Duane A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator, Webster County
December 7, 2012 Edition
In an earlier edition of this column I encouraged people to go on the internet to YouTube to find the Peterson brothers, three Kansas farm boys who were made instant stars when their video called, “I’m Farming And I Grow it,” -- a parody to the popular song, “I’m Sexy And I Know It,” went viral. I think they are pretty close to 8 million hits on that video. That would be a lot of people hearing about agriculture. However we can get our message out to consumers and a lot of our neighbors and even relatives who are now at least once, and perhaps two or three generations removed from the farm. As a result of their clever agriculture advocacy efforts, this trio was featured on national news outlets such as FOX and The Today Show. You can still the video by going to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48H7zOQrX3U .
As I understand it, the brothers are from around Assaria in the Salina, Kansas area. Greg Peterson who is a senior and is an ag journalism major at Kansas State talked his younger brothers, Nathan, 18 (also at Kansas State), and Kendal, 15, into singing and filming a video of the three of them together, rapping their farming mission on their actual farm. Their sister, Laura, helped shoot some of the video. What an amazing story! But they are not done yet. Their creativity is on display again, with another video which has already exceeded 2.2 million hits on YouTube, once again providing agricultural insight, in a creative way, to a segment of our society that greatly needs it. My hat goes off to these young people who know how to Agvocate! I find that our older farmers and ranchers have trouble telling their story, I am glad they are doing it.
Their new video is a parody to the popular hit single song "Gangum Style" by PSY. That is a song and dance that I just can’t understand and in fact get irritated watching it. I guess I really am an “old fogie”. KRVN is more my speed. Forget that song, the Peterson brothers are all about "Farmer Style" with their new YouTube hit. The brothers made their second video over the Thanksgiving break. You can watch their video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX153eYcVrY .
As I mentioned, Greg and Nathan Peterson are both attending college at K-State and, along with their younger brother, were recognized during the halftime of the K-State vs. Texas football game when they were honored for their videos. The brothers have been invited to speak and perform at various multi-state agricultural events. I guess you could consider them as aggie rock stars. You can also find them on Facebook at “Peterson Farm Bros”. As you can guess, I get a charge out of watching youth and particularly agricultural youth and this is just one reason why! Go get’em kids! Keep up the good work.
There are a lot of issues out there that we in agriculture are facing and these young people put a face to farming in a time where there are groups going after us with animal rights/welfare, GMO’s, and regulations to name a few, but I have had my eye for a couple of years now on the antibiotic issue which is really picking up steam. There has been another hit by ABC news on animal agriculture considering bacteria in meat, saying that they have found “Superbugs” or actually antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria, on pork cuts according to a study by the Consumer Reports: "What's in that pork? We found antibiotic-resistant bacteria---and traces of a veterinary drug." It seems that this study has several flaws, but is still used.
Big surprise! They found "antibiotic-resistant bacteria." You can find antibiotic-resistant bacteria in your navel and on your bed post. You would not believe how many are under your fingernails. They are everywhere, including in your nose where 1 out of 50 Americans harbor Methicillin Resistant Staph aureus (MRSA), a bug they purposely used in the report. They also found "traces of a veterinary drug" -- as if no one expected that to happen. The reason the FDA has established Maximum Residue Levels, for "veterinary drugs" because it was expected that some would remain at slaughter in some animals. It is considered safe and completely normal. The big splash seems to be the often quoted - "Yersinia enterocolitica was in 69% of the tested pork samples”, which by the way, were too few to provide accurate, science-based conclusions.
They go on to say “It infects about 100,000 Americans a year." Which is really a contrived scare tactic used to make points. Sensationalism sells in their news circle. They forgot to point out that the incidence of Yersinia infections have declined by 52% over the last 10 years. It seems to me that we should be thanking the pork industry, instead of poking them in the eye. By the way, when was the last time you heard of someone falling ill from trichinosis as a result of eating commercial pork? Our pork industry catches heck from many, but they have eliminated this foodborne illness from pork in the U.S. Let’s take a look at a message from a veterinarian at a recent conference that everybody should be aware of.
Dr. Christine Hoang, of the AVMA and an expert on antimicrobial resistance, shed light on the use of antibiotics in livestock during a recent U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance panel discussion. One of the most common criticisms about the use of antibiotics on farms is that it might lead to the creation of resistant human pathogens, such as MRSA and C. difficile. Dr. Hoang stated that these fears are unfounded, because studies have shown that these “superbugs” are not related to farming. “They’re human related resistant infections that are in no way related to antibiotic use in livestock production,” she said. Preventive antibiotic use reduces the transmission of food borne illnesses into our food supply, and there are substantial animal welfare benefits. There is a lot of good information and if anyone wants to learn more about this important issue, I encourage you to view the complete webcast entitled “Antibiotics and Your Food,” on the USFRA website at www.fooddialogues.com . You can also read up on the pork controversy at the same site. Pork chops anyone!
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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