News Update
April 13, 2012
CFI's 'Meet America's Farmers' Showcases Today's Farmers
The Center for Food Integrity (CFI) has launched "Meet America's Farmers," a YouTube channel (www.YouTube.com/MeetAmericasFarmers) of videos featuring today's farmers. The channel was developed to offer consumers the opportunity to observe the commitment of today's farmers to raising safe, healthy and affordable food.
Now, individual farmers and farm organizations are invited to create their own videos for the channel, using a shared-values approach to connect with consumers. The goal is to create a variety of videos featuring America's farmers, allowing them to share their stories and "open their farms" to consumers who are interested in better understanding how their food is raised.
CFI research indicates early-adopting consumers want more information about how food is grown on the farm. Consumers who participated in the research specified videos hosted by farmers would be highly useful and help build their confidence and trust in today's farming. Creating this new channel greatly expands the number of consumers exposed to the farm through such videos. The 146 videos currently on the channel feature 79 different farmers from 12 states and 16 commodity groups and were shot and produced for use during Farmers Feed US programs over the past three years.
"The 'Meet America's Farmers' YouTube channel is a great opportunity for farmers to demonstrate that while farms come in all shapes and sizes, the commitment of farmers to growing safe, nutritious, affordable food responsibly is consistent from coast to coast," says Charlie Arnot, CEO of CFI. "The goal is to feature a wide variety of farms and farmers, regardless of size, scale, location, product or production practices. Opening the digital barn door will help build public trust in agriculture. We encourage farmers and farm organizations to contribute more videos to showcase the great diversity in farming."
The videos will be merchandised through a promotional campaign to draw attention to the channel. The videos are also tagged with keywords so when consumers go online in search of information about today's food system, these videos will show up in search results.
CFI has also written guidelines to provide farmers with criteria for developing their own videos, which can be found on CFI's Farmer Resource Center (www.cfiengage.com). CFI will also furnish Flip cameras and support to individual farmers interested in shooting their own videos.
Those interested in more information about how they can contribute to the "Meet America's Farmers" YouTube channel can contact Mark Crouser at Mark.Crouser@foodintegrity.org.
American Agri-Women Heading to Washington, D.C.,
to Deliver Ag Policy Positions
American Agri-Women (AAW) recently drafted resolutions to address issues and threats to agriculture. Representatives from this all-volunteer coalition of more than 50,000 farm, ranch and agribusiness women will deliver these resolutions to elected officials in Washington, D.C., in early June.
The group's resolutions, which are reviewed each spring, cover ag business and economics, commodities, and natural resources.
"It's our mission — and our duty — to represent and protect those who produce food, feed, fiber and fuel for the world," says Karen Yost of Billings, Mont., AAW president. "Our meetings are also an important way we educate legislators and policy makers."
Members also heard from ag experts at the midyear meeting, which was at Lied Lodge, in Nebraska City, Neb.
Sorting Before Feeding Zilmax May Help Carcass Characteristics
Research from the University of Nebraska may add a few more dollars to the pockets of cattlemen. According to some latest research from the 2012 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report sorting fed cattle prior to feeding Zilmax™ has shown some beneficial effects on carcass traits.
Zilmax is an approved beta-agonist that improves weight gains through repartitioning nutrients into lean muscle growth. It is approved for feeding at 7.56 grams per ton for 20-40 days with a three-day slaughter withdrawal. However, Zilmax is generally fed for 20 days followed by the three-day withdrawal.
In previous research, feeding Zilmax reduces USDA Choice grades about 10%. Other research has shown that by sorting pens of cattle fed Zilmax, you can feed the cattle longer and another research report showed that profits for sorted cattle are greater than unsorted cattle due to overweight discounts.
In the latest research, pens of cattle were randomly sorted into five different treatments, of which two of these were controls. The controls were both unsorted cattle: one fed Zilmax and the other not fed Zilmax. In the remaining three treatments, all were fed Zilmax but the heaviest 20% of each treatment were identified at (1) the beginning, (2) 100 days from harvest and (3) 50 days from harvest. These heavier cattle were marketed 28 days before the remainder of their penmates were scheduled for shipment.
Typical results occurred when comparing differences of feeding Zilmax vs. not fed, such as increases in average daily gain (ADG), feed-to-gain ratio (F:G), body weight and carcass ADG. An interesting result did occur between the unsorted and sorted Zilmax-fed treatments: There was a significant difference in final body weight, an average increase of 67 pounds (lb.) for the sorted cattle.
Sorting cattle fed Zilmax also affected carcass characteristics. Cattle that were sorted maintained a marbling score at or above the pen that was not fed Zilmax. (The marbling scores were in the middle to upper small range, low-Choice.) Thus, they did not drop that 10% in Choice quality grades as seen in other trials. In addition, cattle that were fed Zilmax and sorted had a hot carcass weight of 61, 56 and 53 lb. heavier than the non-fed Zilmax treatment, respectively. Back fat was unchanged between the sorted and non-fed Zilmax pen. One final note; sorting did not reduce the percentage of overweight carcasses when discounts were applied at 950 or 1,000 lb. carcasses. This may have been due to the additional 14 days the sorted treatments were fed due to the weight sort.
With research continuing, the latest tools in the beef industry can be utilized even more effectively. Feedlots utilizing Zilmax may benefit by sorting before the Zilmax feeding period to improve carcass characteristics.
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