Over the years it's become especially obvious that I'm just not good at asking people for money; it's been something I've struggled with all my life. We never negotiated for allowances with our parents. Our 4-H projects always sold to the people who bid the highest, but not because we had ever sent them letters asking them to buy our animals. If we sent a letter, it was asking them to support the fair and the youth in general, but never just us. Even when I worked at Farm Bureau and my job was specifically to recruit sponsors, I still struggled with asking people for money. Any amount was fine with me just so long as they were giving of their own good will.
But now here I am again, asking for money. My Pelotonia profile says it all: I'm riding to raise money and awareness for cancer research in Ohio. Our Ohio hospitals are making huge progress in treating and preventing cancer and this research will provide hope to many people this year, next year and next decade. Has cancer affected my family in the past? Heck yes, it has. That's the main reason we live in Ohio now, because we moved here to support my grandpa as he fought and ultimately won his battle with cancer. This year two of my friends have also been fighting cancer, both with great outlooks. And a friend at Amanda's church is in a huge struggle this year as we pray for a miracle.
So that's why I'm riding. I don't do cancer research, nor am I a nurse or a doctor, nor am I superb at comforting those who suffer. But I am athletically built enough that I can ride the miles. And so I ride, because that's my part in this. I ride so that you and others know that we are trying to fight cancer and help those who suffer. But riding isn't enough, I have to also actually raise the money for the ride.
And that's where asking comes in. The hardest thing that I have to do for this Pelotonia, harder than the training or the bike search (which is now complete!) is the asking for money. I've posted to Facebook, contacted old friends and even sent out letters now to corporations and politicians, organizations and well-connected friends. And now I'm back to here. If you read this blog and can even spare $5 or less, please consider donating. This link will take you to my profile where you can choose to donate or not after reading mine and other peoples' stories on the Pelotonia website. Please consider giving to support this huge effort which encompasses nearly 4,000 riders.
For any readers interested, my wife and I are also doing sponsor jerseys with logos. This could be a great advertising opportunity which would be an outreach message into the community about local support.
Showing posts with label Farm Bureau. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Farm Bureau. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Trent Loos Talk @ OSU
I mentioned previously that I went to see Trent Loos talk a few weeks ago, hosted by the Food Animals Club at the Ohio 4-H Center (which is a great facility for events like this on campus, if you’ve never been). This is not by far the first time I’ve heard Trent Loos talk, but it was definitely the first time I’ve seen him talk under the heading “Stop Defending Agriculture”. Trent Loos has traditionally been a huge proponent of speaking up and voicing your personal story, defending the American agricultural experience and the importance, pride and adventure of the endeavor. He even helped in the distribution of shirts, one of which I own, with the headline “In Defense of Agriculture. Embracing Technology. Feeding the World”. So naturally I was surprised to see this headline and wanted to know what had changed with Trent Loos.
Not as much had changed as I expected. He still talked about the disconnect from Americans and their food, about his garb (intentionally attracting attention wherever he goes), about his ranch and the lifestyle he pursues, about his definition of a cowboy (embracing the attitude, not a specific activity), about farmers and agriculturalists needing to get out and tell the story. One thing that he elaborated on more than usual was the hormones debate. I’ve obviously discussed this in detail more than once in my blog, but I think he made key connections which I can’t emphasize often enough.
Two big factors influence puberty: nutrition and genetics. Those of us who work with livestock know that we can select over time for an early puberty trait, and that the proper nutrition of an animal leads to more timely puberty onset and that puberty onset is very highly correlated to nutrition and body fat. Well, Loos takes this one step further in his talks by highlighting the plight of female athletes and their lucky avoidance of Mother Nature far into their late adolescence. He further highlights the over-nutrition crisis in this nation (something he and Michael Pollan agree on) and the impact that this should obviously be connected to the puberty claims about hormones contents in beef. These are all things I’ve addressed before, but he also added that the level of estrogen in a serving of lettuce is many hundred times that of a serving of beef – key thing to consider the next time someone tells you they don’t eat beef because of added hormones (something someone told me this past week at our grad student food booth).
These points aside, there was one key new ingredient to Loos’s talk to the group: we should not be “defending” agriculture anymore. Imagine for a second a defensive person, do you like talking to them? Do you gain anything from a conversation or debate with someone who does nothing but get defensive about their idea or their job, or their life? Then how is this any different that farmers who have been taught to be defensive of agriculture. Vehemently defending agriculture with the best-proven facts still won’t make nearly the difference as just sharing what you do with those people closest to, and I’m as guilty of this as the next person. I often get worked up about accusations towards farmers, but the truth of the matter is that no matter how good I feel about winning the argument, this attitude can often do more harm than good. This is why Trent Loos instead focused his talk on encouraging those involved or interested in agriculture to change the attitudes and misconceptions one consumer at a time. Engage people in the facts, the truth, and the story, but engage them in a conversation, not a defensive approach to agriculture.
Not as much had changed as I expected. He still talked about the disconnect from Americans and their food, about his garb (intentionally attracting attention wherever he goes), about his ranch and the lifestyle he pursues, about his definition of a cowboy (embracing the attitude, not a specific activity), about farmers and agriculturalists needing to get out and tell the story. One thing that he elaborated on more than usual was the hormones debate. I’ve obviously discussed this in detail more than once in my blog, but I think he made key connections which I can’t emphasize often enough.
