loosen the roots and knock the trees over. Another operator, driving a brush loader equipped with a fork-like implement on the front, scooped up the trees and root balls and pushed them into a pile, where an excavator driver grabbed them up in clusters with a clawing grapple. The trees were fed into a grinder that spit wood chips into piles to be hauled away by the truckload and burned as fuel in a power plant.

Baker, 54, of Baker Farming Company, has decided to remove 20 percent of his trees before they have passed their prime. There’s simply not enough water to satisfy all 5,000 acres of almonds, he said.

“Hopefully, I don’t have to pull out another 20 percent,” Baker said, adding that sooner or later neighboring farmers will come to the same conclusion. “They’re hoping for the best. I don’t think it’s going to come.”

There are no figures yet available to show an exact number of orchards being removed, but the

economic stakes and risks facing growers are clear. Almonds and other nuts are among the most high-value crops in the Central Valley — the biggest producer of such crops in the country. In 2012, California’s almond crop had an annual value of $5 billion. This year farmers say the dry conditions are forcing them to make difficult decisions.

Gov. Jerry Brown last month declared a drought emergency after the state’s driest year in recorded history.

The thirst for water has sparked political battles in Washington, D.C., over use of the state’s rivers and reservoirs. This month President Barack Obama visited the Central Valley, announcing millions of dollars in relief aid that in part will help the state’s ranchers and farmers better conserve and manage water.

Baker, who favors farming over politics, explained the math leading to his decision. Between now and the summer almond harvest, he would need to irrigate his orchards with scarce, expensive water and pay to have the trees pruned and sprayed. Bringing in bee hives to pollinate the blossoms costs nearly $500 an acre.

That all would amount to a $2.5 million gamble, without knowing if the next couple of months will bring significant rain to the valley floor and snow to the mountains.

“You’d have wrapped a lot of money up in those trees to see what happens,” he said.

Removing old trees is common practice. Almond trees remain productive for about 25 years, growers said. The state’s almond

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farmers removed over 10,000 acres of trees in 2012, according to a report by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Most were past their prime. No figures are available on how many orchards farmers are removing today, said department spokesman Steve Lyle.

But Alan Thompson of G&F Agri Service LLC, who leads the

crew ripping out Baker’s orchards, said the drought spiked his business by 75 percent. This time of year is typically slow, but Thompson, 31, said his heavy equipment operators start at dawn each day and works until sundown, removing orchards in short order.

“We don’t even mess around with cutting them up with chain saws,” he said. “That grinder is

the way to do it right there.”

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page 12 ■ spring agriculture salute

100 years (Concluded from Page 4) rapher Erwin Smith.

In his long career, Smith revealed the “romance and the harshness of cowboy life,” according to the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, which has compiled an online collection of Smith’s work.

Russell Graves, 44, is a Childress, Texas, photographer creating his own tradition with The Cattleman, where, he said, he

Almonds (Concluded from Page 11) will be taken out because of this,” he added.

Tim Lynch of Agra Marketing Group said power plants in the state nearly have more wood chips from almond trees than they can handle. Lynch’s firm acts as the middle man between growers getting rid of their trees and the

the herald ■ Friday, March 7, 2014

has done dozens of covers over the years. Graves’ website lists well over 100 clients, including Outdoor Life and Smithsonian magazine.

How does placement in The Cattleman compare?

“It’s big to me,” Graves said.

In ranch life, there still is the romance and harshness that Smith captured, but that’s changing, too.

When The Cattleman first began publishing, a person had to be a major landowner to be in the cattle business, said April Bonds, the daughter of Pete Bonds, president of the cattle raisers association

and owner of the Bonds Ranch in Saginaw.

That’s no longer true, she said.

Some ranchers still own thousands of acres or more, but there are also many smaller operators.

“It’s not as important about being tough,” April said of cowboys today. “It’s more important to be savvy.”

Pete Bonds said he sells cattle to buyers in Europe, Japan and Canada. “If they’ll buy it, we’ll sell it to them,” he said.

While the industry has evolved, one enduring problem has been theft — rustling. Each issue of the magazine carries news of cattle

heists, criminal prosecutions and photos of the association’s Special Rangers, who investigate agricultural crimes.

About 30 in number, they are commissioned through the Texas Department of Public Safety or the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, or both. Each year, they investigate about 1,000 cases and recover an average of $5 million in stolen cattle and other assets, according to the association, which pays their salaries.

The commitment to cover crime began in the very first issue of The Cattleman in June 1914. Three of the 24 pages in the

magazine’s debut were devoted to a story about cattle rustling along the Rio Grande. The headline: “Capturing the Noted Bandit.”

One thief made a dash for the river and, on the other side, Mexico, was killed in a shootout.

Another met a more gruesome end.

“We have since been informed,” the story concluded, “that Chico Cana, the other leader of this notorious band of outlaws, was captured and lynched by soldiers of Mexico, and his scalp offered to American River Guards.”

Not a bad start to 100 years of cattle-and-cowboy storytelling.

power plants that need bio fuel to burn. The dry weather this winter has allowed growers to work in their orchards that are typically soggy, and the drought pushed them to take out trees earlier than normal, he said.

