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| Duane A. Lienemann |
Webster County
November 21, 2012 Edition
I felt that I had a tremendous opportunity on several occasions this weekend and early week. I guess it depends upon how you look at things, but it was right up there for me. First I got to witness the official public retirement of someone that I have admired and respected for many years, Dr. Tom Osborne. For those unlikely few who did not know about the celebration, there was a special recognition for Coach Osborne just before and during half time of the Nebraska vs Minnesota football game. Because of where I am seated, I had the opportunity to participate in a tribute using cards that spelled out, while the band was playing, Thanks Tom” and “Go Big Red”. What a rush!
It brought back some good memories of when I was at UNL in the late 60’s and early 70’s and volunteered as a student to be in the card section. As I recall, that section was close to where the band sits today. You could not help but get goose-bumps when the whole stadium erupted when the cards where held up. Then I will have to admit that I got a little emotional, as did most around me, when Coach Osborne led the Huskers out of the tunnel and onto the field just before the game. The special tribute at halftime capped off an incredible event, coupled with the fact that the game was never in question. It was amazing, and even more amazing was the fact that that game was the 500th for him as a coach or administrator. I don’t think anyone would disagree that he handled everything over the years with class and dignity. Thank you, Dr. Tom Osborne, for representing Nebraska so well and in the fashion that you did. You made us all proud.
Now to the meat and potatoes! I got to participate in two events this past week that really got me pumped up. On Monday I attended the annual meeting of AFAN. For you that have never heard of that acronym, it is short for the “Alliance for the Future of Agriculture in Nebraska”. I have really come to respect the work that this organization and its director, Willow Holloubek, have done and are doing for Nebraska. I might suggest that you go to their website: www.a-fan.org to learn more about what they do. There is a literal “Who’s Who in Agriculture” who lend their talents, idea, and support to this association. It was good rubbing elbows with them, including most commodity board directors, fellow educators, agricultural association members, and even our Governor. The keynote speaker was fantastic, and I want to relate some of what he said during his talk. Dr. Chris Ashworth, who happens to be the Chairman of the Animal Agriculture Alliance, spoke on “Celebrating the Miracle of Modern Food Production”. His message drove some points home to me.
First, he relayed that we expect three basic human rights as Americans: Safe, Affordable and Abundant Food; Choices; and Sustainability. He also said that we have to be careful how we frame the word sustainable, and how important technology was to reach all of those rights. Technology will have to be part of the equation in order to reach the lofty goal to feed the world. He used a rule spelled out as 50-100-70, which basically means that by the year 2050 we will have to have 100% more food to feed the estimated 9+ billion people that will populate the world, and that 70% of that goal will come from present, emerging and new technologies, (www.plentytothinkabout.org). We are already facing a time when 220,000 new mouths to feed are added to the global population each day, with more people dying globally from hunger than war and diseases (aids and malaria) added together. Globally 3 billion people live on the US equivalent of $2/day and 1/3 of the world’s poorest people live on less than $1/day. Even in the US we have 23% of our population at have a hard time finding enough food. We have what he called a “hidden hunger” factor, right here in America with one out of five.
We are lucky in America to have choices and we should not take that for granted as some don’t have that luxury. I found it also interesting in considering choices that only 4% of Americans insist on luxury, organic or home grown foods and that only 1% insists on a Vegan agenda or GMO free foods, leaving 95% who only want affordable and safe food. He suggested that we can expect about 20 more years of agriculture getting bashed, but at the same time we are positioned to have some of the best economic times for agriculture that we have ever seen. As far as sustainability, American agriculture is by far the leader. Every bushel of grain and pound of meat requires less water, less inputs, with a smaller carbon footprint that ever before in history and that story needs to be told. He said our success all depends on 5 decision making areas: Science, Economics, Social, Environment, and Consumers. We are at the mercy of each and we need to realize that it is time for action. We need to personalize issues, engage the food chain, and make sure we support the 95% that want affordable and safe foods. They are our bread and butter and are hungry for not only our product, but information about that product.
Tuesday brought a fantastic opportunity to learn about the importance of the beef industry at the 2012 Nebraska Beef Industry Summit. I am running out of room, so I will relay what I learned specifically in next week’s edition. It was good to hear Colin Woodall, VP or Government Affairs for the NCBA in Washington DC talk about issues confronting the beef industry; Paul Clayton, VP of Export Service for the US Meat Export Federation (USMEF) who talked about the global aspects of meat production; Glyn Lacy who created Whiskey Creek and now Skeeter Barnes and was the first restaurant to feature UNL’s Flat Iron Steak; Taryn Vanderford, KOLN/KGIN personality; and Dr. Chris Ashworth, whom I described earlier, all served on a panel that was very interesting. The final speaker, Dr. Nevil Speer, animal scientist from Western Kentucky University, talked about B-E-E-F Shaping the Industry. I think you will find some interesting tidbits next week!
The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: http://www.webster.unl.edu/home
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