Two big factors influence puberty: nutrition and genetics. Those of us who work with livestock know that we can select over time for an early puberty trait, and that the proper nutrition of an animal leads to more timely puberty onset and that puberty onset is very highly correlated to nutrition and body fat. Well, Loos takes this one step further in his talks by highlighting the plight of female athletes and their lucky avoidance of Mother Nature far into their late adolescence. He further highlights the over-nutrition crisis in this nation (something he and Michael Pollan agree on) and the impact that this should obviously be connected to the puberty claims about hormones contents in beef. These are all things I’ve addressed before, but he also added that the level of estrogen in a serving of lettuce is many hundred times that of a serving of beef – key thing to consider the next time someone tells you they don’t eat beef because of added hormones (something someone told me this past week at our grad student food booth).
These points aside, there was one key new ingredient to Loos’s talk to the group: we should not be “defending” agriculture anymore. Imagine for a second a defensive person, do you like talking to them? Do you gain anything from a conversation or debate with someone who does nothing but get defensive about their idea or their job, or their life? Then how is this any different that farmers who have been taught to be defensive of agriculture. Vehemently defending agriculture with the best-proven facts still won’t make nearly the difference as just sharing what you do with those people closest to, and I’m as guilty of this as the next person. I often get worked up about accusations towards farmers, but the truth of the matter is that no matter how good I feel about winning the argument, this attitude can often do more harm than good. This is why Trent Loos instead focused his talk on encouraging those involved or interested in agriculture to change the attitudes and misconceptions one consumer at a time. Engage people in the facts, the truth, and the story, but engage them in a conversation, not a defensive approach to agriculture.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Updates from my Inbox
Today I'm going start off with a great article about a pig raising family from Seth at Farm Bureau and the Our Ohio magazine. Farm Bureau has been trying to use the magazine to capture more of the stories of Ohio farmers and share them with the people around us. If the magazine sent to more than just Ohio Farm Bureau members I think that the idea would be even more successful, but that's why you can read them online for free.
Along those same lines, check out this California site where they have videos of different farmers in California.
In other dairy news, Idaho is now the 3rd largest in dairy production, and research in Texas is trying to improve summer cow fertility. Heat has been found to damage follicles and thus negatively impact reproduction on dairy farms. While this is something we already knew, these people are researching to remedy this. I
t's nice to see that the government is finally interested in fixing the decline in veterinary assistance in the rural US. Also, DDGS is now getting classified as a non-hazardous shipment.
Finally, after talking with our new bow-hunter for the property yesterday about how he thought that the cattle in the world were the primary reason for global warming and environmental destruction, I thought this article was rather timely. Even though the quantity of GHG's emitted by the livestock industry is in question, there is no doubt that they are working as hard as anyone to reduce it.
Along those same lines, check out this California site where they have videos of different farmers in California.
In other dairy news, Idaho is now the 3rd largest in dairy production, and research in Texas is trying to improve summer cow fertility. Heat has been found to damage follicles and thus negatively impact reproduction on dairy farms. While this is something we already knew, these people are researching to remedy this. I
t's nice to see that the government is finally interested in fixing the decline in veterinary assistance in the rural US. Also, DDGS is now getting classified as a non-hazardous shipment.
Finally, after talking with our new bow-hunter for the property yesterday about how he thought that the cattle in the world were the primary reason for global warming and environmental destruction, I thought this article was rather timely. Even though the quantity of GHG's emitted by the livestock industry is in question, there is no doubt that they are working as hard as anyone to reduce it.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
OFBF Interview
Jack Fisher is interviewed and online here related to the OFBF negotiations with HSUS.
The taste of victory...
... is bitter in my mouth. I started today on the kill floor at school, frustrated, and like a lot of people who are starting to post onto the OFBF press release, I feel sold out. HSUS is allowed to walk away with a compromise, and as one person said on the Humane Watch release comments: HSUS has their foot in the door now. And that's about all there is to this. That and the fact that we really did sell out on the pet owners. Trent Loos particular captured my attention via facebook with an especially depressing article on Feedstuffs.
I went looking for more positive and encouraging opinions and found them at the Humane Watch site. After reading the actual draft which is circulating now and which I found on Humane Watch's website, I feel better about the issue. Sure, it looks like we sold out pet owners, but these pet and exotic animal bills are already in the legislature now. Frankly, I have trouble getting worked up over the reduction in small animal production since there are so many animals abused and/or abandoned now.
Veal crates by 2017, well, American Veal Association is already planning on this anyhow. And does this deal leave the door open for HSUS to come back? Yes, but then the deal is negated as well. All of this is reversible and strongly resembles a truce. I can deal with this, but it's going to be a massive PR miracle to not leave the public feeling betrayed by the OFBF after last years Issue 2 campaign and the results from a OFBF compromise. The fight is not over yet.
I went looking for more positive and encouraging opinions and found them at the Humane Watch site. After reading the actual draft which is circulating now and which I found on Humane Watch's website, I feel better about the issue. Sure, it looks like we sold out pet owners, but these pet and exotic animal bills are already in the legislature now. Frankly, I have trouble getting worked up over the reduction in small animal production since there are so many animals abused and/or abandoned now.
Veal crates by 2017, well, American Veal Association is already planning on this anyhow. And does this deal leave the door open for HSUS to come back? Yes, but then the deal is negated as well. All of this is reversible and strongly resembles a truce. I can deal with this, but it's going to be a massive PR miracle to not leave the public feeling betrayed by the OFBF after last years Issue 2 campaign and the results from a OFBF compromise. The fight is not over yet.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
New Blog
I have added a new blog to my suggested reading on the side-bar. For those of you who are less into the agriculture/farming side of things, and yet still read my blog, this is a good blog to find discussion of simple agricultural terms and ideas which you may not have heard of or understand. Drew is a guy I knew from both my time at Farm Bureau and through 4-H. I'm confident his blog will continue to be worth a good read now and then.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)