The high value of almonds has caught the eye of investors in recent years, who paid top-dollar for land to plant almond orchards and cash in on the bonanza. Their value remains strong, making the decision for farmers to remove orchards difficult.

William Bourdeau, executive vice president of Harris Farms in Coalinga, said he and his colleagues within the next 30 days will have to confront the hard decision about scaling back their almond orchards. They’ve already decided not to plant 9,000 acres of vegetables — including 3,000 acres of lettuce that would have produced 72 million heads and generated 700,000 hours of work.

Next, they may rip out 1,000 acres of almonds, a permanent crop, Bourdeau said.

“I hesitate to use a number that big. Unfortunately, it’s going to that big or bigger,” he said, still holding out hope the season will turn wet. “We’re trying to limp along as long as we can.”

Leaving the orchards un-watered and expecting they’ll somehow survive the drought is no option, Bourdeau said, because insects infest the dying trees and multiply, spreading to other orchards.

Drawing well water is a bad option, he said. Their wells sink

2,400 feet below ground in his region of the Central Valley, providing water that’s unhealthy and compromises the crops for years, if the trees survive at all, he said.

They have considered blending well and surface water to minimize the harm. Or they can remove some almonds to direct their limited water to fewer orchards.

“There’s a lot of what-ifs,” Bourdeau said. “There’s no good decision. It’s what’s the least worse option.”

‘Farmed and Dangerous’ misleads viewers, group says

By RICK BARRETT Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Some farmers aren’t finding much humor in a new television comedy that has exploding cows and an underlying serious message critical of large-scale agriculture.

Produced by the restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill, the comedy series “Farmed and Dangerous” satirizes the lengths to which corporate agribusiness and its image-makers go to create a positive image of industrial agriculture, Chipotle says.

The first episode of the show, which began last week on Hulu and Hulu Plus, focused on farmers planning to feed cows petroleum pellets — a move meant to boost profits by lowering costs but which backfires when a cow explodes.

Later episodes begin with snippets of text on issues like the use of antibiotics in meat and food, and libel laws that make it easier for big food companies to sue their critics, according to The New York Times.

“Starring the actor Ray Wise, the series is a full-throated attack on industrial agriculture, complete with a Dr. Strangelove-like scientist inventing eight-winged chickens and cash bribes being delivered in gift boxes,” The New York Times wrote.

The new television series un-

derscores social values, Chipotle says.

“The show addresses issues that we think are important, albeit in a satirical way, without being explicitly about Chipotle. This approach allows us to produce content that communicates our values and entertains people at the same time,” said Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief marketing and development officer.

Farm groups, however, see the comedy as yet another attack on agriculture.

“Chipotle’s latest marketing ploy is simply divisive propaganda. We hope that consumers see through this smear campaign against America’s farm families by a corporate restaurant chain,” the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation said.

Wisconsin gained national attention recently when an undercover video shot by an animal rights group showed cows being kicked, whipped and otherwise abused on a Brown County farm.

Farm groups said they were sickened by the actions, which they said don’t represent typical livestock handling practices.

The exploding cow in “Farmed and Dangerous,” and other bizarre behavior in the show, also sends the wrong message to the public about modern farming practices, according to farm groups.

“It’s saddening. It really is.

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ing of what farming is and how it has progressed over time,” said Mike North, a board member of the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association, based in Green Bay. “Humorous or not, it plays poorly to getting the right information out,” North said.

As farms have grown, they’ve become big targets for critics. In some cases, lawyers for local residents and environmental organizations are using tools in state administrative law to challenge expansions.

Farmers, in turn, are using the same process to defend their rights to build bigger farms.

They’re also fighting back against filmmakers and groups critical of large-scale farming practices.

Chipotle is a big corporation attacking family owned farms that have been in business for generations, said Jim Ostrom, a partner in Milk Source, the largest dairy operation in Wisconsin with four farms devoted to milking.

“The attacks are despicable. …

We have to stand up and defend the truth, and the truth is that modern agriculture is the most environmentally sound type of farming in the history of mankind. And modern animal husbandry, by and large, is better than it’s ever been,” Ostrom said.

“Farmed and Dangerous” comes on the heels of two short films from Chipotle — “Scare-

crow,” produced last year, and “Back to the Start,” produced in 2011.

Both films helped spark conversations about agriculture and industrial food production in entertaining ways, according to Chipotle, a $2.7 billion company that operates more than 1,550 restaurants while promoting sustainable farming practices and animal rights.

Chipotle says “Farmed and Dangerous” isn’t so much about farming as it is about the lengths that agribusiness goes to create perceptions.

While the show has barely

OWNER: MARK GUDORF

started, it already has gained critics from farm groups on a national level, including the National Corn Growers Association, which said it mocks modern agriculture and scares viewers into thinking today’s farming practices are dangerous.

California dairy farmer Ted Sheely wrote in his blog: “As a farmer, I welcome an open dialogue and discussion about how I grow the food my family and yours eats. It’s a great story, and I’m very proud of what I do.

“Sarcasm, however, is not a productive route to building that type of conversation.”

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