I hope that you’ve enjoyed the last three posts about corn and learned at least one thing. 🙂 This last part is all about talking through some common myths and questions about the corn industry. High fructose corn syrup is bad for you and causes obesity.…
Corn: America’s Greatest Resource (Part Three)
August 15, 2013Alrighty, back to talking about corn. Before I dive into discussing the corn ethanol industry, you should check out my previous post, Renewable Fuel: What’s the Big Deal?. Ethanol made from corn has been the most popular renewable fuel to date. Corn is a readily available product here in the Midwest, so it just makes sense to make a fuel out of it. Ethanol consumes approximately 39% of the corn produced in the United States,…
Renewable Fuel: What’s the Big Deal?
August 12, 2013This blog post was originally written for this week’s Illinois Farm Families blog at watchusgrow.org, which is a agriculture blog for Chicago moms (and really any other mom out there- farm family or urban family). It ties in really well with what I’d like to incorporate in the next part of the corn blog posts, so you can expect a follow up that goes a bit deeper than this post in the next couple of days. Summer 2008: Gas prices…
Corn: America’s Golden Resource (Part Two)
August 9, 2013Last time, I discussed some of the different types of corn we consume. Part two will give a simple overview of the products made with corn grown right here in the United States of America. We already know that popcorn and sweet corn is only grown for direct human consumption. You’ll find popcorn in a few different forms at the grocery store: pre-packaged microwavable, on the ear, and loose kernels for stove top popping. Sweet corn can be found in…
Corn: America’s Golden Resource (Part One)
August 7, 2013Sweet corn season is finally upon us in Central Illinois! Growing up on a farm, I’ve been spoiled with as much sweet corn as I could possibly manage to eat. And the ears picked on the farm are significantly better than what you can buy in the store, something that I’ve learned first-hand now that I am off at college and don’t live at home anymore. Some questions I’ve heard before as a presenter include things such as “Why do we grow so much…
I Got My Start in 4-H
August 3, 2013Throughout my college career, I’ve had lots of people ask how I got into agriculture. While the obvious answer may be that it was because I grew up on a farm, that’s not where I developed my interest. Of course, I knew a lot about agriculture because I lived on a farm, but I kind of just took it for granted, much like we would treat having cable TV or Internet. The organization that allowed me to discover my interest…
Thank a Farmer
August 1, 2013As I’ve mentioned before, there are many different kinds of agriculture. Organic, conventional, antibiotic-free, grain farms, livestock farms, small farms, medium-sized farms, and large farms. And the majority (97% nationally) are family farms. It’s really up to the farmer to choose what is best for his or her farm, and the final decision of what to produce and how to produce it is largely based off of their personal values and experience and the marketability of the product(s) in their…
Choices
July 31, 2013As Americans, we are blessed with many choices and opportunities, as well as the freedom to choose what we want. Food, for instance. We’ve got conventional, organic, local, generic brand, name brand, Walmart, Kroger’s, the local farmers market, low-fat, diet, dairy, non-dairy, soy, homemade and to-go….the list goes on and on. While it’s great that we have that opportunity and freedom to select what we want, our choices normally fit the categories of “it tastes good”, “it’s cheap”, “it’s nutritious”,…
Keeping it Local
July 28, 2013I was in Cub’s this weekend doing some grocery shopping, and I found some pretty neat signs up among certain products. These Illinois Product signs are a promotion by the Illinois Department of Agriculture. They are used to promote agricultural and food products that are produced in the state of Illinois. The intention of this marketing campaign is to promote Illinois products, as a part of the growing trend of buying locally grown foods. While I think it’s great to…
Urban Agriculture
July 24, 2013As a college student stuck living in town, I’ve had to adjust a lot over the last couple of years. Things such as street lights, pizza delivery, and next-door neighbors are a novelty to someone who grew up in what some would consider as “the middle of nowhere” (actually, it’s really only about 20 minutes to the nearest city). One of the biggest adjustments I’ve had to make is not having a yard. I have to satisfy my itch to dig…